PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Unbridled orgy of killings dominates Nigerian media
Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The recent breakdown of law and order, resulting in the mass killing of persons, including security operatives, women and children, was the major story in Nigeria this week.
Just as the presidential panel on dialogue with Boko Haram kicked off its mission with a visit to some prisons where it consulted with detained Boko Haram high-ranking officials, the violent Islamic sect let all hell loose, indulging in wanton killings across some States in the northern part of the country.
First, it was Baga where Boko Haram and the military traded blame as to who was responsible for the mayhem; then Bama where reportedly 55 persons, including uniformed men and women, were killed and lately the killing of 22 policemen was reported from the central Nasarawa State.
"Jonathan, security chiefs in emergency meeting over Nasarawa, Baga, Bama massacre" was the headline in the pro-opposition NATION newspaper which reported that President Goodluck Jonathan Friday launched into an emergency meeting with security chiefs and members of the National Security Council and the National Defence Council on the recent breakdown of law and order in Nasarawa State; Baga and Bama, both in Borno State; Wukari in Taraba State and Benue State.
According to the paper, President Jonathan, who cancelled his tour of Namibia, was scheduled to also meet with state governors on the security challenges which may pose danger to the nation’s democracy. It was gathered that an overhaul of the nation’s security apparatus may be imminent.
At the session with President Jonathan were Vice-President Namadi Sambo; the National Security Adviser, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sahad Ibrahim; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Alex Badeh; Director General of State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Ita Ekpenyong; Inspector-General of Police Muhammed Abubakar who wore a black arm band; and the representative of the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Emmanuel Bassey, Chief of Policy and Plans (COPP).
The security chiefs declined to speak to journalists who had waited patiently to get information on the outcome of the meeting.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, who confirmed the emergency session said: “As I speak, an emergency security council meeting is going on with security chiefs. They are doing an overview of the security situation in the country.
“You will recall that the President aborted his trip to Namibia to attend to security challenges in the country. The security session will cover a review of reports on security challenges in Baga, Bama, Wukari, Nasarawa and Benue states."
In condemning the attack on policemen by members of the Ombatse cult, the Northern States Governors' Forum (NSGF) described the incident as shocking, rude and sad and asked the militia to cease its attacks immediately.
Expressing the forum’s condolences to the Police High Command, the Department of State Security Service and the families of the victims, the Chairman of the forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, said no grievance can justify such a dastardly act against law enforcement agents.
It also condemned the killing of farmers and destruction of property by Fulani herdsmen in the Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, describing it as one attack too many.
The forum called on the authorities to commence the prosecution of 10 suspected mercenaries alleged to have perpetrated the Agatu mayhem.
Earlier, the papers were awash with stories on the killings. According to the PUNCH, whose headline was "US sends team to probe Baga killings", the US government has dispatched a team of State Department officials to meet with top Nigerian government officials this week in Abuja to determine the actual circumstances of the Baga massacre between Boko Haram terrorists and the Nigerian military.
While a US-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Nigerian military for the massacre, claiming that over 185 people were killed and thousands of houses destroyed, the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Prof. Ade Adefuye, said the satellite pictures released by the human rights organisation were insufficient to determine who was responsible for the carnage.
Meanwhile, the National Space Research and Development Agency on Monday presented to a meeting attended by top security chiefs images of Baga captured before and after the April 15 confrontation between insurgents and the Multinational Task Force.
While the GUARDIAN headlined its story "U.S. team to probe Baga killings", the NATION called it "U.N. seeks probe of bloodbath".
On the Bama killings, the headlines were as follows: THISDAY - "55 Killed as Boko Haram Sacks Bama in Borno State"; VANGUARD - "Bloodbath in Borno as 22 policemen,14 prison officials, others killed"; TRIBUNE - "Boko Haram kills 22 policemen, 2 soldiers, 21 others" while the SUN captioned its story on Bama "Bama massacre: Army confirms 47 dead".
Reporting the Bama massacre from another angle, the GUARDIAN, with the headline "Bama Killings: Doctors Withdraw Services In Maiduguri Teaching Hospital", reported that members of the Association of Nigerian Resident Doctors (ANRD), University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) chapter, have embarked on an indefinite strike following the shooting of one of their colleagues in the leg over the “rejection and non-deposition” of the bodies of 35 policemen slain by Boko Haram gunmen at the hospital’s morgue.
The policemen were killed during the multiple attacks on police, prison and military formations by the Boko Haram gunmen at Bama on Tuesday, which claimed 55 lives and destroyed properties worth millions of naira.
Speaking on the strike, Chairman of the Resident Doctors at UMTH, Dr. Mohammed Yahaya of the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, said: “We have resolved to embark on this indefinite strike caused by the shooting and injuring of one of our colleagues by the Nigeria Police over the non-deposition of 35 bodies of killed policemen in the UMTH mortuary today (Thursday). The attacks on the hospital facilities by the policemen were uncalled for and against the ethics of the medical profession in the country."
He said this was not the first time the police had harassed "our staff, including some of the doctors, because the hospital could not meet the demands of some security agents in depositing the bodies of killed persons in the morgue, which has already been over stretched. There are also rules and guidelines that should be followed and adhered to in accepting any human corpse for deposition in the mortuary.”
The national leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) had on Thursday directed all doctors in the UMTH to immediately withdraw from the insecure practice environment until such a time when the security and safety of all health workers and properties in the hospital could be guaranteed by the Federal Government.
The NMA also called on the federal, state and local governments to urgently provide adequate security in all healthcare facilities in Nigeria to halt the increasing spate of violent attacks, kidnapping, robbery and assassination of doctors and other health workers which if not checked may prompt a nationwide withdrawal of medical services.
On Nasarawa, the PUNCH headline was "Cultists ambush, kill 20 policemen in Nasarawa". The story said the Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura, and his counterpart in Benue State, Gabriel Suswan, on Thursday briefed the Presidency on the precarious security situation in their states.
While Al-Makura briefed Vice-President Namadi Sambo on the killing of over 20 policemen by members of a cult group in Alakyo Village, about 10 kilometres from Lafia, the state capital, on Wednesday, Suswan filed a report on the clashes between Fulani cattle rearers and farmers with a casualty figure which he described as “high and including women and children”.
The SUN's account of that story was headlined "23 policemen murdered in Nasarawa".
Meanwhile, President Jonathan has declared that the country was prepared to curb insurgency in the country with the use of high resolution imageries to locate any suspicious changes on the landscape.
President Jonathan who made the remarks while declaring open the 27th FIG (Working Week) International Surveying Congress in Abuja, said high imageries like Geo-Eye, Quick Bird, Ikonos or digital globe would be deployed to tackle the challenge of insecurity.
-0- PANA VAO 11May2013
Just as the presidential panel on dialogue with Boko Haram kicked off its mission with a visit to some prisons where it consulted with detained Boko Haram high-ranking officials, the violent Islamic sect let all hell loose, indulging in wanton killings across some States in the northern part of the country.
First, it was Baga where Boko Haram and the military traded blame as to who was responsible for the mayhem; then Bama where reportedly 55 persons, including uniformed men and women, were killed and lately the killing of 22 policemen was reported from the central Nasarawa State.
"Jonathan, security chiefs in emergency meeting over Nasarawa, Baga, Bama massacre" was the headline in the pro-opposition NATION newspaper which reported that President Goodluck Jonathan Friday launched into an emergency meeting with security chiefs and members of the National Security Council and the National Defence Council on the recent breakdown of law and order in Nasarawa State; Baga and Bama, both in Borno State; Wukari in Taraba State and Benue State.
According to the paper, President Jonathan, who cancelled his tour of Namibia, was scheduled to also meet with state governors on the security challenges which may pose danger to the nation’s democracy. It was gathered that an overhaul of the nation’s security apparatus may be imminent.
At the session with President Jonathan were Vice-President Namadi Sambo; the National Security Adviser, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sahad Ibrahim; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Alex Badeh; Director General of State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Ita Ekpenyong; Inspector-General of Police Muhammed Abubakar who wore a black arm band; and the representative of the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Emmanuel Bassey, Chief of Policy and Plans (COPP).
The security chiefs declined to speak to journalists who had waited patiently to get information on the outcome of the meeting.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, who confirmed the emergency session said: “As I speak, an emergency security council meeting is going on with security chiefs. They are doing an overview of the security situation in the country.
“You will recall that the President aborted his trip to Namibia to attend to security challenges in the country. The security session will cover a review of reports on security challenges in Baga, Bama, Wukari, Nasarawa and Benue states."
In condemning the attack on policemen by members of the Ombatse cult, the Northern States Governors' Forum (NSGF) described the incident as shocking, rude and sad and asked the militia to cease its attacks immediately.
Expressing the forum’s condolences to the Police High Command, the Department of State Security Service and the families of the victims, the Chairman of the forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, said no grievance can justify such a dastardly act against law enforcement agents.
It also condemned the killing of farmers and destruction of property by Fulani herdsmen in the Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, describing it as one attack too many.
The forum called on the authorities to commence the prosecution of 10 suspected mercenaries alleged to have perpetrated the Agatu mayhem.
Earlier, the papers were awash with stories on the killings. According to the PUNCH, whose headline was "US sends team to probe Baga killings", the US government has dispatched a team of State Department officials to meet with top Nigerian government officials this week in Abuja to determine the actual circumstances of the Baga massacre between Boko Haram terrorists and the Nigerian military.
While a US-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Nigerian military for the massacre, claiming that over 185 people were killed and thousands of houses destroyed, the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Prof. Ade Adefuye, said the satellite pictures released by the human rights organisation were insufficient to determine who was responsible for the carnage.
Meanwhile, the National Space Research and Development Agency on Monday presented to a meeting attended by top security chiefs images of Baga captured before and after the April 15 confrontation between insurgents and the Multinational Task Force.
While the GUARDIAN headlined its story "U.S. team to probe Baga killings", the NATION called it "U.N. seeks probe of bloodbath".
On the Bama killings, the headlines were as follows: THISDAY - "55 Killed as Boko Haram Sacks Bama in Borno State"; VANGUARD - "Bloodbath in Borno as 22 policemen,14 prison officials, others killed"; TRIBUNE - "Boko Haram kills 22 policemen, 2 soldiers, 21 others" while the SUN captioned its story on Bama "Bama massacre: Army confirms 47 dead".
Reporting the Bama massacre from another angle, the GUARDIAN, with the headline "Bama Killings: Doctors Withdraw Services In Maiduguri Teaching Hospital", reported that members of the Association of Nigerian Resident Doctors (ANRD), University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) chapter, have embarked on an indefinite strike following the shooting of one of their colleagues in the leg over the “rejection and non-deposition” of the bodies of 35 policemen slain by Boko Haram gunmen at the hospital’s morgue.
The policemen were killed during the multiple attacks on police, prison and military formations by the Boko Haram gunmen at Bama on Tuesday, which claimed 55 lives and destroyed properties worth millions of naira.
Speaking on the strike, Chairman of the Resident Doctors at UMTH, Dr. Mohammed Yahaya of the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, said: “We have resolved to embark on this indefinite strike caused by the shooting and injuring of one of our colleagues by the Nigeria Police over the non-deposition of 35 bodies of killed policemen in the UMTH mortuary today (Thursday). The attacks on the hospital facilities by the policemen were uncalled for and against the ethics of the medical profession in the country."
He said this was not the first time the police had harassed "our staff, including some of the doctors, because the hospital could not meet the demands of some security agents in depositing the bodies of killed persons in the morgue, which has already been over stretched. There are also rules and guidelines that should be followed and adhered to in accepting any human corpse for deposition in the mortuary.”
The national leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) had on Thursday directed all doctors in the UMTH to immediately withdraw from the insecure practice environment until such a time when the security and safety of all health workers and properties in the hospital could be guaranteed by the Federal Government.
The NMA also called on the federal, state and local governments to urgently provide adequate security in all healthcare facilities in Nigeria to halt the increasing spate of violent attacks, kidnapping, robbery and assassination of doctors and other health workers which if not checked may prompt a nationwide withdrawal of medical services.
On Nasarawa, the PUNCH headline was "Cultists ambush, kill 20 policemen in Nasarawa". The story said the Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura, and his counterpart in Benue State, Gabriel Suswan, on Thursday briefed the Presidency on the precarious security situation in their states.
While Al-Makura briefed Vice-President Namadi Sambo on the killing of over 20 policemen by members of a cult group in Alakyo Village, about 10 kilometres from Lafia, the state capital, on Wednesday, Suswan filed a report on the clashes between Fulani cattle rearers and farmers with a casualty figure which he described as “high and including women and children”.
The SUN's account of that story was headlined "23 policemen murdered in Nasarawa".
Meanwhile, President Jonathan has declared that the country was prepared to curb insurgency in the country with the use of high resolution imageries to locate any suspicious changes on the landscape.
President Jonathan who made the remarks while declaring open the 27th FIG (Working Week) International Surveying Congress in Abuja, said high imageries like Geo-Eye, Quick Bird, Ikonos or digital globe would be deployed to tackle the challenge of insecurity.
-0- PANA VAO 11May2013
