Top Federal Government officials are now curious over how the Boko Haram suspect, Ali Tishau, who was released from police custody on bail, appeared on a local television station interview programme to castigate the government some days ago.
Reliable sources told Saturday Tribune that the authorities have set up a powerful machinery to investigate how Tishau was released without an official consent.
According to the sources, the investigation, would culminate in a major shake-up in the law enforcement agencies over the incident considered as embarrassing the government.
The source claimed the government was already aware that an arm of the security services allegedly orchestrated the interview in order to make the government look as if it was not doing anything to address the Boko Haram issue.
Tishau, who spoke on behalf of the sect on their alleged grievances and what government should do to assuage them, was arrested by the police on December 20, 2010 and detained for interrogation.
Consequently, he was charged to Wuse Chief Magistrate Court One on March 28, 2011 and granted bail, and again arraigned before a Federal Capital Territory High Court Abuja on May 7, 2011 and granted bail.
The sources said that on each occasion that the suspect was granted bail, the police had always re-arrested him on security grounds.
According to the sources, the matter assumed a new twist when one of the chiefs of a security agency requested the police to release him to them on June 27, 2011, to enable them conclude their investigation on the suspect.
The request was reportedly granted by the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim on July 7, 2011, with a proviso that the suspect should be returned to the police in line with normal practice among security agencies.
However, the police hierarchy was shocked that the suspect was never returned to the police only to see him being interviewed on the TV station purportedly organised by one of the security agencies.
But police in their reaction through the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Olusola Amore, said the police did not hide bomb warnings from presidency as claimed by the suspect during the interview.
He said there was no iota of truth in the claim that the self-acclaimed Boko Haram member had given useful information to the police on the spate of bombings that occurred recently.
Source
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Soldiers Foil Boko Haram’s Fresh Bid To Bomb Abuja
SECURITY operatives have foiled an attempt by about 920 suspected members of Boko Haram to infiltrate the federal capital, Abuja ostensibly to carry out the earlier threat by the group to bomb the city during today’s 51st Independence Anniversary celebration.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the operatives rounded them up, as they were trying to sneak into the city through different routes between the FCT and neighbouring Niger and Adamawa states.
The operation was reportedly carried out by the operatives of Military Intelligence and Brigade of Guards, with the suspects comprising mostly Nigerians, Sudanese and Chadians.
It is recalled that the nation was thrown into mourning on October 1, 2010 following the bombing of the Eagle Square, the venue of Nigeria’s golden jubilee celebrations.
It was gathered that the foreigners were obviously on a mischief mission, as they could not explain to security agencies what they were coming into Abuja to do.
The sources said that several arms and ammunition, including AK 47 rifles were recovered from the suspects who had been grilled towards providing some useful information that could assist security operatives while the suspects have been interrogated and relevant information collected from them which led the security agencies into unmasking those behind recent bombings in Abuja and some other parts of the country.
According to the sources, the operatives are working round the clock to arrest more suspects in Suleija in Niger State and in Nasarawa State, said to be the suspected hideouts of a few Boko Haram members in hiding.
Investigations revealed that most of the suspects arrested had been distributed into various cells of the security agencies where vital information are being collated as the government has not taken chances to ensure that the sect did not make good its threat on October 1.
Source
Saturday Tribune gathered that the operatives rounded them up, as they were trying to sneak into the city through different routes between the FCT and neighbouring Niger and Adamawa states.
The operation was reportedly carried out by the operatives of Military Intelligence and Brigade of Guards, with the suspects comprising mostly Nigerians, Sudanese and Chadians.
It is recalled that the nation was thrown into mourning on October 1, 2010 following the bombing of the Eagle Square, the venue of Nigeria’s golden jubilee celebrations.
It was gathered that the foreigners were obviously on a mischief mission, as they could not explain to security agencies what they were coming into Abuja to do.
The sources said that several arms and ammunition, including AK 47 rifles were recovered from the suspects who had been grilled towards providing some useful information that could assist security operatives while the suspects have been interrogated and relevant information collected from them which led the security agencies into unmasking those behind recent bombings in Abuja and some other parts of the country.
According to the sources, the operatives are working round the clock to arrest more suspects in Suleija in Niger State and in Nasarawa State, said to be the suspected hideouts of a few Boko Haram members in hiding.
Investigations revealed that most of the suspects arrested had been distributed into various cells of the security agencies where vital information are being collated as the government has not taken chances to ensure that the sect did not make good its threat on October 1.
Source
Oct 1: Residents Flee Abuja Over MEND/Boko Haram’s threat
ABUJA, the federal capital, went quiet on Friday, following a mass exodus of residents out from the city over fears of attack from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and the Boko Haram.
Investigations by Saturday Tribune revealed that as early as Thursday morning, panicky residents had begun moving out of FCT to other parts of the country considered safer.
The exodus was so much that it created a heavy traffic jam in Gwagwalada, reminiscent of Christmas travels when residents go home in large numbers to celebrate.
Though some of the residents used the opportunity offered by the declaration of Monday as public holidays by the Federal Government to mark the 51st Independence anniversary to have a re-union with their kits and kin outside the territory, it was gathered that most of those who left, travelled out for fear of uncertainty.
MEND had warned that it would bomb Abuja again today, one year after it claimed responsibility for detonating the bomb that killed many people near the Eagle Square, Abuja where the 50th independence anniversary was taking place.
Boko Haram members, on their part, had not made any similar threat, but nobody knows what they may be up to today.
On Friday, Abuja city had become quiet and the usual traffic jam in the city had disappeared, though, when Saturday Tribune visited some parks, the travellers played down the motive of their spirited efforts to leave the FCT.
In Kubwa, a civil servant who did not want her name in print, stated that she was travelling to maximize the period to see her family in Lagos whom she claimed not to have seen for a while.
This Is Not Nigeria Of Our Dream - Labour
As Nigeria celebrates its 51 years of independence today, labour leaders have expressed regret at the stunted growth of the country, declaring that, “this is not Nigeria of our dream.”
At independence in 1960, they said the expectations were very high because of Nigeria’s enormous human, materials and natural resources, but regretted that the inept political class has destroyed those dreams and made the country one of the poorest nations in the world.
However, President Goodluck Jonathan is confident that the nation will overcome the numerous challenges it is facing currently, calling Nigerians to work together to create a country where the rule of law is sacrosanct in order to banish corruption and attendant vices.
In his address to the nation on the occasion of the 51st Independence Anniversary, he observed that Nigerians were resilient, as their spirit could not be broken and were determined to chart a course through the turbulent waters of nation building.
“Together, we shall work for a Nigeria in which democracy and the rule of law are sacrosanct, a country where corruption and its attendant vices, are banished. A country where human life is sacred and respected, and where the rights of the individuals are protected,” he said.
The President noted that the journey to nationhood has always had its own challenges, saying that “Nigeria has had her own share. Our growing pains as a nation have included the civil war, the June 12 election crisis and restlessness in the Niger Delta. But Nigeria has always overcome each of these challenges. We overcame before. We will overcome yet again.”
But labour declared that there was nothing definite to celebrate, as the Nigerian workers and the people generally had been subjected to untoward hardship.
“The pervasive harsh economic Nigerians are being punished with cannot suggest any celebration,” Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Deputy President, Comrade Promise Adewusi, told Saturday Tribune.
He said the last 51 years had been a period of deficit and ineffective political leadership, adding that for workers and the Nigerian people, living had become a sin induced by poverty occasioned by inept political leadership.
The NLC deputy president described the N18, 000 national minimum wage as a mere starvation wage, which had become an albatross to fraudulent political leadership who siphoned away the nation’s wealth.
At independence in 1960, they said the expectations were very high because of Nigeria’s enormous human, materials and natural resources, but regretted that the inept political class has destroyed those dreams and made the country one of the poorest nations in the world.
However, President Goodluck Jonathan is confident that the nation will overcome the numerous challenges it is facing currently, calling Nigerians to work together to create a country where the rule of law is sacrosanct in order to banish corruption and attendant vices.
In his address to the nation on the occasion of the 51st Independence Anniversary, he observed that Nigerians were resilient, as their spirit could not be broken and were determined to chart a course through the turbulent waters of nation building.
“Together, we shall work for a Nigeria in which democracy and the rule of law are sacrosanct, a country where corruption and its attendant vices, are banished. A country where human life is sacred and respected, and where the rights of the individuals are protected,” he said.
The President noted that the journey to nationhood has always had its own challenges, saying that “Nigeria has had her own share. Our growing pains as a nation have included the civil war, the June 12 election crisis and restlessness in the Niger Delta. But Nigeria has always overcome each of these challenges. We overcame before. We will overcome yet again.”
But labour declared that there was nothing definite to celebrate, as the Nigerian workers and the people generally had been subjected to untoward hardship.
“The pervasive harsh economic Nigerians are being punished with cannot suggest any celebration,” Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Deputy President, Comrade Promise Adewusi, told Saturday Tribune.
He said the last 51 years had been a period of deficit and ineffective political leadership, adding that for workers and the Nigerian people, living had become a sin induced by poverty occasioned by inept political leadership.
The NLC deputy president described the N18, 000 national minimum wage as a mere starvation wage, which had become an albatross to fraudulent political leadership who siphoned away the nation’s wealth.
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