Friday 29 September 2017

Boko Haram: 2,295 Teachers Killed, Many Schools Shut, 3 Million Children Need Emergency Education Support in NE Nigeria - UNICEF

The crisis caused by the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria means that over 57 per cent of schools in Borno, the worst-hit state, are closed, even as the new school year begins.

Communication And Social Media Surveillance: Facebook, Google, Others Confirm Nigeria Requested User Information


A new report has confirmed what many Nigerians have long suspected to be true: that the federal government is spying on its citizens through the social media and email accounts.

Nigerian Senate Passes Anti Kidnapping Bill, Prescribes 30 Year Jail Term For Culprits


THE Nigerian Senate yesterday September 28, 2017, passed into law the kidnapping, abduction bill, specifying a 30-year jail term for anyone caught colluding with an abductor to receive ransom for any person wrongfully confined.

IPOB: United States Slams Buhari Over Penchant For Military Option in Resolving Conflicts in Nigeria


The United States (U.S.) yesterday urged the Nigerian government to look beyond a military option in resolving internal conflicts in Nigeria. 

Thursday 28 September 2017

Lagos State Commissions Forensic DNA Laboratory


The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on Wednesday inaugurated the state’s DNA Forensic Centre.

Gunmen Kidnap Assistant Police Commissioner, Others In Kaduna

An Assistant Commissioner of Police identified as ACP Emmanuel has been reportedly kidnapped by gunmen along the Birnin-Gwari-Funtua Road, Kaduna State.

Sunday 24 September 2017

Security Awareness: Best Practices To Secure Places Of Worship, Protect Against Active Shooter

Introduction: The age-long reverence for places of worship and religious leaders is increasingly eroding around the world. The unprecedented security threats to places of worship are diverse and alarming. They include: terrorist attacks, kidnapping of religious leaders and congregants, theft of relics and offerings, arson active shooter incidents, amongst others. An active shooter is an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. Victims are selected at random. Event is unpredictable and evolves quickly. I will cite some incidents to buttress the fact that places of worship, religious leaders are no longer venerated nor spared by men of the underworld.

Biafra: US Government Says IPOB Not Terrorist Organization

The United States Government has said it does not categorize the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation.

In a correspondence with Sunday Punch, the spokesman for the American Embassy in Nigeria, Russell Brooks, also stated that the US was committed to Nigeria’s unity and would support a peaceful resolution of any crisis in the country.

“The United States Government is strongly committed to Nigeria’s unity. Important political and economic issues affecting the Nigerian people, such as the allocation of resources, are worthwhile topics for respectful debate in a democracy.

“Within the context of unity, we encourage all Nigerians to support a de-escalation of tensions and peaceful resolution of grievances.

“The Indigenous People of Biafra is not a terrorist organisation under US law,” he said.


The US embassy, however, declined to comment on whether the Federal Government had asked it to treat IPOB as a terrorist organisation and to block money sent to IPOB from the US.

Last week, the Federal High Court in Abuja, gave a judicial backing the executive order of President Muhammadu Buhari, outlawing the group and its activities in the country.

The court granted the order to proscribe the group on Wednesday.

Culled from: Daily Post Newspaper


Saturday 23 September 2017

Niger Delta Militants Attack Oil Vessel, Kill 3 Security Escorts in Bayelsa Creeks

About three weeks after an ambush on a military houseboat that killed two in Southern Ijaw creeks in Bayelsa, suspected militants have attacked a tugboat in the same area and killed three crew members.

Friday 22 September 2017

Locate To Deploy Innovative Technology In Finding Missing Persons In Nigeria

Nigeria is witnessing a brand new generation of impact social entrepreneurs who are adopting new strategies to solve old daunting social problems. This effort is pioneered by Civic Hive with its Accelerator program that is designed to give opportunities to civic Tech startups. Locate with its commitment in providing smart alternatives to finding missing persons is part of this acceleration.

Thursday 21 September 2017

Kidnapping: Lagos State To Secure Schools With Joint Security Squad

The Lagos State Government  has set up a Joint Tactic Squad comprising officers of all the security agencies to strenghten security within and around Model Colleges and all schools on the outskirts, riverine and other vulnerable areas.

Nigerian Government Claims That IPOB Receives Funding From France

The Federal Government, on Wednesday, alleged that apart from receiving money from looters in Nigeria, secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra, was receiving a large chunk of its financing from France.

Wednesday 20 September 2017

Tweet Chat: Awareness And Solutions To Child Abduction, Missing Kids (Persons) In Nigeria

 Date: 15th September, 2017; Venue: Twittersphere; Time: 3PM; Event: ‘’Locate’’ (www.locate.ng), a crowdsourcing and social entrepreneurial Cause that leverages on innovative technology, social media to create awareness about child abduction, missing kids (persons) and also makes it easy for citizens to report and track missing persons, had a Tweet Chat with Mr. Don Okereke, security analyst, consultant, writer and publisher of www.donokereke.blogspot.com aimed at creating awareness and proffering solutions to the increasing menace of child abduction, missing kids in Nigeria.

IPOB: Air force Deploys Fighter Jets To Southeast Nigeria For Operation Python Dance II

The Nigerian Air Force has joined the Operation Python Dance II campaign in the Southeast by deploying its air assets in support of the ground troops.

Tuesday 19 September 2017

Suspected Kidnappers Kill 2 Expats, Police Escort in Kogi, North Central Nigeria

Two expatriates working with the West African Ceramics, Ajaokuta have been reportedly killed by suspected kidnappers along Ajaokuta-Lokoja road in Kogi State, north central Nigeria.

Friday 15 September 2017

Report Corruption, Extortion By Policemen In Lagos State With These Dedicated Phone Numbers



Habitual demand for money for "stationery" and for bail by policemen has prompted the new Commissioner of Police, Lagos State CP Edgal Imohinmi to create a special unit known as “Citizen Complaint Hot Centre” with 10 dedicated phone lines.

Biafra: President Buhari Must Meet Nnamdi Kanu, Says Obasanjo


Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari must meet with Biafran secessionist leader Nnamdi Kanu before violence between the army and separatists escalates into a full-blown conflict, according to Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Thursday 14 September 2017

BREAKING: Major Gen Ugbo, 7 Others killed As Conflict Breaks Out in Benue Community

No fewer that eight persons, including one Major General Lawrence Ugbo have been killed and several others injured in Ugboju district, Otukpo LGA of Benue State.

Monday 11 September 2017

Breaking: Nigeria Customs Uncovers 1,100 Illegal Firearms Imported Into Nigeria

Nigerian Customs Operatives attached to the Tin-Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NIS  have smashed a syndicate that specialised in smuggling weapons into the country,  discovering 1,100  pump action riffles loaded  in a 20 foot container.

Sunday 10 September 2017

Groom, Bride, 3 Others Kidnapped In Ondo State, Southwest Nigeria

A groom, Mr. Moses Yakubu, and his bride were kidnapped on Sunday by daredevil gunmen at Akunnu-Akoko in Ondo North East Local Government Area of Ondo state few hours to their engagement.

Marginalization, Perceived Abuse of Power Pushing Africa’s Youth To Violent Extremism - UN Study

Deprivation, marginalization and perceived state violence or abuse of power are pushing young Africans into the clutches of violent extremism, a groundbreaking study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reveals.

United States Pledges To Support Nigerian Naval Operations

Top brass naval officials from the United States have pledged unflinching support for Nigeria’s Navy in order to enhance Nigerian naval operations.

Security Alert! Nigerian Airports: Kidnappers Latest Hunting Grounds

It may not be a common thing now, but kidnappers are now looking towards the nation’s airports to target people who may give them higher dividends in terms of ransom. SOLA ADEKOLA writes on this emerging trend, even as concerned authorities are making efforts to nip it in the bud.

Insurgency: Victim Support Fund Commences Reconstruction, Rehabilitation of Damaged Public Infrastructure in Adamawa, NE Nigeria

The Victims Support Fund on Saturday commenced the reconstruction and rehabilitation of public structures damaged by insurgents in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa, northeast Nigeria.

Friday 8 September 2017

Biafra Agitation: Nigerian Army Set To Launch Operation Python Dance 2 In The South East

The Nigerian Army, Friday, said it would commence its second phase of Exercise PYTHON DANCE, tagged Python Dance II, otherwise known as EGWU EKE II, in the South Eastern part of Nigeria, comprising states such as Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, from Friday 15 September to Saturday 14 October 2017.

Gunmen Invade Lagos Catholic Church, Shoot Priest

Three gunmen posing as worshippers on Friday invaded St. Thomas’ Catholic Church, Onilekere, Ikeja, Lagos and shot the Parish Priest, Rev. Daniel Nwankwo, at close range.

Nigeria Police Launches Mobile App To Report Kidnapping, Volent Crimes

The Nigeria Police Force has inaugurated an innovative mobile app, iPolice-Hawk Eye Crime Reporting System to curb kidnapping and other violent crimes.

Thursday 7 September 2017

Lagos State Domestic Violence, Child Abuse Reporting Short Code Is 6820

The Lagos State Government has launched a short code to help report cases of domestic violence and child abuse.

United Nations Reiterate Economic Dangers Of Small Arms In West Africa

The deputy country director of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, Mandisa Masholugu says both ECOWAS and relevant agencies of the United Nations must increase advocacy on the economic dangers posed by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Africa.

He said this at the regional symposium held to launch the survey project report on small arms and light weapons in the Sahel and neighbouring countries. The survey which was conducted in nine African countries show that proliferation of small arms is not only on the increase but linked with drugs and human trafficking.

For the deputy director of the U.N. regional centre for peace and disarmament in Africa, Jiaming Miao and ECOWAS head of small arms division, Joseph Ahoba, the recent crisis in the Sahel, and increasing insecurity in the lake chad basin has greatly worsened the already tense situation.
Culled from: AIT

Analysis: Boko Haram – The Fear, Conspiracy Theories, And The Deepening Crisis

The fear is palpable in northeast Nigeria as Boko Haram intensifies its war on civilians. The military’s regular claim that the jihadists are on the run is patently false, and provides no comfort to anyone.

Instead, this is the reality.
– Since January, there have been at least 83 suicide bombings by children – a figure four times higher than last year.  
– Of the four roads leading out of Maiduguri, the main city in the northeast, only the Maiduguri-Damaturu-Kano road is adjudged safe.
– In rural areas, people are not able to venture more than four kilometres out of the main towns in each local government area because of insecurity.
– In Maiduguri’s mosques, people now pray in relay. As one group prays, another keeps watch to guard against suicide bombers.
The death tolls are startling. In the last two months, high-profile Boko Haram raids have included:
– An attack on oil workers and soldiers prospecting in the Lake Chad Basin in which more than 50 reportedly died.
– The shooting and hacking to death of 31 fishermen on two islands in the Lake Chad Basin.
In response to the rising tempo of attacks, acting President Yemi Osinbajo ordered the deployment of all his military chiefs to Maiduguri in July. It hasn’t stopped the violence.
The insecurity has undermined farming in the northeast, resulting in serious food shortages in pockets of the region. Boko Haram has taken to seizing food and goods from communities in Damboa, Azir, Mungale, ForFor, Multe, Gumsiri – to mention just a few.
The military are also accused of threatening communities that do not vacate their villages and move to the poorly serviced internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.
Those that stay behind risk not only being plundered by Boko Haram, but also the confiscation of their goods and produce by the army, on the grounds that they are in league with the insurgents.
In the Lake Chad Basin in particular, Boko Haram is moving into the traditional fish and bell pepper trade. It not only helps finance their insurgency, but muddies the identification of who is a combatant.
Nowhere seems safe – even Maiduguri. In recent months there have been bomb blasts at the Dalori IDP camp, Maiduguri university, a general hospital, and a major coordinated gun attack on the city itself.

Know your enemy

The military not only appears powerless, but lacks the operational intelligence to thwart the attacks. That lack of awareness – over both the nature of the threat and how to deal with it – led the army’s head of public relations, Brigadier General Sani Usman, to accuse parents of “donating” their children to Boko haram as suicide bombers.
The raid by the military on the UN’s headquarters in Maiduguri in August was another example of woeful intelligence. The army said it was conducting a cordon and searchoperation for high-value Boko Haram suspects, and did not know it was entering a UN building because there was no insignia.
But the incident does point to the level of distrust over the work of humanitarian agencies. The word on the street in Maiduguri the morning of the raid was that the leader of one Boko Haram faction, Abubakar Shekau, was in UN House - along with a secret store of ammunition.

Conspiracy theories abound and aid workers are implicated. A common allegation is that they provide food, fuel, and drugs to Boko Haram under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid.
An additional gripe is that what aid is being delivered to the needy is not enough. The World Food Programme suspended food handouts in Borno this week after IDPs in Gubio camp rioted, destroying five vehicles belonging to International Medical Corps. They were protesting, they said, that they had not received rations in two months.
And then there are the grievances over aid agencies not employing enough locals, and that foreign aid workers do not respect local norms and traditions in what is a conservative society.
It’s an unhappy relationship. The overriding perception here is that the surge in aid agencies to the northeast is not what is required – people want security first, and then they can take care of their own needs.

Guarding the guards

But arguably the biggest problem is that the military are far from uniformly trusted to provide that security.
The most enduring conspiracy theory is that behind the eight-year war are conflict entrepreneurs in the military high command and the political class. They are accused of perpetuating the violence to feather their own nests, at the expense of the lives of Nigerian citizens.
Although there has been a series of major weapons purchases, from attack helicopters to an extremely expensive deal for ground-attack planes from the United States, it doesn’t seem to have added to the fighting capability of the military.
The confusion over who’s who is also exemplified by the tension between the army and the vigilante Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF). It is the CJTF that has been the military’s eyes and ears, the first responders manning the roadblocks in towns and villages. Armed with little more than traditional weapons, 680 of them have been killed so far in the conflict.
Yet the military distrusts them, believing that within their ranks are Boko Haram Fifth Columnists (which is probably true, along with criminals and other miscreants). But the CJTF see themselves as community defenders. They receive little or no remuneration for their work, and no insurance cover.
The atmosphere of suspicion over the enemy within extends to the tension between IDPs and those who remained in their communities when Boko Haram arrived. As IDPs return to those areas adjudged safe, it’s easy to label those that stayed behind as collaborators, brainwashed by the insurgents’ ideology.
As the counter-insurgency campaign stumbles on, Boko Haram clearly believe it now has the momentum, after being on the ropes last year – driven from all the towns they controlled.
The propaganda war certainly seems to be going their way.
Since the beginning of the year, Shekau has released 11 videos. The more low-key Boko Haram faction led by Abu Musab al-Barnawi (who publicly shuns indiscriminate attacks on civilians) has now stirred and published two videos in the space of a month.
There was once talk of ceasefires and negotiations – that seems very distant right now.
Culled from: IRIN