Nigeria villagers kill Boko Haram Members

 

Villagers kill and detain scores of fighters alleged of setting up a fresh attack in the  north piece of the country.

Villagers in the Northern part of Nigeria where Boko Haram operate have killed and held scores of fighters who were suspected of planning a fresh attack, the residents and a security official said.
Peoples in Nigeria's northern states have been forming vigilante groups in various areas to resist the armed group which has held more than 270 schoolgirls captive since last month.
In Kalabalge, a village about 250km from the Borno state capital of Maiduguri, residents said they were taking matters into their own hands because the Nigerian military was perceived as not doing enough to stalk Boko Haram attacks.
On Tuesday morning, after learning about an impending attack by fighters, locals ambushed two trucks with gunmen, according to local officials.
At least 41 fighters were killed in the attack, officials, who spoke to Al Jazeera on conditions of anonymity, said.



The AP news agency was told that at least 10 armed men were in custody. It was not immediately clear where the detainees were being held.

Kalabalge trader Ajid Musa said that after residents organised the vigilante group, "it is impossible" for fighters to successfully stage attacks there.

"That is why most attacks by the Boko Haram on our village continued [to] fail because they cannot come in here and start shooting and killing people," he said.

US support

Borno is where more than 300 girls were abducted last month and one of three Nigerian states where President Goodluck Jonathan has imposed a state of emergency, giving the military special powers to fight self-declared jihadist groups, whose stronghold is in northeast Nigeria.

Britain and the US are now actively involved in the effort to rescue the missing girls.

US Attorney General Eric Holder said FBI agents and a hostage negotiating team were in Nigeria now, providing technology and other materials. US reconnaissance aircraft were flying over Nigeria in search of the missing girls.

Boko Haram kidnapped the girls on April 15 from a school in Chibok. At least 276 of them are still held captive, with the group's leader threatening to sell them into slavery.

In a video released on Monday, he offered to release the girls in exchange for the freedom of jailed Boko Haram members.

A Nigerian government official has said "all options" are now open - including negotiations or a possible military operation with foreign help.

Boko Haram has killed more than 1,500 people this year.

 

We’ll march to Chibok naked…

As protests against the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls continue to spread all over the country, Nigerian women, under the aegis of Women Arise Against Terror Group, have threatened to march to Chibok half-naked, if the Federal Government fails to secure the release of the abducted girls, within the next 14 days.

Making the threat on Monday, in Lagos, during a protest march to the Lagos State governor’s office in Alausa, Ikeja, the president of the group, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, stated that it had become imperative for them to join other concerned people all over the globe, to ask for the release of the abducted girls.

She explained that besides going to the governor’s office to present a letter of protest addressed to President Goodluck Jonathan, through the governor, the group had lined up several activities meant to put pressure on the Federal Government to expedite action concerning the release of the girls.

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According to her, the protest, which would go on for the next 14 days in other parts of the country, would be rounded off in Chibok, with the women marching half-naked, if the girls were not released before then.

“We came here first to deliver this letter to the governor, to help us pass it to Mr President, because we believe the governor shares some of those ideals. Today, we will be going to Enugu, while we intend to visit other states too. This will go on for the next 14 days and if the girls are not released by then, God forbid, we would be ready to march to Chibok half-naked,” she stated.

Group lauds international community
By Suzy Oruya -Onitsha

The National Coalition for Justice and Equity, on Monday, lauded the international community for its concern over issues in Nigeria, especially on the need to release the abducted schoolgirls, unconditionally.

Speaking through its chairman, Mr Vincent Ezekwueme, the group said, looking at the situation from the positive light; it showed how important and esteemed the country was to the international community and other influential countries.

He urged Nigerians to rise above political and religious sentiments to fight terrorism.

Ezekwueme appealed to the Boko Haram sect to lay down its arms and respect the sanctity of the human life for God and humanity sake, even as it regarded tender schoolgirls, who had not committed any crime by going to school.

Group joins calls for release of girls
By Bola Badmus -Lagos

A non-political group, Jewel of Nigeria (JON), on Monday, joined calls for the Boko Haram insurgents to immediately release the over 200 girls abducted from a school in Chibok, Borno State, about three weeks ago.

Director-General of the group, Mr Wale Oso, made the call in a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune.

According to the group, the Boko Haram sect should immediately release the kidnapped schoolgirls to their parents and comfort of their homes, just as it urged the sect “to put themselves in the shoes of the parents of these girls and imagine how it would feel if their children or sisters were cruelly snatched from school and made to endure in horror and terrifying environment they are currently being held.”

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Jonathan off to Congo for consultations on regional security

President Goodluck Jonathan left Abuja, Monday afternoon, for Oyo, in the Republic of Congo, to consult with his Congolese counterpart, President Denis Sassou Nguesso, on the current security situation in West and Central Africa ahead of the meeting of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, which opens in the Congolese town on Wednesday.

President Jonathan, who was accompanied by some of his principal aides and advisers will return to Abuja Tuesday morning.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau: A ruthless leader with a twisted ideology

Shekau was born in Shekau village that borders Niger. He studied under a cleric and then attended Borno State College of Legal and Islamic Studies for higher studies on Islam.

That's why he's also known as 'Darul Tawheed,' which translates to an expert in monotheism, or the oneness of Allah.

He's a polyglot

He speaks several languages fluently: Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri and Arabic. But English isn't one of them. After all, he heads a group that rejects all things Western.

He's elusive

Even his age is unknown -- estimates range between 38 and 49.

The U.S. State Department has Shekau's year of birth listed as 1965, 1969 and 1975.

He's a loner

Analysts describe Shekau as a loner and a master of disguise. He does not speak directly with members, opting to communicate through a few select confidants.

He uses many aliases: Abu Bakr Skikwa, Imam Abu Bakr Shiku and Abu Muhammad Abu Bakr Bin Muhammad Al Shakwi Al Muslimi Bishku among them.

He was an unruly No. 2

Boko Haram was founded by Mohammed Yusuf, a charismatic, well-educated cleric who drove a Mercedes as part of his push for a pure Islamic state in Nigeria. He wasn't too effective as a leader and had a hard time keeping his second-in-command in check. Shekau was more radical and had grander designs.

... And merciless as No. 1

Mohammed Yusuf was killed in a security crackdown in 2009, along with about 700 of his followers. That left Shekau in charge. He vowed to strike back, and his group has spared no one: government workers, police officers, journalists, villagers, students and churchgoers. Human Rights Watch estimates that in the past five years, more than 3,000 people have been killed.

He's come back from the dead

The Nigerian military has touted Shekau's death several times, only to retract its claim after he appeared alive and vibrant in propaganda videos.

They almost got him in September 2012 when they raided his home, where he had snuck in for his six-day-old baby's naming ceremony, according to the International Crisis Group. He managed to get away with a gunshot wound to the leg; his wife and three children were taken by the military.

He uses Islam to recruit and radicalize

The northeast, where Boko Haram has been most active, is economically depressed and among the least educated regions in Nigeria. Shekau has done a good job of convincing residents that the powers in Abuja are corrupt and a better system of government would be a strict enforcement of Islamic Sharia law across Nigeria. And his promise, coupled with a weapon and a license to plunder, has been enticing to hundreds of young men.

... and the government's response isn't helping

The central government's heavy-handed and frequently untargeted anti-terrorism campaign has just helped create more members to sustain Boko Haram. The country's own Human Rights Commission last year accused the military of arbitrary killings, torture and rape in its campaign against the group. This makes for fertile territory for Boko Haram.

Dates of Birth Used: 1965, 1969, 1975

Place of Birth: Yobe, Nigeria

Height: Tall

Build: Slim

Complexion: Dark

Ethnicity: Kanuri

Languages: Arabic, Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri

Aliases: Abu Bakr Skikwa, Imam Abu Bakr Shiku, Abu Muhammad Abu Bakr Bin Muhammad Al Shakwi Al Muslimi Bishku, Abubakar Shakkau


From the U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice

He's exporting his brand of terror

There's no firm evidence as yet that Boko Haram has ambitions beyond Nigeria. But its campaign of terror has spilled into remote parts of Cameroon and it appears to have informal links with militant Islamist groups in Mali and Niger.

He's made good on his brutal threat

It was in May 2013 that Shekau first announced in a video that Boko Haram would start kidnapping girls. The kidnappings, he said, were retaliation for Nigerian security forces nabbing the wives and children of group members.

The most horrifying instance was last month's abduction of 276 girls from a girl's school.

"I abducted your girls," he taunted with a chilling smile in a new video that surfaced this week. "There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell."

There's a $7 million bounty on his head

Shekau has been on the radar of U.S. officials since he came to power in 2009. Last June, the United States put a bounty on him, offering a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to his location.

... But that's yet to yield results

Here's why, says CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour: "(African warlord) Joseph Kony's had a bounty for years and years. Even with the 'Stop Kony' video that went viral, nothing has happened to get Joseph Kony -- even though it's about the only thing in Africa that the United States has committed some forces and some intelligence to.

"Osama bin Laden was not given up because of the $25 million bounty. And who knows whether this will be the case."