"State of emergency rule cannot remove Governors"

Abdullahi Bego is Special Adviser on Press Affairs and Information to Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State. In this interview with newsmen in Damaturu, he discusses what the Yobe State Government is doing to help restore peace, and responded to comments credited to retired General Bamaiyi on emergency rule. Excerpts:

Since the last extension of emergency rule, there has been an escalation of Boko Haram attacks in the affected states. What’s your take on this?
Well, we have opposed the latest extension of emergency rule after having supported it the very first time it was declared back in May 2013. Instead, we had asked for a change in strategy with special emphasis on three planks: Robust equipment and technology support for the military, improved intelligence gathering and capability to penetrate digital communications of insurgents and terrorists and a more robust engagement with the civilian populations of the affected states to further mobilize them on behalf of peace and security.
It is sad that as we speak the hard working military troops and other security agents on the ground in the affected states do not have all the requisite kits and gear they need to subdue the insurgents. Remember that ours is a military which has done wonders in many troubled spots around the world; and they helped to restore peace in places like Liberia and Sierra Leone. They could do even better here at home. I agree that what we face here in the country is an asymmetric warfare. The insurgents do not have known addresses.
Still, there were plenty of missed opportunities when we could have routed and defeated them and brought their senseless violence to an end. I know you guys in the press have followed all the key happenings here in our region. Since the time the civilian population in Damaturu and our other major towns started to use their mobile phones to report to the security agents about the presence of any suspected criminals or insurgents in town, almost all of the insurgents and criminals left town to the bushes fearing the people would expose them. The same thing happened in Borno State with the emergence of ‘civilian JTF’. That was when we started hearing that the insurgents have moved to and are operating from Sambisa Forest.

Mr president as no business going to chibok says Asara

Chief Asara Asara Aki IX is the paramount ruler of   Obanema of Akipelai kingdom in Bayelsa State and a member of the National Conference. He explains in this interview why President Goodluck Jonathan should not be blamed for the insecurity in the country. Excerpts:

Initial fears about the Confab are that it will lead to the country’s break up. Would you say the fear has been dispelled?
The confab is moving forward as expected, because you know in the president’s inaugural speech, he made a statement on the two things that we must not discuss; the indivisibility and the unity of this country, but to me I feel the other way, because even if it is a marriage, as husband and wife, you have to discuss, you have to meet your fiancée, speak to her, convince her, then she will assess you, look at your qualities, then she will accept you.  But in the case of Nigeria, there is nothing like that. They just got up one day, and one white man who has finished taking tea called the people and said you are  together, and the people have been managing themselves until now and therefore, there is need to discuss.

NDC calls senate to approve the extension of emergency rule

 

National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the Senate to approve the extension of emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States in line with the House of Representatives stressing that the extension would save lives.

In a press statement issued to newsmen yesterday in Abuja by its national coordinator, Prince Humphrey Benson Ogbuehi, the group explained that extension of emergency rule in the three states would enable security agents and foreign nations assisting Nigeria to rescue the over 200 abducted girls.

Jonathan assigned confab to fail – Junaid

 

 A Kano State delegate to the ongoing National Conference, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, speaks about the conference, among other current national issues. Excerpt:

Would you say you are satisfied with the quality of debate at the National Conference so far?

I was absolutely flabbergasted with the quality of debate at the initial plenary because the entire debate was confined to grandstanding, praising the President to high heavens and praising his speech which everybody knows is nothing but a collection of bits and pieces put together by civil servants, (and) poorly edited for that matter. Having finished that, when those who came because they were nominated by the President

Jonathan’s visit to Chibok is symptomatic - APC

Lai Mohammed

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described President Goodluck Jonathan’s aborted trip to Chibok as symptomatic of his administration’s policy somersault in the fight against the terror group Boko Haram.

Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed, said in a statement that Jonathan’s action did not come as a surprise to close watchers of his administration.
The party said the administration has since bungled the fight against the sect and exhibited cluelessness in handling the abduction of the over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok.
“As usual, a trip - belated as it were - that could have gone a long way in redeeming the battered global image of the Jonathan administration

Jonathan, PDP are fully committed to ensuring the safe return of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls

Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees Chief Tony Anenih has said that President Goodluck Jonathan and the party “are fully committed to ensuring the safe return” of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

Anenih in a statement issued in Abuja also called on Nigerians to unite and support the government in the fight against the Boko Haram sect, saying it was imperative for Nigerians to come together

I’ll Not Sleep With My Two Eyes Closed Until Chibok School Girls Are Returned – Jonathan

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN DECLARING OPEN THE 2014 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ON AFRICA IN ABUJA ON THURSDAY (8/5/14).

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday admitted that since the April 14 abduction of the female students from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, he no longer sleeps with his two eyes closed, adding that the situation will remain so until the girls are rescued.

The president expressed optimism that the over 200 abducted school girls were still being kept within the country by the Boko Haram sect.
He also ruled out the possibility that the girls could have been moved out of the country

No girls are missing, Chibok abduction is a scam – Asari Dokubo

Founder of the now rested Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Asari Dokubo has described the hullabaloo generated as a result of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls as a scam.
The controversial activist in a terse message posted on his Facebook page some hours ago urged his friends to pass on the message as no girl was kidnapped as claimed