CNN's Becky Anderson talks to Gov. Godswill Akpabio about stories of children accused of witchcraft in his Nigerian state.
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Instructors from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States yesterday commenced a training programme for operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on anti-money laundering and control of terrorist financing.
The Nigeria Police, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the State Security Service (SSS) are also involved in the two-week training taking place at the EFCC Training and Research Institute, Karu near Abuja. While declaring the training programme opened, EFCC chairman Farida Waziri said it is part of the continuing partnership between Nigeria and the United States in the fight against the twin evils of money laundering and terrorist financing.
"Since the tragic events of 9/11, it has become clear that no country is immune to the evil consequences of money laundering," Farida said adding that "the terror networks that use the dirty money to promote misery and death around the world must be recognized and treated as enemies of humanity.
"To weed out the culture of corruption on which money laundering and terrorism subsist, money launderers and the promoters of terror must be denied any iota of legitimacy; they must not be allowed to exploit the poverty and ignorance of our people," she said.
She assured the U.S. that Nigeria remains open and amenable to all the platforms of partnership needed to win the war against economic and financial crimes.
FBI representative, Victor Mc Collum, said the cooperation between the Nigerian law enforcement agencies and the FBI has been quite outstanding. "Everything we have tried to accomplish here so far, we have been able to do. We have had great cooperation from the institutions we have worked with and we have been able to provide the institutions with some assistance and a lot of collaboration," Mc Collum said.
The 40 participants will be trained on interrogation; hostage crisis negotiation, basic forensics and major case management.
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Members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect appeared to have resorted to guerrilla warfare as they waylaid and shot dead three policemen in Damaturu and Maiduguri, centres of the deadly violence sparked by the group in July last year. In Maiduguri, Borno State, two policemen were shot and their guns taken by four suspected members of the sect, who came riding bikes on Wednesday night, while another cop was killed in Damaturu when other gunmen attacked the private residence of Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam also on Wednesday.
Inspector Shettima Mustapha and newly-decorated Corporal Ahmed Mohammed, both of the Bulunkutu-Gomari Divisional Police Station in Jere Local Government Area in the outskirts of Maiduguri city, were attacked near the Gomari central mosque by four men dressed in black overalls.
The gunmen drove towards the policemen, who were also riding a bike, thereby felling them, before firing at them at close range, according to accounts of security sources. The sources said 16 shells of used ammunition were found at the scene of the killing.
Borno State Police Commissioner Ibrahim Abdu, who confirmed the shootings, told newsmen yesterday the cops were on their way to their beat at the Gomari bus stop for the routine stop-and-search operation and also the enforcement of the ban on the movement of motorcycles, which was recently extended to 10pm.
"They were on a motorcycle. The inspector was riding and the corporal was backed on the motorbike. As they were moving, unknown to them, two motorcyclists were trailing them from behind. They came very close to them, opened fire and killed them. They shot them from behind at the back of their neck," Abdu told newsmen.
He said police investigations are pointing to a particular direction, which he did not mention, following recent series of killings of policemen in similar pattern. "But we do not want to disclose and pre-empt investigations. The SSS and military intelligence are assisting us. The security outfits are all working together to see that the perpetrators are brought to book," he added.
A witness told our reporter that the gunmen might have trailed the policemen "because immediately they swerved across their path with one of their motorcycles, two of them took up positions in separate directions of the fleeing officers and shot at them until they were sure they had died."
Six policemen have so far been killed in Maiduguri in attacks following similar patterns. One civilian was also killed while another sustained injuries. In all attacks, the gunmen rode on motorcycles.
Residents fear that this could be a comeback or revenge attempt by the Boko Haram sect, which recorded heavy losses in days of fighting with security forces last year.
In Damaturu, the gunmen attacked Gaidam's residence at the Gwange area around 8pm on Wednesday, killing Constable Barde Emos, State Police Commissioner Mamman Sule told journalists. The governor is away in Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj.
"The attackers were two in number and they went to the house on a motorcycle," he said. "Immediately they arrived, they used gun and killed the police constable who was guarding the house before they fled away. He died shortly after taking him to hospital. We did not arrest anybody but we have recovered some pellets (used bullets) at the scene of the attack," he added.
Emos said incident was exactly like the one that happened few months ago at the residence of former Governor Bukar Abba Ibrahim, where the attackers killed a policeman and fled away.
"As at now, we are yet to ascertain the actual mission of the attackers even though some people have started giving it political coloration. Personally, I feel it is a reprisal attack by the remnants of the Boko Haram sect," he said.
The commissioner said two members of the Boko Haram sect were arrested at the weekend in Damaturu while downloading some speeches of the late leader of the sect Mohammed Yusuf.
"Some of the sect members are resurfacing in town because they have been discharged and acquitted by courts," the commissioner said.
He said security would be beefed up in Damaturu to forestall further attacks. "We would intensify stop-and-search surveillance from 6pm to 6am everyday," he said.
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A suspected drug trafficker, Hakeem Adesegun Habeeb, who survived the Surulere fire incident on October 3, 2006 has died of cocaine ingestion.
According to the spokesperson of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mitchelle Ofoyeju, the deceased, a 45-year-old trader was said to have ingested the drugs preparatory to his trip to Europe when one of the wraps ruptured. He eventually died at the hospital after admitting to drug ingestion on his death bed.
To ascertain his claim, a post-mortem was carried out which was witnessed by operatives of the NDLEA in a hospital in Lagos. The operation eventually led to the discovery of the suspected ruptured wrap of narcotics buried deep down his intestinal tract. When tested at the theatre, the substance proved positive for cocaine.
Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade described the incident as sad. "It is very sad. I sympathise with the family of the deceased."
Giade also urged youths to have the fear of God and consider the consequences of their actions. "If they have no respect for themselves, they should at least consider their loved ones and their Creator", the NDLEA boss charged. The late suspect is survived by two wives and eight children.
A member of the family who preferred anonymity said that the deceased kept everybody in the dark about his activities of late. "Hakeem left home without telling either of his two wives where he was going. Three days later, he returned looking very sick. He did not even say what the problem was until he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. We did not know he had taken drugs".
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Just after midnight, the pastor seized a woman's forehead with his large hand and she fell screaming and writhing on the ground. "Fire! Fire! Fire!" shouted the worshippers, raising their hands in the air.
Pastor Celestine Effiong's congregants are being delivered from what they firmly believe to be witchcraft. And in the darkness of the city and the villages beyond, similar shouts and screams echo from makeshift church to makeshift church.
"I have been delivered from witches and wizards today!" exclaimed one exhausted-looking woman.
Pastors in southeast Nigeria claim illness and poverty are caused by witches who bring terrible misfortune to those around them. And those denounced as witches must be cleansed through deliverance or cast out.
As daylight breaks, and we travel out to the rural villages it becomes apparent the most vulnerable to this stigmatization of witchcraft are children.
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