UPDATE ON OPERATION LAFIYA DOLE: TROOPS INTENSIFY CLEARANCE OPERATIONS AND PATROLS

In order to sustain the tempo of the clearance operations of the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists that are hiding in remote areas and some villages, troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE have been carrying out ambushes, raids, cordon and search operations in the theatre and northeast generally.

Today, troops of 159 Battalion Artillery Detachment based on information and confirmation on the presence of suspected Boko Haram terrorists at Tula Udah forest, carried out heavy bombardment to neutralize them.

Similarly, based tip off on the presence of foreign elements of Boko Haram terrorists from Chad and Nigeriens, troops carried out cordon and search operations at Gombe International Hotel, Gombe State. However, nothing incriminating was found. However, more vigilance is maintained in the area.

Terrorism: UN Security Council To Multinational Joint Task Force - Prevent Boko Haram From Regrouping

---Calls on International Mommunity to Provide Urgent Humanitarian Assistance for the People Affected by the Crisis

The UN Security Council has tasked the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to prevent the destructive Boko Haram insurgents, recently dislodged from its safe haven in Sambisa Forest, from regrouping.

The task force was set up by Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and the Republic of Benin to tackle Boko Haram insurgents. The Security Council, in a Presidential Statement, reiterated that terrorism should be combated in all forms to prevent its spread.

“The Council urged the Multinational Joint Task Force participating countries to further enhance regional military cooperation and coordination. The Force should deny safe haven to Boko Haram, and facilitate the restoration of civilian security and the rule of law in areas liberated from the militant group.”

IDPs: WE'RE GUIDED BY INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICE AND STANDARDS, SAYS PRESIDENT BUHARI

President Buhari with R-L:
United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees Flippo Grandi,
Mrs Angele Dikongue Antangana,
Mr Edward Kallon and Regional Rep. for
West Africa Mrs Liz Ahua at the State
House on 19th December, 2016.

Nigeria is guided by international best practice and standards in rehabilitating millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) spawned by the Boko Haram insurgency, President Muhammadu Buhari has affirmed.

Speaking while receiving Mr Phillipo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Monday in State House, Abuja, President Buhari disclosed that Nigeria was making efforts to domesticate the Kampala Convention, which legally binds governments to protect the rights and wellbeing of people forced to flee their homes by conflict.

The President lauded the military, which he said has created a safe passage that has made it easier to help the displaced persons.

END OF BOKO HARAM IN SIGHT – PRESIDENT BUHARI

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday in Dakar, Senegal assured the international community that the end of Boko Haram terrorists was in sight, even as he hailed the increased cooperation between Nigeria and its neighbours in the fight against terrorism.

Speaking at a Panel of Heads of State at the 3rd Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa, the President also assured the international community that the security situation in Nigeria had improved significantly.

‘‘About a month ago, I spoke with the President of Chad and I was pleased that a number of Chadians and Nigerians that were Boko Haram members are surrendering to him en-masse. The good news I have is that the end of the raining season has come in the North eastern region of Nigeria.

FG DELEGATION VISITS LIBERATED COMMUNITIES NOW IN IDP CAMP IN BAMA

*TEAM SENT FROM PRESIDENCY TO ASSESS CURRENT SITUATION OF RESCUED PERSONS AMID CONCERNS ABOUT MALNUTRITION

*NUTRITIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED IN BORNO STATE

Determined to bring relief to recently rescued Boko Haram captives and to ensure their well-being in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the Northeast, the Federal Government has conducted an on-the spot assessment at the camp in Bama .

At the visit, the delegation led by the Presidential Special Adviser on Social Investments, Mrs. Maryam Uwais restated government's firm commitment to bringing relief to the thousands of recently rescued Boko Haram captives currently hosted in the IDP camp in Bama, Borno State.

“We're here to see for ourselves the situation on the ground here,” she said.

The delegation, which included senior officials of the Borno State Government, officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, the State Emergency Management Agency, and representatives from the United Nations, was taken around the camp, home to 25,000 adults and children, by the Brigade Commander of the 21 Armoured Brigade, Bama, Colonel Adamu Garba Laka.

How Boko Haram kills seven police officers in Niger

The terrorist group Boko Haram has killed seven police officers in Niger Republic, the Interior Minister Mohamed Bazoum said on Saturday.

The terrorists attacked the village of N’Gagam near the Nigerian border on Friday evening, Bazoum said.

Urgence Diffa, which monitors the security and humanitarian situation in the area, reported that the attackers arrived in vehicles and opened fire on the police officers in the village.

War Against Terror: 186 Junior Military Officers Get Counter-terrorism Training

The Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Jaji, Kaduna State, has conducted a special training course for junior military officers on counter-terrorism and peace support operations.

The training equipped them with appropriate skills to function as Grade Three Staff Officers and Junior commanders in their various military services and organisations.

During their graduation ceremony, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, said the training had become necessary due to the emerging security challenges.

Lawyers for Chad ex-dictator Habre appeal life sentence

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The legal team for Chad's former dictator Hissene Habre has appealed the verdict handed down by a special tribunal that found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and sex crimes during his time in power, one of his lawyers said Saturday.

The appeal was submitted Friday to the Extraordinary African Chambers, set up by Senegal and the African Union to try Habre for crimes committed during his 1982-1990 rule.

It was the first trial in which the courts of one country prosecuted the former ruler of another for alleged human rights crimes.

Climate Change: FG raises alarm as River Niger drying up

THE Federal Government, yesterday, raised talarm over imminent drying up of River Niger due to climate change and dumping of industrial waste. 

The Auditor General of the Federation, AGoF, Mr. Samuel Tyonongo Ukura, raised the alarm during a meeting with the Edo State Auditor-General and members of the Edo State Public Accounts Committee in his office in Abuja. Ukura, however, assured that Nigeria was in the process of conducting an environmental audit of the River Niger to determine its level of dryness.

Debris from #EgyptAir flight has been found in Mediterranean Sea

*Debris from #EgyptAir flight has been found in Mediterranean

*Airliner ‘apparently’ brought down by terror attack – Russia’s security chief

BREAKING: Debris from #EgyptAir flight has been found in Mediterranean https://t.co/b5Q8U4600Y

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 19, 2016

REUTERS reports that a Greek frigate searching for a missing Egyptair aircraft discovered two large plastic floating objects in a sea area 230 miles south of the island of Crete on Thursday, Greek defence sources said.

PRESIDENT BUHARI, HOLLANDE, BIYA, USA, BRITAIN, EU, ECOWAS, OTHERS FOR SECURITY SUMMIT IN ABUJA

In furtherance of ongoing efforts by his administration to enhance the security of lives, properties and investments in Nigeria and neighbouring countries, President Muhammadu will host the second Regional Security Summit in Abuja on Saturday, May 14, 2016.

Participants in the summit will include President Francois Hollande of France who hosted the first Regional Security Summit in Paris on May 17, 2014.

President Buhari and the French President who is scheduled to arrive Abuja on Friday on an official visit to Nigeria will be joined at the summit by the Presidents of Cameroon, Niger Republic, Chad and Benin Republic.

Operation to recover the Chibok girls is alive and ongoing

The Nigerian Military says operation to recover the Chibok girls is alive and still ongoing but added that it will not be in a hurry to rescue the secondary schoolgirls in Chibok who were abducted in April 2014.

The Acting Director, Defence Information, Military Headquarters, Abuja, Col. Rabe Abubakar, who said this at a press conference in Lagos on Thursday, noted that while it was of utmost concern to the military to rescue the girls, the operation required demanded adequate patience and planning.

Col. Rabe Abubakar added that recent efforts by the military in the rescue of over 200 women and children held captive by Boko Haram proved that the military was on course in recovering the girls.

He said, “The issue of the low morale of the Nigerian military men has now become a thing of the past. The operation to recover the Chibok girls is alive and still ongoing. We have continued to make rescue efforts, and we will do all within our powers to bring the girls.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI URGES WORLD LEADERS TO DISMANTLE SAFE HAVENS FOR PROCEEDS OF CORRUPTION

President Muhammadu Buhari Monday in New York called on the international community to urgently redouble its efforts to strengthen mechanisms for dismantling safe havens for proceeds of corruption.


Addressing world leaders at the 70th General Assembly of the United Nations, President Buhari also urged his counterparts to do more to return stolen funds and assets to their countries of origin.


Observing that corruption, cross-border financial crimes, cyber crimes and human trafficking are major challenges of the 21st century which the international community must work collectively to overcome, President Buhari reaffirmed his administration's determination to frontally confront the twin evils of corruption and illicit financial outflows.

Pius Adesanmi: No Wonder Rere dey Run

Aso Rock Villa. Living Room of the President’s private residence. Israeli, American, French, Chinese, Cambodian, Somalian, Sudanese, and Ghanaian security operatives protecting the Nigerian president are in the background. They try to make themselves unobtrusive. Also in the background, chanting Quranic hymns on mats imported from Chad, are marabouts from Niger, Senegal, and Gambia. At the centre of the living room, some distance away from all the foreign intelligence and spiritual protectors of the President, the usual suspects gather, wearing gloomy faces: President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Tony Anenih, Baba Iyabo, Ayo Oritsejafor, Mohammed Adoke, Doyin Okupe, Reuben Abati, and other inconsequential AGIPs. Nobody is talking. Soft music oozes from a central entertainment system. An old school Yoruba tune probably supplied by Doyin Okupe and Reuben Abati:

African Union Intensified search for kidnapped Chibok girls

The African Union is involved in intensifying efforts to find more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram two months ago, its Ugandan ambassador said Friday in New York. Asked what the AU was doing to help, Mull Katende said it was engaged in "quiet diplomacy, because some of this information, we don't want it to reach those who abducted the children."

"We look forward to their recovery as soon as possible, and all heads of state of the African Union have offered their support," he said after talks between AU and UN counterparts in New York.

The Ugandan diplomat said Nigeria could learn a lesson from his own country's 20-year war against Lords Resistance Army rebels, "on how to isolate Boko Haram from the population."

UPDATES ON CHIBOK GIRLS: OBAMA DEPLOYS MORE TROOPS

The United States has deployed troops to join the search for the over 200  schoolgirls abducted by the extremist Boko Haram sect in Chibok, Borno State on April 15. President Barack Obama has notified the Congress of the deployment of 80 military personnel, who  will be based in Chad, Nigeria’s northern neighbour. Their mission is to help locate the kidnapped girls.

Obama has sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and to the Senate, notifying lawmakers about the steps underway to assist in the return of the abducted girls.

Insurgence, religion, extremism and the challenges of the Nigerian Army in the fight against Boko Harram - by: Comrade Jasper Azuatalam

The origin of Boko Harram

In 1995, the group was said to be operating under the name Shabaab, Muslim Youth Organization with Mallam Lawal as the leader. Members were taught and encouraged to deepen their knowledge in Islam and become devout Muslims. When Lawal left to continue his education, Mohammed Yusuf took over leadership of the group. Yusuf’s leadership allegedly opened the group to political influence and popularity. The group was originally established at Ibn Taymiyyah mosque, which was named after Boko Haram's spiritual head.

Yusuf officially founded the group in 2002 in the city of Maiduguri with the aim of establishing a Shari'a government in Borno State under then-Senator Ali Modu Sheriff. He established a religious complex that included a mosque and a school where many poor families from across Nigeria and from neighboring countries enrolled their children. He started wooing the poor and feeble with his philanthropy and began to teach inciting sermons.

How Osama’s Al-Qaeda group back Boko Haram — France president

After the Paris summit on security situation in West Africa, French President Francois Hollande said Saturday that Nigeria’s Boko Haram had “established links” to  Osama’s Al-Qaeda group and urged countries in the region to devise a common strategy to combat its threat.

Speaking at during the  summit in Paris with Nigeria and neighbouring countries, Hollande said: “Boko Haram has become a major threat for all of west Africa and now for central Africa. Its links to AQMI (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) and other terrorist organisations have been established.”

CHIBOK!!! You Need To Understand That Jonathan Can't Go There

Poor Ebele Jonathan! All his demoralized people can see is the fact that he tucked his tail between his legs, did 440 away from Chibok, and ran into the comforting arms of Papa Francois Hollande in Paris. Now the people are saying that even the second arm of our conjugal diarchy, President Mrs Patience Jonathan, seems to be displaying a more robust testicular fortitude than our man who thought discretion was the better part of valour.

Boko Haram Attacks: Residents of Gamboru in Borno state Plan to relocate to Cameroon

Following the continuous and repeated Boko Haram attacks on residents of Gamboru community of Borno State.  The people of the area are planning to  relocate to Cameroon, saying that the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria cannot guaranty their safety and save them from the hands of the Boko Haram sects.

Gamboru town is a border community between Borno state in Nigeria and Cameroon. The residents said on Sunday that they had no choice than move to Cameroon in order to avoid more killings by the Boko Haram terrorists who recently attacked their town and killed about 200 persons.