Footage obtained by human rights group Amnesty International and released on Tuesday appears to show Nigerian soldiers slitting the throats of Boko Haram suspects and dumping their bodies in a mass grave.
Nigeria's military is battling an increasingly vicious Islamist insurgency by Boko Haram, which wants to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria. But its forces frequently come repeatedly under fire for human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial killings they usually deny.
It was not possible to independently verify the video, which also includes images of suspects being pulled off the back of trucks and beaten by soldiers and allied civilian militias.
Amnesty said the extrajudicial killings occurred shortly after Boko Haram's attack on a detention center in Giwa Barracks, in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, on March 14.
Nigerian Defence spokesman Major-General Chris Olukolade, who normally bristles at suggestions of abuses by Nigerian soldiers, said in at statement that "the military authorities view these grave allegations very seriously.
"Much as the scenes depicted in this video are alien to our operations and doctrines, it has to be investigated to ensure that such practices have not crept, surreptitiously, into the system," Olukolade said.
He emphasized that such behavior would be counter to the training Nigerian troops are given.
"That level of barbarism and impunity has no place in the Nigerian military. Respect for the sanctity of life is always boldly emphasized in our doctrinal training," he said.
In the most gruesome of the videos, suspects are kept to one side while graves are dug. Then the grave is shown half-full of bodies. A half-naked man is pulled from a truck and held down while a man in military uniform slices his neck open with a combat knife, hurling his body into the pit. The scene is repeated with another suspect on the same bloodied patch at the edge of grave.
The footage comes a week after Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video of his fighters beheading a Nigerian soldier -- a standard practice for the militants. Amnesty's report also shows the aftermath of a Boko Haram attack on a village that the rights group said had killed 100 people.
Amnesty said 4,000 people had been killed in the conflict this year.
A military operation since May last year has aimed to crush the rebels. But they have proved remarkably resilient and have struck back in attacks that increasingly target the civilian population, killing hundreds.
"This shocking new evidence is further proof of the appalling crimes being committed with abandon by all sides in the conflict ... what does it say when members of the military carry out such unspeakable acts and capture the images on film?" said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's secretary general.
"Numerous testimonies we have gathered suggest that extrajudicial executions are, in fact, regularly carried out by the Nigerian military," she added.
Rights groups argue that such acts by the military are not only wrong but counter-productive, as they fuel much of the anger that has helped drive the insurgency over the past five years. It is also a primary reason cited by U.S. and British forces for not giving Nigeria more counter-insurgency support.
Boko Haram was a largely non-violent clerical movement against Western culture until the killing of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, in police custody transformed it into a full- scale armed rebellion.
Olukolade said forensic experts would study the footage "in order to ascertain the veracity of the claims with a view to identifying those behind such acts. This will ... stimulate necessary legal action against any personnel or anyone found culpable in accordance with the provisions of the law."
Reuters
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Sammy Ameobi wants to play for the Nigeria Super Eagles
Sammy Ameobi has admitted he wants to play for Nigeria at international level.
The Newcastle United youngster is keen to follow in the footsteps of big brother Shola and represent the Super Eagles.
The Chronicle were first to report on June 18 that Ameobi was considering scrapping ties with the English FA - after playing for the Three Lions Under-21s - to play for Nigeria.
He said today in Punch: “It will be a great honour to play for Nigeria. I would love it.
“I have seen how it has been with my brother and the World Cup was a great experience, which I would love to experience and help make sure Nigeria participates in again.”
Ameobi though knows Newcastle is his priority in the coming weeks.
He added: “I am in the last year of my contract with Newcastle and I have to start it with a bang. I am no longer a kid.
“I have had a lot of injuries which I am hoping I have gotten over now, so I need to play very well to either get a new contract with Newcastle or be able to make a good move elsewhere.”
Ameobi also said Shola was on hand to offer him advice.
He said: “He has always been there for me.
“Whenever I needed advice, he would volunteer it; and also when I tried to make moves that might have derailed my career, he was quick to pull me back on track.
“It is great to have a proper professional as an older brother.”
Chronicle
The Newcastle United youngster is keen to follow in the footsteps of big brother Shola and represent the Super Eagles.
The Chronicle were first to report on June 18 that Ameobi was considering scrapping ties with the English FA - after playing for the Three Lions Under-21s - to play for Nigeria.
He said today in Punch: “It will be a great honour to play for Nigeria. I would love it.
“I have seen how it has been with my brother and the World Cup was a great experience, which I would love to experience and help make sure Nigeria participates in again.”
Ameobi though knows Newcastle is his priority in the coming weeks.
He added: “I am in the last year of my contract with Newcastle and I have to start it with a bang. I am no longer a kid.
“I have had a lot of injuries which I am hoping I have gotten over now, so I need to play very well to either get a new contract with Newcastle or be able to make a good move elsewhere.”
Ameobi also said Shola was on hand to offer him advice.
He said: “He has always been there for me.
“Whenever I needed advice, he would volunteer it; and also when I tried to make moves that might have derailed my career, he was quick to pull me back on track.
“It is great to have a proper professional as an older brother.”
Chronicle
Monday, August 4, 2014
Video - Nigeria institutes measures to counter Boko Haram
Nigeria is launching a new string of programmes aimed at ending the Boko Haram threat, through ideology. They include anti-radicalist school initiatives and reform programmes for convicted Boko Haram members.
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Nigerian consumption of U.S. refined petroleum rising
Nigeria is now importing almost as much crude, from the United States (US) as it exports to the world’s largest economy.
The US ships refined-petroleum cargoes like gasoline and kerosene to Nigeria, with May figures from US Energy Department data showing shipments hit the highest volumes ever.
Meanwhile in the past five years the Americans have reduced the amount of crude it buys from Africa’s largest economy, currently getting less than 2 percent of its oil from Nigeria, compared with 7 percent in 2011.
First the U.S. shale-oil boom took away the country’s biggest crude-export market. Now Nigeria is dependent on American fuel to power its automobiles and aircrafts.
Business Day
The US ships refined-petroleum cargoes like gasoline and kerosene to Nigeria, with May figures from US Energy Department data showing shipments hit the highest volumes ever.
Meanwhile in the past five years the Americans have reduced the amount of crude it buys from Africa’s largest economy, currently getting less than 2 percent of its oil from Nigeria, compared with 7 percent in 2011.
First the U.S. shale-oil boom took away the country’s biggest crude-export market. Now Nigeria is dependent on American fuel to power its automobiles and aircrafts.
Business Day
2nd ebola case confirmed in Nigeria
Nigerian authorities say they have confirmed a second case of Ebola in Africa's most populous country, an alarming development after a man who flew by plane to the country died of Ebola.
Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said Monday that the second person with Ebola is a doctor who had helped treat Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American man who died of Ebola in late July.
Sawyer, who was traveling to Nigeria on business, became ill while aboard a flight and Nigerian authorities immediately took him into isolation. They did not quarantine his fellow passengers, and have insisted that the risk of additional cases was minimal.
Nigeria is the fourth country to report Ebola cases and more than 700 people have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Cremation ordered for Liberian victims
Meanwhile, the Liberian government is ordering that all corpses of Ebola victims must be cremated as fears rise that the disease could be spread by bodies being buried in residential areas.
Information Minister Lewis Brown announced Monday on state radio that authorities now will cremate the remains of Ebola victims.
The order comes after a tense standoff erupted over the weekend when health workers tried to bury more than 20 Ebola victims on the outskirts of Monrovia.
Authorities said military police officers were called in to help restore order so that the burials could take place.
West Africa is experiencing the largest recorded Ebola outbreak in history, with at least 729 deaths blamed on the disease. Many contracted the disease by touching the bodies of victims as is tradition at funerals.
CBC
Related story: Nigeria possibly has first ebola case
Nigeria racing to contain ebola outbreak after virus kills Liberian in Lagos
Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said Monday that the second person with Ebola is a doctor who had helped treat Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American man who died of Ebola in late July.
Sawyer, who was traveling to Nigeria on business, became ill while aboard a flight and Nigerian authorities immediately took him into isolation. They did not quarantine his fellow passengers, and have insisted that the risk of additional cases was minimal.
Nigeria is the fourth country to report Ebola cases and more than 700 people have died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Cremation ordered for Liberian victims
Meanwhile, the Liberian government is ordering that all corpses of Ebola victims must be cremated as fears rise that the disease could be spread by bodies being buried in residential areas.
Information Minister Lewis Brown announced Monday on state radio that authorities now will cremate the remains of Ebola victims.
The order comes after a tense standoff erupted over the weekend when health workers tried to bury more than 20 Ebola victims on the outskirts of Monrovia.
Authorities said military police officers were called in to help restore order so that the burials could take place.
West Africa is experiencing the largest recorded Ebola outbreak in history, with at least 729 deaths blamed on the disease. Many contracted the disease by touching the bodies of victims as is tradition at funerals.
CBC
Related story: Nigeria possibly has first ebola case
Nigeria racing to contain ebola outbreak after virus kills Liberian in Lagos
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