Headlines

(Reuters) - Nigeria's delta region was hit by violence on Friday, as gunmen killed nine people and, separately, militants blew up a gas pipeline, in a sign of returning unrest to the oil producing area days after a relatively peaceful presidential election.

Opposition presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari beat incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in a landslide victory last weekend, producing some resentment in Jonathan's home region.

On Friday evening, in the town of Obrikom and the nearby village of Obor in Rivers state, gunmen went on a shooting spree, the police said.

"Some unknown armed men invaded the Obrikom and Obor communities ... killing nine, injuring two persons," Rivers state police spokesman Ahmed Mohammad said on Saturday.

The house of a parliamentary opposition candidate, Vincent Ogbagu of Buhari's All Progressives Congress, was set on fire.

Rivers, the home of oil and gas in Africa's biggest crude producer, was expected to be a flashpoint for election-related violence, particularly due to tensions between Governor Chibuike Amaechi and the presidency after he defected to the APC.

Gunfire and explosions hit an opposition rally in February, wounding several people, and other non-fatal bomb blasts rocked the state ahead of the polls.

On election day, at least two people were killed, including a member of the military, but tensions were deflated after Jonathan's early acceptance of defeat and call for calm.

In Delta state, militants from the Urhobo ethnic minority group blew up a gas pipeline in the early hours of Friday to draw attention to their exclusion from lucrative pipeline protection contracts with the state oil company, an official said.

"The Urhobo militants who carried out the attack have claimed responsibility," said Isa Ado, spokesman for the Pulo Shield taskforce, made up of members of various Nigerian security forces.

Reuters was not able to immediately contact the Urhobo group for comment.

Some former militants of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which wrought havoc in the oil-producing creeks in the early 2000s, threatened to take up arms again should Jonathan lose but there was no immediate backlash after the president accepted defeat.

His People's Democratic Party swept the vote in Rivers and neighboring Bayelsa and Delta states.

The APC said the election had barely taken place in much of Rivers state and was a sham. The electoral commission sent a team to investigate but ultimately kept the results.

Observers said the Rivers vote was marred by ill-equipped polling units, unprepared electoral officers and some violence

 

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

04.Apr.2015

Hits: 2352

Write comment (0 Comments)

Muhammad Garkuwa, a drivers’ union official, said that the bomb went off near a bus station on Thursday. “The explosion was from an explosive left by a woman in her handbag beside a bus waiting to convey passengers to Jos,” he said. Other witnesses also made similar remarks about the incident. Yusuf Darazo, who sells food near the bus station, said, “No-one suspected her. People around assumed she was making calls before the bus filled up.” “She disappeared and the bag exploded soon after, setting the bus on fire. I saw five dead and several injured,” he said.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, although Takfiri Boko Haram group often carry out similar attacks. The Takfiris have claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of their deadly campaign in 2009, which has displaced over 1.5 million people.

Takfiri Boko Haram militants have killed over 7,300 civilians in Nigeria and neighboring countries since the beginning of 2014, the UN says.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

03.Apr.2015

Hits: 2516

Write comment (0 Comments)

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

03.Apr.2015

Hits: 2357

Write comment (0 Comments)

Nigeria will court-martial 22 army officers over their alleged offences during the war against Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group. "The officers are being prosecuted for offences they committed during the ongoing war against Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast of the country," a Nigerian military source said on Tuesday. The arraigned officers include a brigadier general, 14 colonels, a major, a second lieutenant and five captains.

The charges against the officers have not been specified. However, this is the first time that high-ranking Nigerian military members are summoned to court over crimes related to the country’s battle against the Takfiri group. In December 2014, a Nigerian court martial sentenced 54 soldiers to death for refusing to fight Boko Haram. The convicted soldiers reportedly refused to take part in a military operation in August to free three towns controlled by Takfiri terrorists.

This is while Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan confessed in May 2014 that some Boko Haram terrorist have "infiltrated... the armed forces and police.” Nigeria’s recent decision to put senior army officers to trial came over two weeks after Boko Haram militants reportedly killed as many as 2,000 people in their attack on the city of Baga in Borno state.

Culled from Presstv

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

21.Jan.2015

Hits: 2989

Write comment (0 Comments)