SUSPECTED members of the violent Islamic sect,
Boko Haram, have again bombed a market in
Nguro-Soye, near Bama, Borno State, killing no
fewer than 29 persons.
Reuters reported on Sunday that the attack on the
market was said to have been carried out on
Saturday night.
“I travelled to Bama to buy bags of beans.
Suddenly, there was a deafening bang at the
middle of the market. It was in the late afternoon
and commercial activities were at their peak,” said
Shuaibu Abdulahi, a trader at the market. He
estimated the death toll to be as high as 29.
Abba Tahir, a bus driver who was said to be
offloading passengers at the market during the
incident, said he counted 20 bodies.
“People were helping in evacuating the corpses
after the confusion had died down. Some people
who were injured were taken to the general
hospital,” Tahir added.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack
yet as of the time of this report.
Borno State Police Commissioner,, Mr. Lawal
Tanko, who confirmed the incident, was quoted as
saying, “An explosion in the market in Nguro-Soye
killed 17 people.”
Bama is a border town and the headquarter of the
Bama Local Government Area of Borno State. It is
about 135 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state
capital.
The town is not new to attacks by the Boko Haram
insurgents. The 202 Army Battalion Barracks
located in the town was hit by Boko Haram in
December 2013.
Several women and children, mostly wives and
wards of soldiers, who battled the insurgents for
over seven hours, were killed in the attack
launched at about 3 am.
On February 19 this year, the insurgents also
attacked Bama.Confirming the February attack,
Governor Kashim Shettima had said the attackers
“inflicted a lot of damage on the town.” A Borno
State senator, Ahmed Zanna, had then told the BBC
that the attack on Bama lasted for five hours.
Boko Haram has killed well over 1,500 people in
the North-East zone since the sect launched its
war against the Federal Government.
In the course of their bombing campaign, the
insurgents have attacked military and police
facilities, worship houses, markets and drinking
joints.
At the height of the Boko Haram notoriety in May
last year, the Federal Government slammed a six-
month state of emergency on three north-eastern
states of Yobe, Adamawa and Borno.
The emergency measure was renewed for another
six months in November but while the military
claimed to be having the upper hand in the battle
against the insurgents, the sect members
continued to launch attacks with devastating
consequences on the civilian population.
On February 24, the insurgents attacked the
Federal Government College, Buni Yadi,in the Gujba
Local Government Area of Yobe State.
Yobe State Police Commissioner, Sanusi Rufai, had
then said that 29 male students were killed during
the attack but at least 40 students were believed to
have been murdered.
The insurgents, who reportedly severed the heads
of many of the victims, also burnt down buildings
in the school.
The development forced the Federal Government
to announce early in March the closure of its five
unity schools in the North-East.
Meanwhile, security agents in a church in Jos,
Plateau State, on Sunday prevented an attack on
worshippers by gunmen suspected to be Fulani
herdsmen.
The gunmen were said to have targeted the church
located at the Rantya low cost area of Nyago Gyel
district in the Jos South Local Government Area.
They had descended from the hills and were about
to launch the attack when a member of the
church’s security team spotted them.
Though the gunmen, in their hundreds, immediately
started shooting sporadically in the direction of the
church, they were repelled by men of the Special
Task Force.
An eyewitness, Mr. Godwin Okoko, told one of our
correspondents that but for the vigilance of the
police and soldiers attached to the STF, who
responded to distress calls by the worshippers, the
gunmen would have succeeded.
Okoko said about 1,000 people were in the church
at about 10am preparing to commence Sunday
worship “when the gunmen started descending
from the hills and started shooting but were
swiftly repelled by men of the STF.”
Okoko is the country coordinator of a non-
governmental organisation, Apurimac Onlus.
Plateau State Police Commissioner, Mr. Chris
Olakpe, confirmed the incident to our
correspondent on Sunday.
He said that no life was lost and nobody was
arrested.
“My men got a distress call that some gunmen
were planning to attack a church as the
worshippers were about to commence service. We
stormed the area and there was a heavy exchange
of gunfire between the gunmen and a combined
force of policemen and STF.”
Monday, 24 March 2014
Boko Haram bombs market, kills 29 in Borno
Keshi in Lagos for TomTom event
Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, is among top
dignitaries that will grace the TomTom Go-To-
Brazil media launch scheduled to hold on Tuesday
in Lagos.
The African Coach of the Year, confirmed to the
organisers, HotSports that he would be at the
event.
He said, “I will be in Lagos for the TomTom Go-
To-Brazil media launch God willing.”
He commended TomTom for its support for
Nigerian football through different initiatives. He
maintained that the brand’s support to the
country’s national teams, particularly the Super
Eagles, has been a source of encouragement for
them.
“I commend TomTom for its enormous support for
the country’s national teams, particularly my team,
the Super Eagles. It is an encouragement to us. I
urge the brand to keep this up and I hope other
companies would emulate this,” Keshi said.
He added that he and his team would do their
utmost best to perform well and make Nigerians
happy at all times with Brazil 2014 in sight.
The TomTom Go-To-Brazil project is a consumer
reward initiative where some lucky Nigerians will
win all-expense paid round trip to Brazil.
Immigration tragedy: Moro may appear before Senate Tuesday
THERE were indications on Sunday that the Senate
Committee on Interior had invited the Minister of
Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, and the Comptroller
General of the Nigeria Immigration Service’s, Mr.
David Parradang, to appear before it on Tuesday
(tomorrow) over the NIS tragic recruitment two
Saturdays ago.
An aide to the Senate President, who spoke with
our correspondent on the condition of anonymity,
said that though there were pressures on his
principal from some elders in his state to save
Moro, he maintained that Mark would not interfere
in the probe process.
He said Mark would subject the report of the
committee to an extensive debate by the senators
before demanding for votes from members to
show his neutrality in the entire process.
“It is a known fact that the Interior Minister is from
the same state with the Senate President but that
does not mean he would not perform his legislative
duties to Nigerians,” the source said.
No fewer than 19 job seekers lost their lives during
stampedes that occurred in the various centres for
the NIS recruitment across the country.
The Senate had directed its Committee on Interior
to carry out a public investigative hearing on the
tragedy.
The Senate, presided over by the Deputy Senate
President, Ike Ekweremadu, had equally asked the
committee to submit report of its investigation
within one week with a view to unveiling and
recommending for prosecution those responsible
for the tragedy.
The Senate outrage and resolutions followed a
motion moved on the issue by the Chairman,
Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Atiku
Bagudu (PDP Kebbi Central), and 10 other senators
on Tuesday last week.
Meanwhile, a Presidency source on Sunday told
one of our correspondents in Abuja that it was
already clear to the President that Moro should
take responsibility for the avoidable loss of lives
and embarrassment to the administration.
The source said it was based on this conviction
that the President warned all ministers and heads
of government departments and agencies at the
last Federal Executive Council meeting, that he
would not hesitate to order the arrest and
prosecution of any of them under whose watch
such an incident recurred.
Moro’s fate, the source said, would be decided on
the President’s return from his current three-
nation trip, which he started on Thursday.
However, The PUNCH again learnt on Sunday that
the March 15 tragedy could have been averted if
only the Ministry of Interior had not ignored a
proposal by its steering committee on recruitment.
Investigations in Abuja indicated that the
committee headed by the Director/Secretary of the
Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration, and Prison Service
Board, S.D Tapgun, had recommended that the
recruitment exercise be shifted to either the last
weekend in March or second week in April, 2014
for proper arrangement to be made for a
successful exercise but that the ministry ignored
the suggestion.
The recruitment committee proposed that N5m
should be budgeted for hiring of ambulances and
buying of water. It also suggested that the exercise
be staggered to accommodate the huge number of
applicants, but these were not heeded.
At its last meeting held on March 7, 2014, the
committee reportedly raised a memo to the
minister on its recommendations, but it was
apparently ignored.
Further checks also revealed that the 16
committee members were drawn from the CDFIPB,
NIS, Ministry of Interior, and Drexel Tech Nigeria
Limited.
The membership included Tapgun, CDFIPB; Deputy
Director (A&P), CDFIPB, JaeI Kpatuvvak; Asst.
Director (Admin), CDFIPB, Okhamera A. I.; Asst.
Director (A&P) CDFIPB, Bello Torankawa; Asst.
Director (IMM) – CDFIPB, Hamid AbduII-Iamid;
Asst. Director (D&GP) – CDFIPB, Aduku, M. M; and
CIS (APU), NIS Oyedeji, T.V.
Others are Abubakar A. A. – interior ministry;
Chukwu O. C., – Rep. Asst. Director (F&A) –
CDFIPB; I. M. Makama – LA – CDFIPB; Nasiru
Yusuf -ICT Unit – CDFIPB; Shehu Mohammed –
Deputy Director (D &GP) – CDFIPB; Mukah O. S. -
Chief Admin. Officer (FFS); Theodore Maiyaki –
Drexel Tech.; Wiiiiam Butau – Drexel Tech. and
Abioye Bankole – Drexei Tech.
Further investigations showed that Parradang had
earlier written to the CDFIPB and kicked against
the recruitment exercise.
In the letter dated September 9, 2013, a copy of
which was obtained by The PUNCH, the CG
protested the decision of the board to recruit
personnel into the NIS without formally informing
him about it.
Part of the letter read, “I wish to draw your
attention to an advertisement which has just been
brought to my notice, calling for application of
suitably qualified persons for appointment into
Categories’ ‘A’ (Superintendent Cadre) and
‘B’ (Inspectorate Cadre) of the Nigeria Immigration
in today’s Daily Trust – Monday, September 9,
2013 on page seven (7)
“I wish to further state that this advertisement for
employment took me by surprise and the Agency
which I head (i.e. the Nigeria Immigration Service).
I am aware that the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration
and Prisons Service Board Act CAP: 12, 2004
confers Powers of Appointment on the Board,
however the same Act equally delegates such
powers (i.e. recruitment) to the Services —
particularly recruitment into Category “B” , which
has been the case up till this moment.
“The said publication or advertisement for
appointment of persons into the Nigeria
Immigration Service without consultation or any
input whatsoever from us is to say the least,
surprising and embarrassing to me. I feel NIS
should be taken along in this issue regarding staff
recruitment into Category “B” in particular, which
is usually conducted and supervised by the
Service.”
The board in its reply dated October 29, 2013
apologised for not informing the CG about the
recruitment exercise and told him that the power
delegated to the service had not changed.
The letter signed by Tapgun, however, said the
recruitment would proceed and applications (for
junior personnel) that fell under the purview of the
NIS would be forwarded for action.
Our correspondent learnt that the contract for the
recruitment had been awarded to Drexel Tech by
the minister, before Parradang assumed office.