Twelve Nigerian soldiers have been sentenced to death for mutiny and attempted murder after shots were fired at their commanding officer in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri in May.
The soldiers were angry after a convoy was ambushed on a road frequently targeted by Islamist Boko Haram militants.
Five other soldiers were acquitted and one was convicted on another count.
All denied the charges at a court martial in Abuja.
Front-line troops often complain that they lack adequate weapons and equipment while there have also been reports that they have not been paid or properly fed.
Last month, a group of soldiers in the north-east refused to fight Boko Haram until they received better equipment, one of them told the BBC.
Boko Haram fighters are well armed and determined. Having been brainwashed with extremist ideology, many are likely to have little fear of death. So the Nigerian soldiers sent to the battered north-east have a difficult fight and need to be well resourced.
But there have been numerous reports of low morale amid calls for better arms and even complaints over pay. Soldiers' wives recently demonstrated in the barracks in Maiduguri in an effort to stop their husbands being sent to the front line.
Shooting at your own commanding officer is an extreme reaction to seeing the bodies of colleagues killed in an ambush and it would lead to a severe punishment in any army. But it is just one sign of the problems undermining the fight against Boko Haram.
President Goodluck Jonathan has promised that better equipment is on the way but given that Boko Haram has been growing for several years, why were the billions of dollars earned from Nigeria's oil industry not spent on giving every soldier the best chance of defeating the enemy and staying alive?
The nine-member military tribunal heard that the incident happened when shots were fired at the commanding officer of the Nigerian Army's Seventh Division, which is at the forefront of the fight against Boko Haram.
Witnesses said the soldiers lost discipline and threw stones at the officer when he arrived at their camp, and shots were fired into the air.
General Amadu Mohammed had to take cover as they aimed their guns at him - firing bullet-holes in his armour-plated staff car - but he was not injured.
Attacks increasing
Court President Chukwuemeka Okonkwo said that while the sentences were subject to confirmation by Nigeria's military authorities, there was no doubt about the seriousness of the offence.
The sentencing panel took into account the "likely effect on counter-insurgency operations" of the incident as well as its "implications on national security".
Nigeria's army has been under pressure to end the bloody five-year insurgency - and a state of emergency was declared in three north-eastern states last year.
Boko Haram is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria - and has stepped up its attacks after being pushed out of its bases in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, targeting towns and villages in deadly raids.
The fighting has claimed thousands of lives, made tens of thousands of people homeless and seen the militants make recent territorial gains.
BBC
Related story: Nigerian soldiers attack own army commander
Some Nigerian soldiers refuse to fight Boko Haram until given new weapons
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
2 Nigerians attempt to smuggle $9.3million into South Africa
South African police are investigating two Nigerians and an Israeli citizen who tried to bring $9.3 million in cash into the country illegally.
According to Reuters, there are suspicions that the money could be meant for arms.
The Nigerians, coming from Abuja, were not identified.
The private jet, a Bombardier Challenger 600, had a Nigerian flight crew on board.
It was piloted by Captain Tunde Ojongbede, according to South Africa’s City Press newspaper.
Customs officers had become suspicious when the passengers’ luggage was unloaded and put through the scanners just after 7pm.
The officers then investigated and found three suitcases full of cash.
The passengers apparently told officials they were acting on behalf of the Nigerian intelligence service.
They provided documentation confirming they had come to South Africa to buy weapons.
It is not clear whether the Israeli passenger was an intelligence operative or an arms dealer.
The National Conventional Arms Control Committee, which has to approve the import and export of any weapons as well as issue permits for such transactions, was not aware of any applications in this case.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) seized the funds at Lanseria airport, northwest of Johannesburg, on September 5.
The funds are being held at the central bank as police investigate, SARS spokeswoman Marika Muller said.
“The passengers’ luggage was searched after Customs officials detected irregularities. The money was detained as it was undisclosed/undeclared and above the prescribed legal limit”, Muller said in a statement.
South Africa’s City Press newspaper reports that bundles of unused $100 bills packed in three suitcase were transported in the small business jet from the Nigerian capital, Abuja. South African airport security spokesman Solomon Makgale confirmed a police investigation was underway but declined to give details.
Daily Post
According to Reuters, there are suspicions that the money could be meant for arms.
The Nigerians, coming from Abuja, were not identified.
The private jet, a Bombardier Challenger 600, had a Nigerian flight crew on board.
It was piloted by Captain Tunde Ojongbede, according to South Africa’s City Press newspaper.
Customs officers had become suspicious when the passengers’ luggage was unloaded and put through the scanners just after 7pm.
The officers then investigated and found three suitcases full of cash.
The passengers apparently told officials they were acting on behalf of the Nigerian intelligence service.
They provided documentation confirming they had come to South Africa to buy weapons.
It is not clear whether the Israeli passenger was an intelligence operative or an arms dealer.
The National Conventional Arms Control Committee, which has to approve the import and export of any weapons as well as issue permits for such transactions, was not aware of any applications in this case.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) seized the funds at Lanseria airport, northwest of Johannesburg, on September 5.
The funds are being held at the central bank as police investigate, SARS spokeswoman Marika Muller said.
“The passengers’ luggage was searched after Customs officials detected irregularities. The money was detained as it was undisclosed/undeclared and above the prescribed legal limit”, Muller said in a statement.
South Africa’s City Press newspaper reports that bundles of unused $100 bills packed in three suitcase were transported in the small business jet from the Nigerian capital, Abuja. South African airport security spokesman Solomon Makgale confirmed a police investigation was underway but declined to give details.
Daily Post
Nigerian fighter jet gone missing
The Nigerian military said on Sunday one of its fighter jets that was operating in a northeast state where the armed forces are fighting Islamist Boko Haram militants had gone missing.
A search and rescue operation was underway for the Nigerian air force Alpha jet which was on a routine operational mission on Friday over Adamawa state when contact was lost with the aircraft, the Nigerian armed forces said in a statement.
The statement gave no more details and there was no other information available on whether the plane, which had left an air base at the Adamawa state capital Yola and had a crew of two, had crashed or been shot down.
Nigeria's military, backed by war planes, has been fighting to push back recent advances by Boko Haram into the north of Adamawa state and also towards Maiduguri, the state capital of neighboring Borno state. The army said it beat back an attack outside Maiduguri on Friday.
Boko Haram, which has killed thousands since it launched its anti-government insurgency in the northeast in 2009, has in recent weeks captured and held a string of towns and villages in the region, a departure from its usual hit-and-run tactics.
Its leader Abubakar Shekau is apparently trying to follow the example of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which has declared its own caliphate. Nigeria's government has vowed to take back the seized territory from Boko Haram.
Reuters
A search and rescue operation was underway for the Nigerian air force Alpha jet which was on a routine operational mission on Friday over Adamawa state when contact was lost with the aircraft, the Nigerian armed forces said in a statement.
The statement gave no more details and there was no other information available on whether the plane, which had left an air base at the Adamawa state capital Yola and had a crew of two, had crashed or been shot down.
Nigeria's military, backed by war planes, has been fighting to push back recent advances by Boko Haram into the north of Adamawa state and also towards Maiduguri, the state capital of neighboring Borno state. The army said it beat back an attack outside Maiduguri on Friday.
Boko Haram, which has killed thousands since it launched its anti-government insurgency in the northeast in 2009, has in recent weeks captured and held a string of towns and villages in the region, a departure from its usual hit-and-run tactics.
Its leader Abubakar Shekau is apparently trying to follow the example of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which has declared its own caliphate. Nigeria's government has vowed to take back the seized territory from Boko Haram.
Reuters
41 dead in Church collapse in Lagos, Nigeria
A building that was part of "megachurch" complex run by one of Nigeria's most famous preachers has collapsed in the capital Lagos killing 41 people, rescuers said, as they worked to clear the site.
"We have 41 dead now," Ibrahim Farinloye, spokesman in Lagos for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told Reuters news agency.
So far, 123 people have been rescued from the site in Ikotun district. The exact number of missing has yet to be confirmed.
The disaster happened as three additional floors were being added to the two-storey building, reportedly a guesthouse for foreign followers of TB Joshua's The Synagogue, Church of All Nations.
TB Joshua, dubbed "The Prophet", has an almost fanatical following among Nigerians and people across the world, attracted by his purported healing powers and prophecies.
Joshua preaches to massive crowds at his megachurch every week, and according to his website, SCOAN "hosts thousands of national and international visitors" each year.
"People travel from around the world to witness and receive from the mighty work that God is doing in the life of Prophet TB Joshua," it states.
Emergency services and the media were attacked as they tried to get to the building and rescue operations were continuing on Sunday, Farinloye said.
Joshua said on his Facebook page, TB Joshua Ministries, that reports that the church auditorium had collapsed and that there had been heavy casualties were not correct.
"The few people that were there are being rescued," he said on Friday. Joshua was widely quoted in Nigeria's media on Sunday as saying that a low-flying plane that had been repeatedly circling the building may have been responsible for the collapse.
Aljazeera
"We have 41 dead now," Ibrahim Farinloye, spokesman in Lagos for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told Reuters news agency.
So far, 123 people have been rescued from the site in Ikotun district. The exact number of missing has yet to be confirmed.
The disaster happened as three additional floors were being added to the two-storey building, reportedly a guesthouse for foreign followers of TB Joshua's The Synagogue, Church of All Nations.
TB Joshua, dubbed "The Prophet", has an almost fanatical following among Nigerians and people across the world, attracted by his purported healing powers and prophecies.
Joshua preaches to massive crowds at his megachurch every week, and according to his website, SCOAN "hosts thousands of national and international visitors" each year.
"People travel from around the world to witness and receive from the mighty work that God is doing in the life of Prophet TB Joshua," it states.
Emergency services and the media were attacked as they tried to get to the building and rescue operations were continuing on Sunday, Farinloye said.
Joshua said on his Facebook page, TB Joshua Ministries, that reports that the church auditorium had collapsed and that there had been heavy casualties were not correct.
"The few people that were there are being rescued," he said on Friday. Joshua was widely quoted in Nigeria's media on Sunday as saying that a low-flying plane that had been repeatedly circling the building may have been responsible for the collapse.
Aljazeera
Friday, September 12, 2014
Boko Haram reportedly have surrounded Maiduguri
Boko Haram fighters have surrounded the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri and are preparing an imminent takeover, an influential regional group claimed on Thursday, calling for military reinforcements.
The warning from the Borno Elders Forum, made up of retired senior civilian and military officials, comes after the United States warned of an attack on the city and analysts said the government risked losing control of the region.
But Nigeria's military described the elders' warning as "alarmist", saying it was "clearly intended to cause panic in the city and the nation".
Maiduguri has special significance for Boko Haram. It was where the heavily armed Islamist group was founded as an anti-corruption movement in 2002 and is regarded as its spiritual home.
The forum voiced its fears after Boko Haram seized a number of towns and villages across Borno and in neighbouring Yobe and Adamawa states in recent weeks and declared one of them part of an Islamic caliphate.
In Borno, the militants are now said to control an area from the north around Lake Chad, down to the eastern border with Cameroon and round to Bama, 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Maiduguri to the south.
Nigeria's military has claimed to have retaken Bama, but the elders said the government needed to act, asserting that the militants were in reach of the city.
"They have declared their caliphate is an independent Islamic State with their headquarters at the all-important and military strategic city of Gwoza," the elders said in an emailed statement.
"They declared the Gwoza Emir's palace as their seat of government, hoisting their flag there. They have annexed and are sitting in court in several other key towns and regions...
"They have completely surrounded the city of Maiduguri. It is apparent that their imminent target is to take the city of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital," they said, also calling on the government to fortify the city.
- 'Horror, death, destruction' -
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states have been under emergency military rule since May last year but despite Boko Haram being driven out of Maiduguri by the military and civilian vigilantes, thousands of people have since died in the countryside.
Many more have been forced to flee their homes. A recent United Nations estimate said that as many as 650,000 people had been displaced both within Nigeria and into neighbouring countries.
The elders said that half of Borno state's 4.1 million population was now living in temporary housing in Maiduguri and there were genuine fears that an attack could exacerbate the crisis.Roads and bridges have been destroyed, schools shut and the economy blighted. Maiduguri has also been without mains electricity for the last three months.
The elders even warned of "starvation" given that subsistence farmers had not been able to plant crops this year because of the chaos.
Borno had been devastated by "five years of horror, death, destruction and misery", they added, and criticised the government for its "dismal but also frustrating" response to the insurgency.
The militants had been treated with "kid gloves", they said, while a supposed troop surge had not been effective.
Nigeria's military has seen dissent within its ranks, with soldiers complaining of a lack of adequate weaponry to fight the better-armed militants. Some soldiers have refused to deploy or fled attacks.
They added that there had not been enough political will to fight Boko Haram and warned that the situation risked "the total annihilation of the inhabitants of Borno".
On Twitter, Nigeria's military said: "All facets of security arrangements for the defence of Maiduguri has been upgraded to handle any planned attack or attempt to disrupt the city's prevailing peace.
"This kind of alarmist report is uncalled for in view of the efforts and alertness. Citizens are nevertheless enjoined to remain vigilant as they go about their lawful business."
The military added that the situation in Gwoza, Bama and Gamboru Ngala in Borno and Mubi, Michika, Bazza and Gulak in Adamawa as well as other parts of the northeast was "being stabilised".
"Highly coordinated" air and land operations were continuing and "the efforts are yielding impressive results in the overall move to rid the area of terrorists," it said on @DefenceInfoNG.
AFP
Related stories: Nigerian military recaptures Bama Town from Boko Haram
Boko Haram seize town in Adamawa state
The warning from the Borno Elders Forum, made up of retired senior civilian and military officials, comes after the United States warned of an attack on the city and analysts said the government risked losing control of the region.
But Nigeria's military described the elders' warning as "alarmist", saying it was "clearly intended to cause panic in the city and the nation".
Maiduguri has special significance for Boko Haram. It was where the heavily armed Islamist group was founded as an anti-corruption movement in 2002 and is regarded as its spiritual home.
The forum voiced its fears after Boko Haram seized a number of towns and villages across Borno and in neighbouring Yobe and Adamawa states in recent weeks and declared one of them part of an Islamic caliphate.
In Borno, the militants are now said to control an area from the north around Lake Chad, down to the eastern border with Cameroon and round to Bama, 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Maiduguri to the south.
Nigeria's military has claimed to have retaken Bama, but the elders said the government needed to act, asserting that the militants were in reach of the city.
"They have declared their caliphate is an independent Islamic State with their headquarters at the all-important and military strategic city of Gwoza," the elders said in an emailed statement.
"They declared the Gwoza Emir's palace as their seat of government, hoisting their flag there. They have annexed and are sitting in court in several other key towns and regions...
"They have completely surrounded the city of Maiduguri. It is apparent that their imminent target is to take the city of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital," they said, also calling on the government to fortify the city.
- 'Horror, death, destruction' -
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states have been under emergency military rule since May last year but despite Boko Haram being driven out of Maiduguri by the military and civilian vigilantes, thousands of people have since died in the countryside.
Many more have been forced to flee their homes. A recent United Nations estimate said that as many as 650,000 people had been displaced both within Nigeria and into neighbouring countries.
The elders said that half of Borno state's 4.1 million population was now living in temporary housing in Maiduguri and there were genuine fears that an attack could exacerbate the crisis.Roads and bridges have been destroyed, schools shut and the economy blighted. Maiduguri has also been without mains electricity for the last three months.
The elders even warned of "starvation" given that subsistence farmers had not been able to plant crops this year because of the chaos.
Borno had been devastated by "five years of horror, death, destruction and misery", they added, and criticised the government for its "dismal but also frustrating" response to the insurgency.
The militants had been treated with "kid gloves", they said, while a supposed troop surge had not been effective.
Nigeria's military has seen dissent within its ranks, with soldiers complaining of a lack of adequate weaponry to fight the better-armed militants. Some soldiers have refused to deploy or fled attacks.
They added that there had not been enough political will to fight Boko Haram and warned that the situation risked "the total annihilation of the inhabitants of Borno".
On Twitter, Nigeria's military said: "All facets of security arrangements for the defence of Maiduguri has been upgraded to handle any planned attack or attempt to disrupt the city's prevailing peace.
"This kind of alarmist report is uncalled for in view of the efforts and alertness. Citizens are nevertheless enjoined to remain vigilant as they go about their lawful business."
The military added that the situation in Gwoza, Bama and Gamboru Ngala in Borno and Mubi, Michika, Bazza and Gulak in Adamawa as well as other parts of the northeast was "being stabilised".
"Highly coordinated" air and land operations were continuing and "the efforts are yielding impressive results in the overall move to rid the area of terrorists," it said on @DefenceInfoNG.
AFP
Related stories: Nigerian military recaptures Bama Town from Boko Haram
Boko Haram seize town in Adamawa state
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