Troops forced to retreat from Boko Haram stronghold.

Nigerian troops were forced to retreat from
Boko Haram’s Sambisa Forest stronghold in
the restive northeast after a landmine blast
killed one soldier and three vigilantes, security
sources said Thursday.
Military top brass said on Wednesday that
soldiers were conducting offensives “in some
forest locations” in the area after it was
announced last week that operations were
imminent.
Nigerian army soldeirs patrol along a road in
Chibok, northeastern Nigeria, on March 5,
2015. Nigeria’s government said that work had
begun to rebuild a school in the northeastern
town of Chibok from where Boko Haram
gunmen kidnapped more than 200 girls last
year. Finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
laid the foundation stone at the Government
Secondary School on Thursday on behalf of
President Goodluck Jonathan, a statement
from her office said. AFP PHOTO
The Sambisa Forest is located in the state of
Borno, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the
town of Chibok, from where more than 200
schoolgirls were kidnapped in April last year.
It has been claimed the 219 schoolgirls still
being held were initially kept in the former
game reserve, although others have said they
may have been split up and moved to Chad or
Cameroon.
Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade said in a
statement that a senior Boko Haram
commander was killed, as well as a number of
militants who attacked a patrol.
“The operations especially in forest locations
are progressing in defiance of obstacles and
landmines emplaced by the terrorists,” he
added.
But progress has been severely hindered
because of improvised explosive devices, a
civilian vigilante involved in the operation told
AFP in an account backed by a security
source.
“Boko Haram have buried landmines all over
the routes leading to their camps in the forest,
which is no doubt a huge obstacle retarding
the military offensive against them,” he told
AFP.
Troops withdrew just five kilometres from Boko
Haram’s main camp in the densely forested
area because of landmines.
“We decided to turn back since the route was
unsafe. As we were driving back, one of the
vehicles carrying CJTF (Civilian Joint Task
Force) hit a mine,” he added.
“A soldier and three CJTF were killed while
another soldier was injured. We trudged along
and made it back to Bama yesterday
(Wednesday).”
The vigilante added: “There are no soldiers in
Sambisa right now. We all returned to Bama
after the horrifying experience of manoeuvring
through minefields.”
– Persistent threat –
There was no immediate response from the
military, which with its military coalition
partners Chad, Niger and Cameroon has
driven out Boko Haram from captured towns
in recent weeks.
“Boko Haram are in large numbers in
Sambisa,” said the vigilante, who requested
anonymity for security reasons.
“All their fighters who were pushed out of
Bama, Dikwa, Gwoza and Damboa (in Borno
state) all moved to Boko Haram camps in
Sambisa,” he added.
Details of the offensive came as a series of
photographs circulated on social media
accounts linked to the Islamic State group of
heavily armed fighters, purportedly from Boko
Haram.
No independent verification was possible but
some of the accounts said the images were
released under the name “The Islamic State in
West Africa”.
Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau pledged
allegiance to IS group leader Abu Bakr al-
Baghdadi in March. The Middle Eastern
militants responded by urging Muslims to
support the rebels in Nigeria.
Experts have seen the formal tie-up as a sign
of weakness by the Nigerian Islamists but
warned not to write off the group, which
continues to mount smaller-scale attacks in
the region.
According to residents of Kalabalge, who fled
to the Cameroon town of Fotokol, Boko Haram
fighters have taken over the Borno state town,
which is near Nigeria’s border with Chad.
Thousands of Shuwa Arabs — who are from
the same ethnic group as many Chadian
soldiers — have been pushed out of villages in
the area since the Nigerian army seized the
group’s headquarters in Gwoza last month.
Resident Grema Gana said there were “light-
skinned fighters of north African extraction” in
the militant ranks, adding that Chadian forces
operating in the area had detained some of
them.
Another resident, who asked not to be named
for his own safety, said Chadian troops
conducted an operation in the Kalabalge area
on Monday as Boko Haram had returned after
being driven out.
He also said “some foreign fighters from north
Africa” were detained.


Vanguard News.

A Nigerian sentence to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking

Jakarta – Local media report on Thursday in
Jakarta, said another Nigerian, Simon
Ezeaputa, has been sentenced to death in
Indonesia for drug trafficking.
It said the district court in Tangerang, near
Jakarta, on Wednesday found Ezeaputa guilty
of controlling a drug transaction from his
prison cell, where he was serving a 20-year
jail term for drug offences.
The report said the transaction involved 350
grams of crystal methamphetamine.
With the latest development more than 60
people are on death row in Indonesia for drug
offences.
The report said Indonesia executed six drug
convicts in January and was preparing to put
to death another 10 death-row inmates.
It said these include two Australians who have
been the subject of a diplomatic row between
Jakarta and Canberra.
Meanwhile, the Amnesty International said in
its annual report on the death penalty
worldwide released on Wednesday that
“Indonesia stood out for all the wrong
reasons.”
Papang Hidayat, Head, Amnesty Researcher,
Indonesia, said the death penalty was always
a human rights violation.
He said there were many issues in Indonesia,
in particular fair trial concerns, that make
death sentences more complicated.
Hidayat said investigations by human rights
groups have found that individuals sentenced
to death have been tortured and forced to
sign police investigation reports.

Terrorists kill 147 in Kenyan University.

AFP

No fewer than 147 people have been killed
after an Islamic group stormed a university in
eastern Kenya, the country’s interior minister
said.
This is just as the President of Nigeria,
Goodluck Jonathan condemned the attack
and commiserated with the families of the
victims.
Sky News reports that two police officers are
among the dead following heavy gunfire and
explosions in a campus building at Garissa
University.
At least 79 others have been wounded.
Interior minister Joseph Nkaissery claimed the
siege was almost over.
“We are mopping up the area,” he told
reporters.
Somalia’s al Shabaab militant group has
claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn attack.
“We sorted people out and released the
Muslims,” said spokesman, Sheikh Abdiasis
Abu Musab.
“There are many dead bodies of Christians
inside the building. We are also holding many
Christians alive. Fighting still goes on inside
the college,” he added.
Two of the militants have been killed and one
arrested as he tried to flee, according to
Kenya’s interior ministry.
The Red Cross counted 50 students that had
been safely freed, while the interior ministry
said 500 of 815 students had been accounted
for.
Student Michael Bwana, who managed to flee,
said most of the hostages were girls.
Kenya Police Chief Joseph Boinet told
reporters that gunmen forced their way into
the university at 5.30am by shooting at the
guards manning the main gate.
“The gunmen shot indiscriminately while inside
the university compound,” he said.
“Police… engaged the gunmen in a fierce
shootout; however, the attackers retreated and
gained entry into one of the hostels.”
A gunfight between security services and the
perpetrators lasted several hours, according to
the Red Cross.
The area has been sealed off and the army
called in to try and “flush out” the attackers.
Students reported seeing five masked
gunmen.
The authorities have offered a $215,000
(£145,000) reward for a man called Mohamed
Mohamud, who has been linked to the attack.
Collins Wetangula, the vice chairman of the
student union, said he was preparing to take a
shower when he heard gunshots coming from
a dorm.
“All I could hear were footsteps and gunshots;
nobody was screaming because they thought
this would lead the gunmen to know where
they are,” he said.
“The gunmen were saying sisi ni al-Shabab
(Swahili for we are al-Shabab).
“If you were a Christian you were shot on the
spot. With each blast of the gun I thought I
was going to die.”
Grace Kai, a student at a neighbouring
college, said there had been warnings of an
imminent attack.
“Some strangers had been spotted in Garissa
town and were suspected to be terrorists,”
she said.
“Then on Monday our college principal told
us… that strangers had been spotted in our
college. On Tuesday we were released to go
home, and our college closed, but the campus
remained in session, and now they have been
attacked.”
Kenya’s northern and eastern regions, which
border Somalia, have been most affected by
attacks blamed on al Shabaab Islamists from
Somalia.
The militants, who have links to al Qaeda,
have vowed to take retribution against Kenya
for sending its troops to Somalia.
Al Shabaab was responsible for the deadly
attack in 2013 on the Westgate shopping mall.
At least 67 people were killed when a group of
gunmen rampaged through the centre in
Nairobi.
On the latest raid, Kenya’s President Uhuru
Kenyatta said: “I extend condolences to the
families of those who have perished in this
attack. We continue to pray for the quick
recovery of the injured, and the safe rescue of
those held hostage.”
He added that 10,000 police recruits would be
fast-tracked following the attack.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan on
Thursday commiserated with the government
and people of Kenya as well the families of
those who died in the terrorist attack.
In a statement by his spokesman, Reuben
Abati, the President condemned what he
called deliberate targeting of innocent persons,
schools and other soft targets by terrorists.
He said such barbaric acts of violence ought
to have no place in any civilised society.
The statement added, “The President assures
President Uhuru Kenyatta and the brotherly
people of Kenya that Nigeria stands in full
solidarity with them as they come to grips
once again with the aftermath of another
heinous terrorist attack on their country.
“Nigeria, President Jonathan affirms, will
continue to work with Kenya, other African
countries and the international community to
rid the world of all terrorist groups.
“The President believes that the attack on the
Kenyan University and other similar atrocities
across the world must strengthen and solidify
the resolve of the global community to take
more urgent and co-ordinated actions to
speedily defeat the agents of global terror.”

Explosion near bus station in Gombe kills 5.

An explosion near a bus station in the
northeast Nigerian city of Gombe killed at least
five and injured 15 others, witnesses told AFP
on Thursday, in an attack that bore the
hallmarks of Boko Haram.
“We had an explosion outside the motor park
(bus station) this evening around 8:30 pm
(1930 GMT) which killed five people and
injured 15 others,” said Muhammad Garkuwa,
a drivers’ union official.
“The explosion was from an explosive left by a
woman in her handbag beside a bus waiting
to convey passengers to Jos,” he said in an
account supported by a nearby food seller.
The attack is the latest in a string of similar
explosions against so-called “soft targets”
such as busy bus stations and crowded
markets in the restive northeast, which has
been hit for the last six years by Boko Haram
Islamists.
The group has been pushed out of captured
territory in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states
since February by a four-nation coalition of
troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and
Cameroon.
Since then, the group has reverted to guerrilla
tactics, including suicide bombings and
attacks on civilians in urban centres.
Garkuwa said he loaded the casualties into a
vehicle while Yusuf Darazo, who sells food
near the bus station, said the female suspect
left her bag after being told the bus’s
destination.
“No-one suspected her. People around
assumed she was making calls before the bus
filled up,” he said.
“As she was talking in the phone she moved
away from the bus towards a row of kiosks, as
if she wanted to buy something, leaving her
bag where she was standing.
“She disappeared and the bag exploded soon
after, setting the bus on fire. I saw five dead
and several injured.”
Boko Haram fighters were suspected at the
weekend of attacking a number of polling
stations in Gombe state as Nigerians went to
the polls to elect a new president.
At least seven people were killed and there
was a wave of attacks on Saturday and
Sunday in neighbouring Bauchi state,
prompting a an indefinite round-the-clock
curfew, including in the capital, Bauchi city.
The lock-down has now been lifted.
Residents in Kasheri, about 60 kilometres (40
miles) from Gombe city, and nearby Pindiga
and Tumu, reported seeing suspected Boko
Haram fighters and that they were firing in the
air.
Some were barefoot and appeared
disorientated, asking for directions, they
added.
Nigeria’s military insists that it finally has Boko
Haram in the run, after more than 13,000
people have been killed and some 1.5 million
left homeless.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari on
Wednesday vowed to crush Boko Haram,
vowing to rid Nigeria of the scourge of
“terrorism”.

Vanguard News.

Pictures of under age voters across the northern states in the 2015 presidential elections.

 This is how elections are won in this part of the world.  What a shame!

PDP congratulates Buhari, alleges irregularities.

The national leadership of the Peoples
Democratic Party has congratulated Maj. Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari(retd.) for winning the
March 28 Presidential Election.
It said if the outcome of the election, which its
candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, lost,
was the wishes of the people, it would respect
it.
The party’s position was contained in a
statement by its National Chairman, Alhaji
Adamu Mua’zu, in Abuja on Thursday.
His position appears to be at variance with the
views expressed by agents of the party during
the collation of the votes in Abuja early this
week.
One of the party’s agents, Col. Bello Fadile
(retd.), had said the party would challenge the
outcome of the election at the election
petitions tribunal.
Mua’zu, in his statement, also said the party
noticed some irregularities in the conduct of
the election.
The party’s complaints on such irregularities,
he said, would be channelled through the
appropriate quarters.
The former governor of Bauchi State
nevertheless went ahead to congratulate
Buhari for winning the election.
He said, “We also congratulate the APC flag
bearer, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, for his
resilience and victory in this election while
wishing him success in the onerous task of
leading our nation once again.”

Details later…

Punch.

At least 15 Christians killed in Kenya university attack.

At least 15 people have been killed and 65
wounded in an ongoing attack Thursday by
Somalia’s Islamist insurgents on a Kenyan
university, police sources and media reports
said. “Fifteen have died from the attack,” a
police source said, with Kenyan media
reporting the same number, including the
bodies counted at the mortuary and hospital in
the northeastern town of Garissa. The interior
ministry said one of the suspected gunmen
had been arrested as he tried to flee.
Shebab gunmen on Thursday seized Christian
hostages at a Kenya university near the border
with Somalia, in an pre-dawn attack that killed
at least 15 people and wounded scores more.
A spokesman for Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked
Shebab, told AFP the group was behind the
early morning assault on the university in
Garissa and had taken non-Muslims hostage.
“When our men arrived, they released the
Muslims. We are holding others hostage,” said
Shebab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud
Rage, without giving numbers. He said those
seized were Christians and added that “our
people are still there, they are fighting and
their mission is to kill those who are against
the Shebab.”
“Kenya is at war with Somalia,” Rage said,
referring to the thousands of Kenyan troops in
Somalia as part of an African Union military
mission. Gunfire could still be heard
sporadically six hours after the attack began,
as Kenya’s interior ministry said the “attackers
have been cornered in one hostel.” Kenya’s
interior ministry also said “one suspected
terrorist” had been arrested attempting “to
flee scene”.
At least 15 people have been killed, according
to a police source and media reports, while
Kenya’s official National Disaster Operation
Centre said a further 65 had been injured,
many suffering from gunshot wounds. The
Kenya Red Cross, which is leading the
medical response to the attack, said there
were “an unknown number of student
hostages” and that “50 students have been
safely freed”.
Rage did not give details of casualties but said
“there are very many.” The town of Garissa is
around 150 kilometres (90 miles) west of
Somalia and has in the past been targeted by
militants from the Shebab. “Gunmen forced
their way into Garissa University by shooting
at the guards manning the main gate at
around 5:30 am,” said Kenya Police Chief
Joseph Boinet. “The gunmen shot
indiscriminately while inside the university
compound.”
The sprawling campus, on the outskirts of the
garrison town, has both teaching areas as well
as residential blocks. The university has
several hundred students from different parts
of Kenya. The number of teachers and
students trapped inside the campus was
unclear as gunfire and explosions were heard
coming from the site. “Police… engaged the
gunmen in a fierce shootout, however the
attackers retreated and gained entry into one
of the hostels,” Boinet said, adding that
reinforcements had arrived and were “flushing
out the gunmen.”
- Attack ongoing -
A witness, Ahmed Nur, said he saw the bodies
of two university guards, shot by the attackers.
Kenya Red Cross, quoting local health
officials, said that 30 people had been taken
to hospital, “the majority” with gunshot
wounds. Kenya has been hit by a wave of
grenade and gun attacks, often blamed on
sympathisers of Somalia’s Shebab Islamist
fighters and sometimes aimed at police
targets, since the army crossed into southern
Somalia in 2011 to attack Islamist bases.
A series of foreign travel warnings in response
to the threat have crippled Kenya’s
economically important tourism industry. On
Wednesday, just hours before the attack in
Garissa began, President Uhuru Kenyatta said
Kenya “is safe as any country in the world”.
Kenya’s government has been under fire since
the September 2013 Shebab attack on the
Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, in which at
least 67 people were killed in a siege involving
just four gunmen and which lasted four days.
In June and July last year Shebab gunmen
killed close to 100 people in a series of attacks
on the town of Mpeketoni and nearby villages.
In November Shebab claimed responsibility for
holding up a bus outside Mandera town,
separating passengers according to religion
and murdering 28 non-Muslims. Ten days
later 36 non-Muslim quarry workers were also
massacred in the area.
Students in Garissa on Thursday reported
seeing up to four masked gunmen entering
the university compound before dawn. The
area surrounding ​​the university was sealed off
by the Kenya security forces and the army
called in.

Vanguard News.

Troops Recovered eight more towns in Yobe, Adamawa

L-R: Terrorists’ vehicle destroyed by troops and another vehicle mounted with anti- aircraft gun recovered by the Nigerian



The Director of Defence
Information, Maj.-Gen
Chris Olukolade, has said that troops have
recaptured more towns from the members of
the Boko Haram sect.
Olukolade said in a statement on Friday that
the troops handed out a crushing defeat to the
insurgents and recovered the headquarters of
Gulani Local Government Area of Yobe State,
Bara, and the headquarters of Madagali Local
Government area, Gulag, from them in the
early hours of Friday.
He said that the troops also flushed out
terrorists from other locations such as Shikah,
Fikayel, Tetebah, Buza, Kamla and Bumsa,
during the two-day operation.
According to Olukolade, many insurgents were
killed in the fierce fighting that preceded the
liberation of the communities.
The Defence spokesman said that the troops
recovered and destroyed several arms and
ammunition, vehicles and other equipment.
According to him, the items recovered
included anti-air craft guns, general purpose
machine guns, barrel grenade launchers, rifles
and mortar guns.
Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan
expressed confidence that troops would
sustain the gains they have been recording in
the fight against the Boko Haram sect.
He assured that the military would recover
more territories seized by the terrorist group.
Jonathan gave the assurance when the
outgoing French Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr.
Jacques Champagne De Labriolle, visited him
at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to a statement by his Special
Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben
Abati, the President said the officers and men
of the Nigerian Army he met on the frontline in
Borno and Adamawa states on Thursday were
in high spirits, well prepared and determined
to successfully complete their operations
against the terrorist group.
“We have already recovered much territory
and very soon our troops will clear the
terrorists out of other areas not presently
under our control.”
Accepting a congratulatory message from
President Francois Hollande to Nigeria for
recent successes of its armed forces against
Boko Haram, Jonathan restated Nigeria’s
appreciation of France’s support for Nigeria
and its neighbours in the fight against
terrorism.
He commended Hollande for organising the
Paris Summit of Heads of State of Nigeria,
Benin Republic, Cameroon, Niger and Chad in
May 2014 to foster greater regional
cooperation against terrorism and insurgency.
The President pledged that beyond the
ongoing military campaign in the North-East,
Nigeria would continue to implement all
agreements reached at the summit to ensure
lasting peace and security within its borders
and in neighbouring countries.
Jonathan, however, reassured the international
community of his commitment to free, fair and
credible polls in the country next month.
The President wished the outgoing
ambassador well in his future endeavours and
urged him to always be a “good ambassador
of Nigeria’’.
In his remarks, Labriolle said that France was
“confident in the future of Nigeria and its
ability to continue playing a huge role in Africa
and world affairs.”
The ambassador also expressed delight at
improved trade and economic ties between
Nigeria and France in the last three years,
noting that over 250 French companies are
currently operating in Nigeria.

Save the children job Recruitment (5 positions)

Posted on Tue 24th Feb, 2015 by hotnigerianjobs.com

>>www.savethechildren.org/recruitment


Save the Children is the leading independent
organization creating lasting change in the
lives of children in over 120 countries around
the world. Recognized for our commitment to
accountability, innovation and collaboration,
our work takes us into the heart of
communities, where we help children and
families help themselves. We work with other
organizations, governments, non-profits and a
variety of local partners while maintaining our
own independence without political agenda or
religious orientation. Save the Children's
mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way
the world treats children and to achieve
immediate and lasting change in their lives.
Save the Children is recruiting to fill the following vacant positions of:

1.) Awards Officer

Deadline: 9th March, 2015
Click Here To View Details

2.) Logistics Coordinator

Deadline: 9th March, 2015
Click Here To View Details

3.) National Safety and Security Manager

Deadline: 9th March, 2015
Click Here To View Details

4.) Awards Manager
Deadline: 9th March, 2015
Click Here To View Details

5.) Head of Logistics
Deadline: 3rd March, 2015
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All applications should be sent to:
Nigeriavacancy@savethechildren.org

Arik Air Nigeria Job Recruitment (3 positions).

Arik Air Nigeria Job Recruitment (3 Positions)
Posted on Tue 24th Feb, 2015 -

Arik Air Nigeria invites applications from
suitably qualified candidates to fill the following:


http://careerslip.Com

http://arikair.com/job recruitment

17 dead, 27 injured in Yobe Bus Blast- Witness, Rescuers

At least 17 people were killed on Tuesday
when a blast ripped through a bus in
Potiskum, northeast Nigeria, witnesses and
rescue workers said, in the latest violence to
hit the troubled region.
The explosion happened at the Tashar Dan-
Borno motor park on the outskirts of the city
immediately after a man put a bag in the boot
of the bus and then tried to board.
“The bus had just loaded with passengers on
its way to Kano when a huge explosion
happened inside the bus at exactly 11:40 am
(1040 GMT),” said a driver’s union official at
the bus station.
Potiskum, the commercial capital of Yobe
state, has been hit repeatedly by bombings,
including on Sunday, when a young girl with
explosives strapped to her body blew up at a
crowded market.
Thirteen dead and 31 injured were initially
brought to Potiskum General Hospital after
Tuesday’s blast, according to a nurse at the
facility, but she added: “Four more died here.
“So, we have 17 dead and 27 people with
injuries.”
The drivers’ union official said it was not
immediately clear whether the man who placed
the bag in the boot was a suicide bomber or
whether the explosives were hidden inside it.
– ‘Bus engulfed in flames’ –
Rescue workers at the scene said that all 12
people on board the bus were killed.
The girl in Sunday’s attack which left seven
people dead in Potiskum was thought to be as
young as seven, according to multiple
witnesses.
Boko Haram Islamists have increasingly used
young girls and women as human bombs,
with so-called “soft targets” such as markets
and bus stations hit regularly.
Both bombings again underlined the severe
security challenges facing Nigeria in the run-up
to presidential and parliamentary elections on
March 28.
The elections were initially scheduled for
February 14 but were delayed by six weeks to
give the military and its allies more time to
secure and stabilise the northeast to allow
people to vote.
Waziri Danu, who lives in the area, said of the
latest bombing: “I was at a car wash nearby
when I heard a huge explosion and saw
volleys of fire and smoke coming from the
motor park.
“I and people around rushed to the place and
we saw a bus engulfed in flames… It is not
likely if anyone in the vehicle has survived.”
Another driver, who also asked not to be
identified, said: “We were taking turns to load
when this man came. He appeared to be in a
hurry.
“He asked if the bus was going to Kano. I said
yes. But before he could be screened he
dropped his bag in the boot among other
luggage and just made to enter the bus.
“Some people tried to restrain him for the
screening but then there was an explosion.”


Vanguard.

IS Jihadists kidnapped 90 Christians in Syria: Monitor

Jihadists from the Islamic State group have
kidnapped at least 90 Assyrian Christians in
northeast Syria, after overrunning two villages,
a monitor said Tuesday.
The abductions appeared to be the first time
the group has kidnapped Christians en masse
in Syria, though the jihadists have taken
thousands of prisoners as they have advanced
in the country and neighbouring Iraq.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a
Britain-based monitor, said IS kidnapped the
90 Assyrians on Monday after seizing two
villages in Hassakeh province.
The group had no immediate details on those
kidnapped, including whether women and
children were among them, or where they
were being held.
There were just 30,000 Assyrians in Syria
before the country’s conflict erupted in March
2011, with most of them living throughout
Hassakeh province.
They represent a tiny percentage of the
country’s overall Christian population, which
numbered around 1.2 million people before
the war.
The 90 Assyrians were kidnapped after IS
fighters overran the villages of Tal Shamiram
and Tal Hermuz, which had been under the
control of Kurdish People’s Protection Unit
(YPG) fighters.
Fierce clashes broke out on Monday between
IS and YPG forces for control of the two
villages as well as the nearby town of Tal
Tamr, which remains under Kurdish control.
After the clashes, IS forces set fire to part of a
church near Tal Tamr, before installing some
of their fighters in the remains of the building,
the Syrian Revolution General Commission
activist network reported.
The US-led coalition fighting IS, which has
backed Kurdish forces battling the group, then
bombed the building on Monday, destroying it
and killing IS forces inside, the SRGC said.
Control of Hassakeh province is largely
divided between Kurdish forces, who in some
places patrol with regime troops, and IS
fighters.
YPG fighters have since last week been
advancing in the province, expanding on their
gains further west in Raqa and Aleppo
provinces.
Since recapturing the strategic border town of
Kobane in Aleppo from IS fighters on January
26, YPG forces have taken dozens of nearby
villages.
They have also seized 19 villages from IS in
Raqa, where the jihadist group has its de facto
capital, and another 30 villages and hamlets in
Hassakeh.
The Kurdish advances have been aided by the
US-led air strikes, including a series in
Hassakeh on Monday that killed at least 14 IS
fighters, the Observatory said.


- Christian churches destroyed -


The mass IS abduction of Assyrians appeared
to be the first of its kind in Syria, but the
group has become infamous for its abuses,
including the mass kidnapping of minority
Kurdish Yazidis in Iraq.
It also abducted dozens of Kurdish students in
Syria last year, freeing them only after months
in captivity.
The group has destroyed Christian shrines
and churches in the territory it controls in Syria
and Iraq, and demanded a tax known as jizya
from Christians who remain in its self-declared
Islamic “caliphate”.
It regularly refers to Christians as “crusaders,”
and has carried out brutal executions of
foreigners held hostage in Syria.
Last week, the group’s Libyan branch released
a video showing the gruesome beheading of
21 mostly Egyptian Coptic Christians.
Those killings prompted “extreme sadness”
from Pope Francis, who has frequently warned
of the plight of the dwindling number of
Christians in the Middle East.

The Monitor.

Troops recapture Baga from Boko Haram.

Nigerian forces backed by air strikes have
seized the northeastern border town of Baga
from Boko Haram , the military says.
Retaking the town – at Nigeria’s border with
Chad, Niger, and Cameroon – is particularly
important as Baga was the headquarters of
a multinational force of troops from all four
countries.
Boko Haram, an armed group which wants
to form an Islamic state, had claimed a
January 3 attack that killed scores, possibly
hundreds, and left its fighters in control.
“We have secured Baga. We are now in full
control. There are only mopping up
exercises left to do,” Major-General Chris
Olukolade, an Nigerian defence
spokesperson, told Reuters news agency by
telephone on Saturday.
In a statement minutes earlier Olukolade
had said that “a large number of terrorists
had drowned in Lake Chad” as troops
advanced on Baga.
Al Jazeera could not independently confirm
the government’s report.
The fighters appear to be on the run in many
parts of Nigeria and regions near its
borders, after being subjected to a major
offensive on all sides, reported Reuters,
adding that although they have come close
to being defeated in the past, they have
bounced back deadlier than ever.
“Not even the strategy of mining over 1,500
spots with landmines on the routes leading
to the town could save the terrorists from
the aggressive move of advancing troops,”
Olukolade had said in a statement earlier in
the day.
Al Jazeera’s Yvonne Ndege, reporting from
the Nigerian capital Abuja, said the military
has confirmed the report.
“This is a significant moment, a symbolic
victory,” she said. “But it is very difficult to
know precisely how successful the
operation was.”
Successes in pushing back Boko Haram are
welcome news for Nigeria’s President
Goodluck Jonathan as he faces an election
on March 28 that was delayed by six weeks
on the grounds that more time was needed
to fight the campaign.
The poll, however, also provides a strong
motive for the government and military to
talk up successes.


Punch.

We have recaptured 11 towns, killed 300 insurgents-DHQ.

The Director of Defence Information, Maj.
Gen. Chris Olukolade, has said that troops of
the Nigerian Army and personnel of the Air
Force have killed over 300 fighters of the
Boko Haram sect.
Olukolade said in a statement on Wednesday
that the insurgents were killed during a
combined operation of the Air Force and
ground forces put in place to liberate 11
communities captured by the Boko Haram
sect.
According to him, the communities liberated
by the troops are Monguno, Gabchari, Abba
Jabari, Gajigana, Gajiram, Damakar,
Kumaliwa, Bosso Wanti, Jeram and
Kabrisungul.
He said that troops had commenced a cordon
and search operation in the areas involved in
the latest operation.
He stated further that some of the terrorists
and their weapons were captured by the
troops.
Olukolade also said that the military captured
“five different types of armoured fighting
vehicles, an anti-aircraft gun, about 50 cases
of packed bombs and eight different types of
machine guns, five rocket-propelled grenade,
49 boxes of various types and calibres of
ammunition, as well as 300 motorcycles
destroyed in the fighting.
He added that “a total of six Hilux vehicles
including those mounted with anti-aircraft
guns were also destroyed.’
The Defence spokesman said that two
soldiers lost their lives while ten others were
wounded in the encounter with the terrorists.
Olukolade said that various phases of highly
coordinated combined operation involving the
Air Force and ground forces were ongoing in
the mission area within and outside the
country.
Meanwhile, about 30 civilians were killed
when an unidentified airplane dropped a
bomb on a Nigerian border village, military
sources based nearby in Niger said on
Wednesday.
“We don’t know whose plane it was. We
understand that the victims are residents who
were gathered for a ceremony but who were
mistaken for terrorists,” said a military source
based in the town of Bosso in Niger.
He added, “Around 30 people perished.”

Punch

ECOWAS cautions Jonathan, Buhari on hate speeches.

President assures EU on May 29 hand-over
date
Jaiyeola Andrews in Abuja

Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS), on Monday cautioned President
Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari to refrain from hate speeches capable
of overheating the polity.
Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and
Security at the commission, Salamatu
Suleiman, made the disclosure while speaking
with State House correspondents shortly after
the commission’s team visited President
Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa.
He said :”The President of ECOWAS
(Ouedraogo) said the observers went to all
the different geo-political zones and they
made observations on issues relating to
distribution of Permanent Voters’ Cards
(PVCs) and other issues.
“These issues as the President said were
deemed necessary to share with the
President of the country (Jonathan), INEC
and the leading opposition party, the APC.
“One of the issues is that our long term
observer missions noticed that there was a lot
of hate media, hate speeches being
distributed, it is not good for our polity and is
heating up the polity.
“And the President (Ouedraogo) has spoken
to all stakeholders to look into lessening this
aspect in the electoral process and I think it
is an aspect the media can help greatly in
addressing.
“This is a very important election for Nigeria,
Nigerians are concerned, ECOWAS
Community is very much concerned that it all
comes out very well and that we all owe it as
a duty to say very positive things that can
move this nation forward.”
Earlier, President, ECOWAS Commission,
Kadre Desire Ouédraogo, told journalists that
“ECOWAS by virtue of its mandate, is to
monitor and observe all the electoral
processes in our community. To that effect,
we have sent a fact-finding mission to Nigeria
led by John Kufuor former President of
Ghana. We have set up a long term
observation that came into the country, they
were deployed in the five geo-strategic zones
of the country and they made their report.
“Inspite of the postponement of the elections,
there was a de-briefing with them and we
think is us necessary to share their
observations with all the stakeholders and it
is in that respect of that we came this
morning to inform His Excellency about the
findings and recommendations of our fact-
finding mission.
“We are going to engage with all the
stakeholders, the APC candidate and INEC to
share with them the findings if our
observation mission.
“We have also issued a declaration following
the postponement of elections, appealing for
calm and understanding and also appealing
to all authorities to make sure the constitution
is respected.”
Meanwhile, Chief of Observer, European
Union (EU), Santiago Fisas, yesterday said
Jonathan restated his commitment on May
29 hand over date to a new government.
Fisas spoke to State House correspondents
shortly after the EU team visited Jonathan at
the Presidential Villa on Monday.
“As the Chief of Observer European Union, I
must meet with all the candidates for these
elections. I met twice with Gen. Buhari and
today yesterday President Jonathan very
kindly accepted to receive me and my team,
the EU Ambassador, the Deputy of Observer
European Union, colleagues, just to have
exchange of views about the elections.
“I am very happy to be assured by the
President that the inauguration of the next
president will take place on May 29th. I think
this is very good news because this is
constitutional” Fisas said.
Asked if he believed what the president told
him, the EU chief observer said “yes. I do not
see why I should doubt that. The President
said that publicly and also to us. We asked
questions on security and he said to us that
in a very short period of time the security
situation will improve a lot.”

Cameroon Army kills 86 Boko Haram militants.

Cameroon’s army says it has killed 86 Boko
Haram militants and detained 1,000 people
suspected of links to the Islamist group, as
central African leaders held talks on how to
combat its bloody insurgency.
Five Cameroonian soldiers were also killed
during the clashes in the Waza region near
the border with Nigeria, defence ministry
spokesman Didier Badjeck said Monday.
Nigeria-based Boko Haram has widened its
attacks into neighbouring nations, notably
Cameroon and Chad, in a conflict estimated
to have claimed a total 13,000 lives since
2009.
Representatives of 10 nations, meeting in the
Cameroonian capital Yaounde on Monday
under the aegis of the Economic Community
of Central African States (ECCAS), urged the
international community to provide more
support in the fightback against the Islamists.
“We have to eradicate Boko Haram,” said
Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, as
attendees pledged to create a 76-million-euro
($86-million) fund to fight the group.
Biya declared that Boko Haram’s utter
disregard for human dignity meant “a total
impossibility of compromise”, but added that
the fight against terrorism was not a “crusade
against Islam”.
Nigeria, where elections have been
postponed by six weeks until late March
because of Boko Haram activity in swathes of
the northeast, was absent from the talks as it
is not an ECCAS member.
The aim of Monday’s discussion was to come
up with “an agreed solution” on the fight
against the extremists, a source close to the
Cameroonian government told AFP.
Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria have
formed a military alliance to combat the
notoriously brutal militants, who are fighting to
create a hardline Islamic state.
A Cameroonian army official announced that
more than 1,000 people suspected of being
affiliated with Boko Haram were being held in
the town of Maroua, in the country’s Far
North region, where more than 2,000
Cameroonian soldiers have been deployed
since August last year.
“At the moment, the prison of Maroua is
holding more than 1,000 Boko Haram
(suspects),” said Colonel Joseph Nouma,
commander of a local operation to combat
the Islamist militants.
The detentions came as police in Niger said
they had arrested more than 160 people
suspected of having links to Boko Haram in
the country’s Diffa region, a border area with
Nigeria which was attacked by the Islamist
group this month.

Jonathan sends ministerial nominee list to Senate.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday
sent eight ministerial nominees to the Senate
for screening and approval.
The names, contained in a letter signed by
Jonathan and read by Senate President David
Mark, include senator Musiliu Obanikoro from
Lagos state.
Others are, Mrs.Patricia Akwashiki
(Nasarawa); Mrs. Hauwa’u Lawan (Jigawa);
Prof nicholas Akise Ada (Benue); Col.
Augustine Akobundu retd. (Abia); Mr. Fidelis
Nwankwo (Ebonyi); Mr. Kenneth Kobani
(Rivers) and Senator Joel Ikenya (Taraba).
The Senate has not fixed a date for the
screening.

Buhari’s Bow Tie sparks Religious Debate.

The bow tie worn by the All Progressives’
Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, in recent campaign
photographs may have raised worries over
the retired general’s religious views, a
diplomat has told THISDAY.
Buhari had last week met with Catholic
Bishops in Abuja. At the meeting, the APC
candidate allayed fears of an agenda to
Islamise Nigeria, if elected president,
describing the allegations of extremism
levelled against him as baseless.
However, a diplomat from one of the Arab-
speaking countries told THISDAY that the
decision of the APC candidate to wear a bow
tie may be a reflection of his strong Islamic
beliefs.
Spokesman for the Buhari Campaign
Organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, however,
said there was nothing unusual with the bow
tie. He was quick to add that the photograph
was taken long before he became Buhari’s
media manager and therefore could not
comment on why a bow tie was chosen.
He promised to “cross check and get back.”
Elaborating on the photograph, the diplomat
said, “I don’t know why (he) Buhari chose a
bow tie. But we know that radical Muslims
don’t wear neck ties out of the belief that it is
Haram (sin).
“Such Muslims believe that the neck tie looks
like a cross, which Christians consider the
most important spiritual symbol of their faith,
reason they don’t wear it.
“However, when it becomes absolutely
necessary to wear a tie, such Muslims simply
go for bow ties,” said the envoy.
The diplomat who didn’t want his name in
print, was quick to add that millions of
Muslims around the world, including himself,
wear neck ties, “not minding the religious
theories surrounding its origin.”
He said, “We have great Muslim
professionals like lawyers, bankers and
security operatives who wear neck ties.”
Buhari had in 2002 reportedly urged Muslims
to vote for only Muslim candidates. The
report had portrayed the retired general as a
fundamentalist, an impression he has been
fighting hard to change.
The APC candidate has been accused by
rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of
harbouring a religious agenda. PDP has also
accused APC of supporting the terrorist
organisation Boko Haram.
THISDAY gathered that one of the strategies
adopted by Buhari’s handlers to woo
Christian voters, particularly in the South-east
and South-south was to capture him in a suit
and tie.
The handlers also released another campaign
photograph of the retired general in traditional
Igbo attire, apparently to appeal to the Igbo
who have a block vote in the five South-east
states.
The campaign photographs had Buhari and
his running mate Prof. Yemi Osinbajo in suit.
In the photograph, Buhari was decked in
black suit, a white shirt, a black bow tie and
a pair of designer glasses. Osinbajo, a
professor of law, had a black suit on, a white
shirt, and a dotted red tie.
This is the first time Buhari, who ran for the
presidency in 2003, 2007 and 2011, would
brand himself in suit and tie.
In the three previous elections, the 72-year
old retired general used baban riga (flowing
robes) and cap for his campaign posters.
However, according to the diplomat,
Buhari’s preference for a bow tie to a neck
tie may have backfired.
He pointed to the United States where
members of the islamic religious movement,
Nation of Islam (NOI), do not wear neck ties.
Such NOI members, he said, include former
world boxing champion Muhammed Ali,
Malcolm X and NOI leader and world famous
Islamic preacher, Loius Farrakhan.
THISDAY checks revealed that some
Christians prefer bow ties over neck ties as a
matter of style. For radical muslims, however,
said the diplomat, “it is a matter of faith
versus fashion.”
The diplomat claimed that Buhari may have
settled for a bow tie “to strike a balance
between achieving some degree of
acceptance among Christians and not
offending the religious sensibilities of certain
category of muslims.”
He said, “Look at the former Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), (Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi), before his appointment as
the Emir of Kano, he (Sanusi) was a
professional banker but never wore a neck
tie.
“Due to Sanusi’s strict Islamic upbringing
and education, he had to always make do
with bow ties,” claimed the diplomat.
He told THISDAY that Shitte muslims don’t
wear neck ties for religious and ideological
reasons. Iran is home of Shitte muslims.
“After the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran
overthrew the monarchy, the country’s new
spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeni, banned
neck and bow ties.
“Till date, most Iranians, including President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wear suits but leave
the collars of their shirts open,” he declared.

Thisday Live.

Boko Haram: 200, 000 Christians at Risk of Massacre in Nigeria.

BY ROBERT WINDREM AND ALEXANDER SMITH

Boko Haram forces appear poised to attack Maiduguri, a city of 2 million in northeast Nigeria -- meaning that 200,000 Christians could be at risk of slaughter by the Islamist terror group, say U.S. intelligence officials and experts on Nigeria.

"An attack on Madiguri is very likely," said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Project at the Atlantic Council, echoing U.S. intelligence officials. Pham believes, as do other experts, that Boko Haram has already placed "sleeper cells" among the tide of refugees who have fled the group's murderous rampage through Africa's most populous nation. "They've done it everywhere else they've gone," said Pham. "So why not Maiduguri?"

One big concern is the large number of Christians in the city -- about 200,000, most of them Roman Catholic. In previous attacks, Boko Haram has offered Nigerian Christians the opportunity to convert or be killed. Already, 200 Christian churches have been lost to the group's onslaught.

Strategically, success in Maiduguri would provide Boko Haram with a launching point for further attacks on the neighboring states of Cameroon, Chad and Niger, all of whose territory were once part of an Islamic caliphate that lasted six centuries, ending in the 1300's. Boko Haram declared its own caliphate in the region last year.

But even with limited success, the image of Boko Haram's black jihadist flag flying over any part of Maiduguri could be a symbolic victory. "Even if they only raise the black flag only briefly, it will be a big blow to the central government," said Pham.

Boko Haram currently has about 4,000 to 6,000 men --and kidnapped boys -- under arms, and its tactics have improved. "They're operating at a faster tempo and on a larger scale. They are now capable of large-scale operations," said a U.S. official, citing last month's deadly assault on 16 villages and the city of Baga, northeast of Maiduguri. By some estimates, 2,000 people died in those attacks.

There is evidence that the group has already begun testing defenses on Maiduguri's outskirts. A senator from Borno State, Ahmed Zanna, told NBC News Thursday that a group of suspected Boko Haram militants raided the village of Mbuta, just 15 miles northeast of Maiduguri, killing eight people, burning buildings and forcing most others to flee their homes. "Some people were burned alive," said Zanna, who is currently inside Maiduguri. He also said that on Thursday more than a dozen people were killed in a suicide blast in Biu, 100 miles to the southwestZanna told NBC News that despite these attacks residents were determined not to let their city be overrun. "If Boko Haram comes back people will be ready," he said. "They will come out in the streets in their hundreds and thousands to defend Maiduguri

Jjohn Campbell, the former U.S. ambassador of Nigeria and now director of the Bunche Center at the Council on Foreign Relations, said an internal CFR analysis shows that there is only one road in and out of Maiduguri that isn't controlled by the group.

"It's a noose around Maiduguri," said Campbell, citing recent attacks on villages along Lake Chad that cut off access to the north and east. "There's one road open, going west. There is potential for a raid and occupation."

Most of those who spoke to NBC News think an attack could be timed to the country's rescheduled elections. Last Saturday, the National Election Commission postponed scheduled national elections from February 14 until March 28, but claimed that the inauguration of a new president will still be held May 29.

If and when Boko Haram makes a move on Maiduguri, said a senior U.S. intelligence official, the terror group will have one great tactical advantage. It is very familiar with the city. Late last decade Boko Haram set up an encampment near the so-called Railroad Mosque, which is next to the train station on the western edge of the city. Federal troops launched an attack on the group's camp in 2009, killing its then-leader Mohammed Yusuf. Yusuf, now seen as a moderate, was replaced by current leader Abubakar Shekau, who has run the recent campaign of terror.

Campbell believes the initial Boko Haram raids will focus on the area around the Railroad Mosque in order to enhance the group's narrative.
Intelligence officials and Nigeria experts think it would be difficult for Boko Haram to hold the city, but Boko Haram has surprised both officials and experts in the past.

Sambisa Forest Mission: Military destroy 6 buffur Camps of Boko Haram terrorists.

Aftermath of the directive that the military
embark on the final onslaught to flush out
Boko Haram terrorists from the North East and
try to rescue the over 200 Chibok Girls,
Special Forces of the Nigerian military backed
by attack aircraft of the Nigerian Air force,
Thursday night commenced their movement
into the Sambisa Forests.
As a result of the military’s movement into the
terrorists laden forest, Vanguard gathered that
recently acquired latest T 55 armoured
personnel carriers, with capability for mine and
explosives sweeping devices and heavy
artillery Howitzer guns, led the way from the
ground while the air force carried out air
bombardments from the air.
Consequently, military sources in the epicentre
of the operation told Vanguard that six buffer
camps of the terrorists manned by heavily
armed terrorists, which were positioned to
stop the Nigerian military for gaining entrance
into the forest were taken out and scores of
Boko Haram fighters killed.

Vanguard.