Pen Point Review

Boko Haram bombs JTF patrol van
…3 soldiers injured, as banks, shops, schools shutdown
• Sect members sack Bauchi police post, cart away weapons
•Speaker sues for peace
By RAZAQ BAMIDELE, Lagos, TIMOTHY OLA, Maiduguri, PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi, JAMES OJO, UBONG UKPONG, Abuja
Friday, July 08, 2011

There was pandemonium in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital yesterday, as daring Boko Haram members bombed a patrol van of the Joint Task Force (JTF).

Three soldiers were injured. Guns boomed in the metropolis causing banks, shops, offices and schools to hurriedly close at 2p.m.
The development came in the wake of assurances by Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Onyeabor Ihejirika and Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr. Hafiz Ringim reading a riot act to the Islamic fundamentalists.

And in what looked like a reprisal attack, members of the sect sacked a police station in Bauchi, yesterday, where three of the adherents were killed by policemen on Tuesday. Weapons were carted away.

With the spate of bombings and serious threat to security in the country, Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, yesterday urged Nigerians residing outside their states of origin to embrace peace with their host communities. 
In the Maiduguri attack, penpointreveiw gathered that the soldiers, who were reportedly angered by the bombing of their colleagues and alleged refusal of residents to volunteer information about the bombers, went on rampage, which led to sporadic shooting witnessed in some parts of the city.



• Abandoned cart at Wulari Mammy Market in Maiduguri, in which an alleged
explosive was discovered yesterday.
Photo: The Sun Publishing
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With sound of gunshots from different directions, banks, shops, offices and schools were compelled to hurriedly shut down at about 2pm yesterday while people scurried home for safety, even as JTF patrol vehicles were seen moving into different directions.

“I can’t talk to you now because as you can see, the city is not safe. We have been living in fears since last week and events since Monday have been scaring to everybody. We don’t even know what is happening now,” said a trader, who simply gave his name as Christopher.   

Traders and marketers at the famous Maiduguri, Monday Market, the biggest in the North- east, were also forced to abandon their goods. The market was closed thereafter, as soldiers took strategic positions around the market areas.
Military sources said the explosive was thrown by the Boko Haram men into a JTF patrol vehicle at a checkpoint around Abaganaram area within the city at about 7.10 a.m. yesterday.

Residents in the area claimed one of the soldiers might have lost his life as a result of the explosion.
However, Commander of the JTF, Maj. Gen Jack Nwaogbo, who confirmed the incident said no soldier died as claimed by the residents.

“We recorded a bomb blast in the early hours of today (Wednesday) and available information shows that the bomb was thrown at our men around the Abaganaram area. Three of our men were injured and are now receiving treatment but no soldier or anybody died from the blast,” Nwaogbo disclosed. 
He explained that the explosion was not a twin bomb as reported by residents. He said the JTF would ensure peace and order returned to the troubled state.

Penpointreveiw observed that the major highway leading to Abaganaram, scene of the blast, was sealed off while all entreaties to allow the reporter access the area were rebuffed by the fierce-looking security men at Lamisula area and Prison side of the road.

Meanwhile, barely 12 hours after police burst a suspected Boko Haram hide-out in Bauchi metropolis, killing three members and arresting several others, gunmen last night attacked a police station in Toro Local Government Area.
The gunmen shot sporadically and carted away all the arms and ammunition in the station.
A dependable source said the gunshots caused pandemonium in the town as everyone including the five policemen on duty scampered for safety.

A senior staff of the council was reported to have discovered one explosive at the premises of a first generation bank in Toro and another one at the local government secretariat in the morning after the attack on the station.
The bank’s Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) was damaged during the attack. The bank and the council secretariat are not far from each other.

The discovery heightened fears among residents of Toro as the Bomb Disposal Unit of the police came to the bank and the secretariat and successfully detonated the explosives.
It was learnt that having chased away the policemen on duty on the night of the attack, the gunmen entered the station with no resistance at all.

Penpointreveiw correspondent learnt that the suspected Islamic fundamentalists, then ransacked the station and made away with all arms and ammunition in the armoury.
According to an eyewitness, the gunmen also freed the only detainee met at the police cell.
The gunshots caused panic among students of nearby Government Secondary School, Toro, who scampered into the bush on hearing the sporadic gunshots.

“We slept in the bush. We were scared to come out. We thought we would be killed,” a boarding student, who craved for anonymity told penpointreveiw.
Speaking to newsmen in his office, Police Public Relations Officer of the state command, Mohammed Barau an Assistant Superintendent confirmed the incident but stated that there was no casualty.
He said the Police had not yet taken stock of the armoury to ascertain the number of weapons carted away by the gunmen.
“We cannot be the same. This is the time that we need to understand that our federation is indeed, the only federation we have, there is no country in Africa with the infrastructure and capacity to accommodate refugees from Nigeria arising from crisis,” he pointed out.

Leader of the delegation, Alhaji Musa Saidu, in his address, had blamed the current insecurity and proliferation of armed groups to the failure of the authorities to provide development for the benefit of the people.
According to him, there was a yawning gap between the application of the resources of the nation and what was on ground as actual development.
He said it was absurd when the parliament recovered huge unspent budget funds while there were needs and challenges to attend to in the nation.

Saidu noted that unspent budget was a manifestation of corruption, inefficiency and poor service delivery, which he argued had eaten deep into the developmental process.
Meanwhile, following recent attacks on security formations in the country, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has procured about 74 sets of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) for installation throughout its 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commands.
Commandant General (CG) of the Corps, Dr Ade Abolurin, represented by his Deputy Commandant General (DCG) Operations, Evans Ewurum made the disclosure yesterday, in Abuja, while distributing the CCTV to the various commands.

Although the corps was not precise about the total number of CCTV sets procured and their amount, Ewurum, however said each state command took delivery of not less than two CCTV sets.
Stressing that the CCTV was one of the modern security equipment suitable for tackling the present security situation in the country, he disclosed that they would be installed at the command’s headquarters to detect criminal activities close to the premises.
Reacting to the spate of bombings, the Coalition of Ethnic Nationalities of Nigeria (CENN) rose from a meeting yesterday in Lagos, calling on the Federal Government to treat the actions of the dreaded Boko Haram set as foreign invasion against the country.
The meeting, which was held under the leadership of the President and founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Fredirick Fasehun arrived at the decision having critically dissected the state of the nation, which the coalition viewed was not healthy.

Also present at the meeting were Bright Ezeocha of the Igbo Youth Movement, Yerima Usman Shetima of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Mujaheed Dokubo Asari of the Niger Delta Volunteers Front, Abuka Michael Abah of the United Middle Belt Youth Congress, Kunle Adesokan of the Federation of Yoruba Conscience and Culture, among other leaders of the ethnic nationalities in the country.
In a communiqué jointly signed by the leaders present, the CENN expressed concern about the insecurity currently pervading the length and breadth of the country and the apparent incapacity of security agencies to curtail the situation.
Against this background, the coalition stated that “the nefarious operations of the group called Boko Haram must be considered an act of war and terrorism in the class of a foreign invasion against the country and must be drastically confronted .

And to curb their activities, the CENN suggested that “urgent restructuring of the police must be undertaken to reflect better remunerations, with the Force employing more youths into the police ranks and the sheriff system of policing should be encouraged to facilitate localized intelligence-gathering and crime-fighting, while governors as Chief Security Officers of their state must have firm control of the Police in their localities.”