30 bodies recovered in Chibok villages after Boko Haram attacks

                               Search is underway in the two villages
At least 30 bodies have been recovered from two communities near Chibok in Borno State where suspected Boko Haram militants attacked Sunday, members of a local vigilante group have said.

Members of the vigilante group said they found 30 corpses from surrounding bushes and Churches in Kwada and Kautikari villages. Search was continuing in the area, they said.

Gunmen stormed Kwada and Kautikari early Sunday burning Churches and shooting worshippers.

The Borno State police spokesperson, Gideon Jubrin, said he was informed of the attack, but said he did not have full details as of Sunday afternoon. Mr. Jubrin said he was yet to contact the district police officer in charge of Chibok.

Residents said the gunmen struck first in Kwada, where they shot worshippers and set fire to at least four Churches, including COCCIN church, EYN church and Deeper Life Bible Church.

“We have so far recovered more than 30 corpses, but we got more of them from the EYN church where the Boko Haram gunmen first attacked in Kwada,” said a vigilante member, who would not want to be quoted for his safety.

The source said the community did not receive protection from the security forces despite calling for help early.

“We are disappointed with the soldiers, when we heard about the attack in Kwada, we raised alarm and informed the soldiers, but instead of going into the town to confront them, they stood from a distance outside the village, under a tree and began to shoot or target.

The gunmen finished with Kwada and proceeded to Kautikari, where they attacked people there until 11:30am when they finally left. We cannot say how many people were killed in Kwada yet,” he said.

Kwada is about 10 kilometres from Chibok, where extremist Boko Haram abducted nearly 300 schoolgirls more than two months ago. Kautikari is about seven kilometres from Chibok.

A resident of Kwada, who identified himself as Mallam Yahi, told journalists that armed men attacked worshippers and burned Churches and houses in Kwada, before heading to Kautikari.

Several residents fled into the bushes to escape the attack, Mr. Yahi said.

A police officer, who lives in Chibok, confirmed that his brother was killed in the attack.

The officer, who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to speak, said he received a telephone call while he was in Church, informing him that his younger brother had been killed in Kwada.

One of the houses destroyed in Kautikari belonged to a special assistant to the Borno State governor, Baba John, a relative of the politician told PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr. John could not be immediately reached.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, although Boko Haram is suspected.

A PREMIUM TIMES reporter who travelled to Chibok in May after the abduction of the schoolgirls, said while he was in the troubled town, suspected Boko Haram militants delivered a letter to Kautikari threatening attacks soon.

It is not clear whether the group made any demand as they are known to do with such threats.
Reports of Sunday’s attack emerged as the raid was ongoing.

Panic-stricken villagers in Chibok had made distress calls to journalists and security operatives in Maiduguri calling for urgent help.

A text message sent by a resident at about 9:30 a.m. read: “Massive attack on Kautikari now. All security agencies should be notified, and call for divine help now.”

An official of the Department of Security Service confirmed the information to PREMIUM TIMES but asked not to be named.

Rebels declare Islamic state in Iraq, Syria

Islamist militant group, ISIS, has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, on the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria.

It also proclaimed the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and “leader for Muslims everywhere.”

Setting up a caliphate ruled by the strict Islamic law has long been a goal of many jihadists.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s army continued an offensive to retake the northern city of Tikrit from the ISIS-led rebels, the BBC reports.

The city was seized by the insurgents on June 11 as they swept across large parts of northern-western Iraq.

In a separate development, Israel called for the creation of an independent Kurdish state in response to the gain made by the Sunni rebels in Iraq.

ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) announced the establishment of the caliphate in an audio recording posted on the internet.

ISIS also said that from now on it would be known simply as “the Islamic State.”

The BBC says the declaration harks back to the rise of Islam, when the Prophet Muhammad’s followers conquered vast territories in the Middle Ages.

Why we conceded defeat in Ekiti – Oyegun

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie Oyegun, said the party conceded victory to the Peoples Democratic Party in the Ekiti governorship election to prevent the outbreak of violence.

Oyegun, who said this in Benin on Sunday while fielding questions from journalists, also said that contrary to insinuations the Ekiti governorship poll was characterised with lots of irregularities.

He said that it was in view of these irregularities that the party took the decision to challenge the election result in the court.

“It should be noted that we didn’t just concede victory because the election was flawless but we took the decision to avoid violence.

“We did not want anything that will make the people react negatively and violently.

“The party will challenge the trampling on the fundamental human rights of the people before during and after the election,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the APC chairman as saying to journalists.

He urged Nigerians to embrace the APC as the new party with a different agenda to fix Nigeria.
Oyegun said, “We are presenting our party as new, as different, and we have done the studies as people who truly care.

“There is no way we can prove it to you because we have never ruled this country but we can tell you to look at APC-controlled states.

“We are not pretending to be angels, politics is not a seminary nor is it the papacy but what is important is what are you doing with the lives of the people?

“Are you restoring hopes to their lives? Are you making their lives better? If not for themselves, do they believe that the lives of their children will be better?

“Are your policies concentrated on improving their lives? Are the sectors working in the interest of the ordinary Nigerian?

“Do we have power, do we have quality schools, do we have security and do we have jobs?”

Woman's Younger Brother & His Friends Stab Husband To Death

A 23-year-old woman, Blessing Ede's younger brother and his friends stabbed her husband to death following an argument over baby-walker.

Trouble started last year December, when after an argument, the deceased, Mr. Isaac Ede, 36 asked his wife to go and stay with her parents in Uvuru, Imo State and should remain there until he sent for her to return to their home in Port Harcourt.

Daily Sun reports that he did not contact her until April, 2014 when he called her on phone to come back and pack her things out of his house.

In May, the woman returned to Port Harcourt to do her husband's bidding. On that fateful day at about 11p.m, she came to the house with her younger brother, Emmanuel Anuforo and two of his friends to pack her belongings out of her husband's house.

As she was packing her things, she wanted to take along the baby-walker and an argument ensued between the couple. In the heat of the argument, her younger brother and his two friends descended on the husband and stabbed him with a sharp broken bottle and he died.

Emmanuel and his friend were said to have fled the scene, leaving his sister behind. She was alter arrested by the by policemen from the State Criminal Investigation Department of the Rivers State Police Command as neighbours raised the alarm.

During interrogation, Blessing admitted having an argument with her husband but said she didn not send her brother and his friends to kill him.

"I didn’t send my brother Emmanuel and his two friends to kill my husband. It was the devil. We have been married for two years. I have one child for him and right now I am six months pregnant. I cannot explain what led to the death of my husband. It was impatience that led to it. I want the family of my husband to forgive me for what I have done. With my six months pregnancy I will suffer if I am sent to prison for murder," she said.

The Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin said, based on the findings of detectives investigating the matter, the wife was a troublemaker.

Boko Haram Is Attacking Abuja To Intimidate FG - Presidency Reveals

The Presidency disclosed on Sunday that the intensified attacks of Boko Haram on Abuja is a calculated attempt by the sect to intimidate the Federal Government.

The presidency said the insurgents cannot achieve this aim as the country is too blessed to be intimidated, adding that the culprits of the incessant attacks across the country will be brought to book.

The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Media and Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, made this known when he paid a condolence visit to the New Telegraph newspaper following the loss of its Managing Editor, Northern Operations, Mr. Suleiman Bisalla, in last Wednesday's attack on EMAB Plaza Abuja.

Related: Abuja Tragedy Scene In Pictures

He said, "Boko Haram is about the fight for the soul of this country. What is the sense of bombing everywhere? It is struggle for power. God that sees the inner minds of Nigerians, will see us through.

"Boko haram may kill us, may destroy our properties, but they will not win. Nigeria will win the war against terrorism. By the grace of God, we will prevail.

"By coming to abuja, it is to intimidate government and it is not going to work."

Okupe explained that Boko Haram will be defeated as the government has the resources and men to curb the insurgents.

Related: Abuja Explosion: Suspected Bomber Killed By Soldiers, Another Arrested (See Photos)

He lamented the loss of innocent lives, who have died for an offence they did not commit as majority of them had nothing to do with politics.

The presidential aide, however, gave the assurance that the incessant bombings will not derail the government neither will it stop them from protecting the citizens.

The Federal Capital territory, has come under Boko Haram attacks in recent time. Last week Wednesday, the sect struck at the at popular shopping mall, Emab Plaza on Aminu Kano Crescent in Wuse 2 in Abuja, leaving 21 people dead and 17 others injured. Among those who lost their lives was a journalist, the Managing Editor, Northern Operations, New Telegraph newspaper, Mr. Suleiman Bisala.

We Don’t Know Location Of Missing Girls In Borno, US Declares

Contrary to earlier reports, the United States of America declared on Friday, 27 June, 2014, that it does not know the where-about of the 219 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State, northeastern Nigeria.

It could be recalled that no fewer 276 students of Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State were abducted by members of Boko Haram on 14 April, 2014. Though some of the kidnapped schoolgirls reportedly managed to escape the insurgents after their abduction, 219 of them are still being held by the Islamists terror group.

Few days after the girls' abduction, leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, said, in a video posted on the internet, that he would not release the schoolgirls except for an exchange of some of 'his brethren' captured by the Nigerian soldiers.

The Nigerian federal government led by President Goodluck Jonathan, supported by the international communities, had since stated they are not going to negotiate with the terrorists on the matter, promising to ensure that all the missing girls are brought back home.

Speaking on attempt to rescue the schoolgirls from their abductors, Reuters reports that Pentagon spokesman, Rear Admiral John Kirby, told newsmen on Friday that it had decreased its surveillance flights in the search for the missing 219 schoolgirls

According to the report, the spokesman also added that their overall effort was unchanged due to more flights by other countries.


* Some of the abducted schoolgirls in Borno

Kirby stated that it had no idea of the location of the girls, noting however that there is no letup in the efforts to locate and rescue them.

“We don’t have any better idea today than we did before about where these girls are, but there’s been no letup of the effort itself,” the spokesman told reporters.

Kirby said the same level of effort was being sustained now through international involvement.

Kirby denied a suggestion that US flights over Nigeria had been reduced to accommodate increased US surveillance over Iraq, where Washington is flying unmanned and manned aircraft to gather intelligence about Sunni insurgents.


* Leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau

He said some of the resources that were being used in Nigeria had been diverted from other missions in Africa and could now be used elsewhere on the continent.

US military personnel are in Abuja helping to coordinate the effort, and some 80 others were sent to Chad in May to support the surveillance operation.

Chad is northeast of Nigeria and borders the area in which Boko Haram is known to operate.

Also speaking on the matter, a US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said American flights had been reduced only after a body of intelligence had been gathered and that the cuts had been offset by the British and the French support.

*President Goodluck Jonathan

The defence official said surveillance alone would not lead to a resolution. “It will take the Nigerian piece of the equation with their own sources and human intelligence coupled with the other forms to really understand the picture,” he noted.

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post on Friday, President Goodluck Jonathan said his government and security services had “spared no resources, have not stopped and will not stop until the girls are returned home.”

Oshiomhole Threatens Law Suit Against Authorities

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has threatened to sue any authority who attempts to infringe on his fundamental human rights if his right to movement from one place to another within the country is violated again.

According to ThisDay, the governor made this known at the weekend while playing host to the management of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Benin Airport Branch, who came to apologise for the barring of the governor's chartered helicopter at the airport.


Responding, Oshiomhole disclosed that immediately after the incident, he called President Goodluck Jonathan to make some enquiries on the development, but noted that he was convinced the order to stop his helicopter from taking off from the airport didn't come from the president.

"The next time I’m so interrupted, I will not fail to go to court and challenge the infringement on my fundamental rights to movement. We need to strengthen our democracy. We need to breathe air into our multi-party democracy" he said.

The governor, who advised the agency to abstain from partisan politics and concentrate on professionalism said: "it will be a sad day if the management of a sensitive institution that has to do with air safety joins the club of politicians and political actors. I am saying this from my experience over the cause of my stewardship here. Twice my chartered chopper has been stopped by your agents and the airport authority for reasons that have nothing to do with professional judgment but purely for partisan political reason".

Responding, the Airspace Manager, NAMA, Benin Airport, Ibekwe  Ikechi said: "If things have happened before, let it be in the past, please".

Ikechi further solicited a cordial working relationship with the state government, and reiterated the agency's readiness to further improve its operations in the Benin Airport.

It would be recalled that Governor Adam Oshiomhole's helicopter was stopped from taking off from Benin airport by soldiers on the day the governor was supposed to attend the political rally of Ekiti State governor, Fayemi Kayode.