Scores of people are feared killed after an explosion ripped through a crowded motor park in Gombe town, Gombe State, residents have said.
A journalist based in the state, Mallam Tildee, told PREMIUM TIMES that the blast occurred at Dukku Motor Park early Monday.
Mr. Tildee said he was on his way to the scene of the blast and would be able to give casualty figure later.
The spokesperson of the police in the state, Fwaje Atajiri, could not be reached for comments.
A similar blast had occurred in November at the Gombe line motor park, killing scores of commuters, drivers and traders.
Premium Times
Monday, December 22, 2014
Boko Haram video shows the massacre of civilians
A new video from Boko Haram extremists shows gunmen shooting civilians lying face down in a dormitory and a leader saying they are being killed because they are “infidels.” The video, released to journalists late Saturday, comes two days after fleeing villagers reported that the extremists were rounding up older adults and killing them in two schools in Gwoza, in northeast Nigeria. “From now, killing, slaughtering, destructions and bombing will be our religious duty anywhere we invade,” the gunmen’s leader says in the video. “This is not the right time for us to keep prisoners.” The setting appears to be a school, which the leader says is in Bama, a town 40 miles north of Gwoza. Details about the shooting in the video were not available.
AP
AP
Friday, December 19, 2014
54 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death by firing squad
A human rights lawyer says 54 soldiers have been sentenced to death because they embarrassed Nigeria's military by demanding weapons to fight Islamic extremists, and says they were justified in not going on what would have been a suicidal mission.
Defense attorney Femi Falana said Thursday he will take all legal measures to prevent authorities from carrying out a "genocidal verdict" of death by firing squad delivered Wednesday night by a court-martial.
A statement from Falana describes evidence given during the court-martial that is an indictment of Nigeria's military establishment and, the lawyer said, the reason journalists were barred from the trial.
All the soldiers convicted are aged between 21 and 25 and most joined the army around 2012, he said.
With little or no training, they were deployed against Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram. The lawyer charged that money for salaries and to purchase arms is often diverted by corrupt officers.
"Instead of bringing such unpatriotic officers to book, the military authorities have engaged in the diversionary tactics of wasting the lives of innocent soldiers by sentencing them to death without any legal justification," Falana charged.
He said Boko Haram on July 9 attacked the soldiers when the battalion of 750 troops was down to just 174. The extremists killed 26 soldiers including three officers and seriously injured 82. The soldiers demanded to be properly armed and were assured this would happen, he said.
Instead, the battalion was ordered Aug. 4 to recapture three towns controlled by Boko Haram. The few soldiers who deployed were ambushed and kidnapped. When some weapons were made available Aug. 8, a second group of soldiers recaptured the towns and liberated their colleagues, Falana said.
"They were commended for their bravery and sacrifice. But for some inexplicable reasons, the army authorities ordered that the soldiers be charged with mutiny for allegedly exposing the armed forces to embarrassment by asking for weapons!" his statement said.
Falana told The Associated Press another 43 soldiers including a few officers remain on trial for mutiny and cowardice for refusing to fight the extremists.
CBS
Related stories: 12 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny
Some Nigerian soldiers refuse to fight Boko Haram until given new weapons
Wives of Nigerian soldiers protest the lack of resources troops have to combat Boko Haram
Defense attorney Femi Falana said Thursday he will take all legal measures to prevent authorities from carrying out a "genocidal verdict" of death by firing squad delivered Wednesday night by a court-martial.
A statement from Falana describes evidence given during the court-martial that is an indictment of Nigeria's military establishment and, the lawyer said, the reason journalists were barred from the trial.
All the soldiers convicted are aged between 21 and 25 and most joined the army around 2012, he said.
With little or no training, they were deployed against Nigeria's home-grown Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram. The lawyer charged that money for salaries and to purchase arms is often diverted by corrupt officers.
"Instead of bringing such unpatriotic officers to book, the military authorities have engaged in the diversionary tactics of wasting the lives of innocent soldiers by sentencing them to death without any legal justification," Falana charged.
He said Boko Haram on July 9 attacked the soldiers when the battalion of 750 troops was down to just 174. The extremists killed 26 soldiers including three officers and seriously injured 82. The soldiers demanded to be properly armed and were assured this would happen, he said.
Instead, the battalion was ordered Aug. 4 to recapture three towns controlled by Boko Haram. The few soldiers who deployed were ambushed and kidnapped. When some weapons were made available Aug. 8, a second group of soldiers recaptured the towns and liberated their colleagues, Falana said.
"They were commended for their bravery and sacrifice. But for some inexplicable reasons, the army authorities ordered that the soldiers be charged with mutiny for allegedly exposing the armed forces to embarrassment by asking for weapons!" his statement said.
Falana told The Associated Press another 43 soldiers including a few officers remain on trial for mutiny and cowardice for refusing to fight the extremists.
CBS
Related stories: 12 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny
Some Nigerian soldiers refuse to fight Boko Haram until given new weapons
Wives of Nigerian soldiers protest the lack of resources troops have to combat Boko Haram
Nigeria fighting to defend currency after global oil price drop
Nigeria's central bank has brought in further measures to support its currency, the naira.
Buyers of foreign currency must use that money within 48 hours or be forced to sell it back at the rate set by the central bank.
The naira hit record lows this week of more than 187 against the dollar.
The prolonged fall in the oil price is causing serious problems for Nigeria, which is heavily dependent on the commodity.
Nigeria, which is Africa's largest oil producer, receives 70% of government revenue and 90% of all foreign exchange earnings from oil.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) warned it would impose sanctions on anyone who did not follow its new rules. Bet
Speculators are betting on further falls in the naira by buying foreign currency in the hope that they will be able to buy more when they reconvert their money back.
In November, the CBN devalued the naira to 168 against the dollar, but its action has not stopped it falling further.
Earlier this week, Nigeria was forced to revise its budget because of the dramatic fall in the price of oil.
Its finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said its economy will now grow at 5.5% this year, rather than 6.4%.
In a separate development, Nigerian oil workers agreed to call off a strike that started on Monday.
A spokesman for one of the unions involved, Pengassan, said the government had given assurances that it would address union concerns over refinery maintenance.
This includes a renewed push to get a long-delayed bill passed in parliament, aimed at overhauling the industry and improving maintenance.
BBC
Related story: Nigeria cuts oil price benchmark due to falling global oil prices
Buyers of foreign currency must use that money within 48 hours or be forced to sell it back at the rate set by the central bank.
The naira hit record lows this week of more than 187 against the dollar.
The prolonged fall in the oil price is causing serious problems for Nigeria, which is heavily dependent on the commodity.
Nigeria, which is Africa's largest oil producer, receives 70% of government revenue and 90% of all foreign exchange earnings from oil.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) warned it would impose sanctions on anyone who did not follow its new rules. Bet
Speculators are betting on further falls in the naira by buying foreign currency in the hope that they will be able to buy more when they reconvert their money back.
In November, the CBN devalued the naira to 168 against the dollar, but its action has not stopped it falling further.
Earlier this week, Nigeria was forced to revise its budget because of the dramatic fall in the price of oil.
Its finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said its economy will now grow at 5.5% this year, rather than 6.4%.
In a separate development, Nigerian oil workers agreed to call off a strike that started on Monday.
A spokesman for one of the unions involved, Pengassan, said the government had given assurances that it would address union concerns over refinery maintenance.
This includes a renewed push to get a long-delayed bill passed in parliament, aimed at overhauling the industry and improving maintenance.
BBC
Related story: Nigeria cuts oil price benchmark due to falling global oil prices
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Boko Haram kidnap 100 villagers
Militants have stormed a remote village in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least 33 people and kidnapping at least 100, a survivor has told the BBC.
He said that suspected Boko Haram militants had seized young men, women and children from Gumsuri village.
The attack happened on Sunday but news has only just emerged, after survivors reached the city of Maiduguri.
Meanwhile, Cameroon's army says it has killed 116 Nigerian militants who had attacked one of its bases, AFP reports.
Residents told the BBC the armed militants attacked the border town of Amchide on Wednesday, arriving in two vehicles with many others on foot.
They raided the market area, setting fire to shops and more than 50 houses.
No group has said it carried out either attack but officials have blamed Nigerian-based Boko Haram militants.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in militant violence this year alone, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon.
The villagers who were kidnapped were from Gumsuri, not Bintiri, as was earlier reported by the BBC.
The survivor of the Gumsuri attack said that afterwards he returned to the village, about 70km (43 miles) south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, and helped bury 33 bodies.
He said he went from house-to-house to ascertain how many people were missing.
His testimony was confirmed to BBC Hausa by a local official. Neither person wanted their names to be published.
An official told the AFP news agency that a vigilante group that had protected the village from previous attacks was overpowered.
"After killing our youths, the insurgents have taken away our wives and daughters," a resident who fled to Maiduguri told AFP.
In Cameroon, the army said vehicles from its elite battalion had been caught in an ambush on Wednesday.
"At the same time... the Amchide military base was attacked by hundreds of fighters from the sect, but the response from our defence forces was instant and appropriate," AFP quotes it as saying.
One Cameroonian soldier was killed and an officer is missing, it reports. Death penalty
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the kidnappings are yet another example of just how vulnerable the communities of north-east Nigeria are and how the military has not been able to offer sufficient protection, despite promises of a massive deployment of soldiers supported by the air force.
The military has had problems of indiscipline amid reports of soldiers being poorly equipped, he says.
On Wednesday a Nigerian court martial handed down death sentences to 54 soldiers who had refused to take part in an operation last August to recapture three town overrun by the militants.
The soldiers, who were found guilty of mutiny, had complained that they did not have the weapons needed to take on the jihadists.
Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency since 2009 and is seeking to create an Islamist state in north-eastern Nigeria.
Attacks have increased since three states - Borno, Adamawa and Yobe - were put under emergency rule more than 18 months ago.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Borno state in April sparked international outrage.
Despite military assistance from countries such as China, France, the UK and US, the girls have not yet been rescued.
BBC
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
He said that suspected Boko Haram militants had seized young men, women and children from Gumsuri village.
The attack happened on Sunday but news has only just emerged, after survivors reached the city of Maiduguri.
Meanwhile, Cameroon's army says it has killed 116 Nigerian militants who had attacked one of its bases, AFP reports.
Residents told the BBC the armed militants attacked the border town of Amchide on Wednesday, arriving in two vehicles with many others on foot.
They raided the market area, setting fire to shops and more than 50 houses.
No group has said it carried out either attack but officials have blamed Nigerian-based Boko Haram militants.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in militant violence this year alone, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon.
The villagers who were kidnapped were from Gumsuri, not Bintiri, as was earlier reported by the BBC.
The survivor of the Gumsuri attack said that afterwards he returned to the village, about 70km (43 miles) south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, and helped bury 33 bodies.
He said he went from house-to-house to ascertain how many people were missing.
His testimony was confirmed to BBC Hausa by a local official. Neither person wanted their names to be published.
An official told the AFP news agency that a vigilante group that had protected the village from previous attacks was overpowered.
"After killing our youths, the insurgents have taken away our wives and daughters," a resident who fled to Maiduguri told AFP.
In Cameroon, the army said vehicles from its elite battalion had been caught in an ambush on Wednesday.
"At the same time... the Amchide military base was attacked by hundreds of fighters from the sect, but the response from our defence forces was instant and appropriate," AFP quotes it as saying.
One Cameroonian soldier was killed and an officer is missing, it reports. Death penalty
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the kidnappings are yet another example of just how vulnerable the communities of north-east Nigeria are and how the military has not been able to offer sufficient protection, despite promises of a massive deployment of soldiers supported by the air force.
The military has had problems of indiscipline amid reports of soldiers being poorly equipped, he says.
On Wednesday a Nigerian court martial handed down death sentences to 54 soldiers who had refused to take part in an operation last August to recapture three town overrun by the militants.
The soldiers, who were found guilty of mutiny, had complained that they did not have the weapons needed to take on the jihadists.
Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency since 2009 and is seeking to create an Islamist state in north-eastern Nigeria.
Attacks have increased since three states - Borno, Adamawa and Yobe - were put under emergency rule more than 18 months ago.
The kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Borno state in April sparked international outrage.
Despite military assistance from countries such as China, France, the UK and US, the girls have not yet been rescued.
BBC
Related story: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
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