High-Scoring Eaglets Fail To Lift U-17 Trophy

The hope of high-scoring Golden Eaglets of Nigeria revenging the defeat suffered in the hands of their Ivorian counterparts and and win the African U-17 Championship in Morocco melted away yesterday as they suffered their second defeat to the same team and settled for the silver medal.

The team handled by Manu Garba with Nduka Ugbade and Emmanuel Amuneke as assistants went into the lead eight minutes into the game through Prince Omego to raise hope that they will not only revenge their defeat but crush the young Elephants like they did to other teams on their way to the final.
That was not to be as the rugged and hard fighting Ivorians did not want to fall to Nigeria like their seniors did to the Super Eagles at the 2013 Africa Nations Cup in South Africa and so took the game to the Eaglets.
The Eaglets took the lead through Prince Omego in the eight minute, raising hope that they were not only on a revenge mission but were going to crush the Ivorians like they did to other teams on their way to the final.
Chidiebere Nwakali took a corner kick that forced a save from the Ivorian goal minder Aboubakar Diabagate who punched a goal-bound header back into play and Omego reacted quickest to poke home the first goal of the match.
The Eaglets could have doubled their lead some minutes later when the ball found Musa Yahaya all by himself in the box but with everyone looking for the off-side whistle which did not come, Yahaya dragged his short wide of the post.
However, the hard-fighting young Elephants, not wanting to fall like their seniors did to the Super Eagles at the 2013 Africa Nations Cup took the game to the Nigerian lads and it paid off in the 26th minute when they equalised through Chris Bile Bedia to send their camp wild with jubilation.
The Baby Elephants won a free-kick in the Nigeria half. Bedia used his height advantage to jump furthest and flick a header into the top corner of Eaglets’ goalkeeper, Adeyinka Adewale’s net for the equalizer.
Just after that Success Isaac was thwarted by Diabagate after beating his marker but the goalkeeper closed the angel forcing the competition top-goal scorer to blaze his effort.
The teams engaged in a fierce battle and both defenses stood solid in an evenly contest match. The Baby Elephants came close to a second goal when captain Yannick Kessie played a through ball to Maiga only for Musa Muhammed to come with a crucial challenge.
Nigeria went down to ten men in the 73rd minute when defender Akinjide Idowu ‘s challenge on Aboubacar Keita with a raised arm got him sent off but the Eaglets made changes and kept on the pressure as a see-saw battle ensued.
The contest could not provide a winner and it was left to a penalty shoot-out to settle the matter and the Ivorians scored all their five penalties through Kessie, Diallo Ismael, Angban, Keita and Dogbole Niangbo who scored the winning penalty after Chidiebere Nwakali has missed for Nigeria. Success, Ifeanyi Mathew, Yahaya and Musa Muhammed converted their kicks for the Eaglets.

Source: Vanguard

Source: Naij.com

Mary Uranta: Sexual Harassment Drove Me Out Of Nollywood

For star of Secret Mission, Mary Data Uranta, her first foray into Nollywood was unpalatable. When she started out as a green horn, it was not easy finding her feet in the industry because most times she ended up with people who were only interested in taking her to bed rather than exploiting her talent.
In an exclusive chat with The Entertainer, the actress opened up on her ordeal in the hands of film producers and declared that the sexual harassment was so much she decided to take a walk from Nollywood. That decision took her to the UK where she studied at the London School of Arts.
“At a point, sex became a condition for getting movie roles so I just took a walk. There were times when I missed getting roles because I wouldn’t succumb to pressure so I left and did other things including studying at the London School of Arts. But the passion was so strong I knew I just had to return so, I took time to look for professionals; people who would be interested in my talent and not taking me to bed,” she recalled.
However, the United Nation’s Peace Ambassador declares that sexual harassment is not a big deal today because it is a thing of choice. Hear her: “It’s a natural thing in the industry; men will always chase women so I don’t think it’s peculiar to Nollywood. It’s the same thing everywhere you go. I think those in the banks and other sectors also get harassed. So, it’s not what I love to discuss.
“Definitely, harassment will come but it’s a thing of choice. Movie or no movie, a producer can see you and get attracted to you. Same thing goes for an actor or marketer, so for me, it’s not a story to talk about.”
Childhood
Mary is an indigene of Okpobo but grew up in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. She lived all her life in Port Harcourt before relocating to Lagos to pursue a career in acting.
Commenting on her childhood, she said: “I had a great childhood. I never had it rough or tough growing up. Fine, I’m from an average home. But it’s never been bad. I had all I wanted as a child. I’m from a family of 13. Seven kids from my mum and four step brothers including mum and dad. It was fun growing up with my brothers and sisters, we were one happy family.
Passion driven
Right from childhood, Mary had always dreamed of being an actress so when she was in her teens she started shuttling between Lagos and Port Harcourt just to attend auditions.
“I’ve always loved acting,” she recalled. “I have been very passionate about it. I used to come to Lagos then from Port Harcourt just for auditions, my friends and I actually. We used to go to Asaba, Enugu, Owerri and even within Port Harcourt just to get auditioned. But after a while, I said to myself, ‘If Lagos is the place where it’s happening, I think I should just move to Lagos instead of coming and going.’ And that was it.”
Challenges
According to Mary, her journey into acting came with a lot of challenges because her parents were not down with it. “They had a way of coming up with good excuses about why I shouldn’t act so, I never had the full support at the initial stage from anyone around me. Actually, my parents didn’t have a problem with me doing it as far as it was in Port Harcourt. Probably that was because I was very young at the time,” she says.
Consequently, Mary had to sneak to Lagos to attend auditions and also get an apartment in view of her plans to finally relocate to Lagos and pursue her dreams. “My coming to Lagos was even a problem. Initially, I didn’t tell my parents that I was relocating to Lagos. I came quietly, got a house, furnished it and was still going to Port Harcourt and back as if I was around.
But later I had to tell my mum. And she was like ‘how would you cope all by yourself?’ But I assured her that I would cope. So, that’s how I became a Lagos girl. Ever since, I have never looked back,” the actress stated.
First break
Mary got her first role ever in Port Harcourt and it was in Girls Hostel, a movie also starring Olu Jacobs, Ngozi Ezeonu, Uche Jombo, and Empress Njama. “I was still in school then. The movie was shot in Port Harcourt and the director came for an audition there, so I went with my friends who were in the Theatre Arts Department.
They actually forced me to come with them. When we got there they each got a role in the movie and the director now turned to me and said ‘hey you, don’t you want to act?’ And I said ‘yes, I want to act’. I was very shy. He auditioned me for a role and surprisingly I did well. That’s how I got the role of a hall president in the movie. After that, we were brought to Lagos for another movie entitled, Silver Spoon and then another one entitled, Church Committee, and ever since I have never looked back,” she narrated.
Recounting further those years, the actress said: “Movies were very big then but at a point I stopped because I was still in school and my HOD was not down with my acting so she was always giving me problems. In fact, I had an extra year because of that and that was a big problem for me. But after school I took up the challenge. I told myself this is what I wanted to do and nothing could stop me.”
Secret Mission
However, Mary pointed to Secret Mission as the movie that gave her the big break in 2005. Hear her: “I played the lead in the movie. I played the role of Ngozi Ezeonu’s younger sister. There were also Desmond Elliot, Tonto Dikeh, Chioma Chukwuka and others. That movie stands out for me because I had problems interpreting the role.
“It was so bad I had to go to the producer twice to return the script. At a point, I went to the producer and pleaded with him to look for someone else to play my role because it was so difficult for me. I wasn’t just getting it right at all. I was just fumbling. At a point, I fled to Port Harcourt and they were looking for me everywhere.
“They called and asked me to come back to Lagos because I had already shot the film half way. The lesson I learnt from that experience was that it’s not about someone giving you a big role; the real challenge is interpreting it. But I guess it’s because it was my first lead role. Now I’m a pro. My work speaks for me.”
So, how’s the man in her life coping? The actress responded thus: “Men are just beginning to come to terms with the reality that a woman has dreams which she wants to actualize. They are beginning to realise that acting actually pays because people are becoming famous and rich from acting.
“Then, when we started, it was for the love of it. We never knew that we could make money from the industry. Nobody ever wanted his girlfriend to do movies but I am happy I have a man who believes in my talent and is giving me all the support.”
Who is that man in her life? “I don’t want to talk about my relationship,” Mary says with a dismissive tone.
As an independent career woman, does she sometime scare men? “Sometimes yes, you know men will always be men. When you are independent they worry. They are like ‘am I sure if this one will stay?’ When you are dependent on them they are like, ‘this girl, your bills are too much.’ So, it’s like that. But when the right person comes, he will understand that you are doing what you have to do and accept you the way you are.”

Source: The Sun

Source: Naij.com

Wizkid Signs Legendury Beatz To Star Boy Entertainment

Arts and Entertainment

Wizzy is putting together a strong production unit for his Star Boy label.
The Nigerian Pop has announced the signing of Lagos based music production duo Mutay and Zei better known as Legendury Beatz.
‘It’s Official!!… @Mutay_Legendury and @zei_legendury Legendury Beats now on StarBoyEnt!!!…we growing!!!…#RICH!!…yaaaaga!!‘, Wizkid tweeted on April 26.

The producers are made up of two brothers Uzezi Oniko (Zei) and Okiemute Oniko (Mutay). They are alumni of the University of Lagos and credited with making some of the biggest hits of the past two years having worked with the likes of Wizkid himself (Azonto) and the EME crew (Baddest boy), Reminisce (2 mussh), Mo’Cheddah (Ko ma roll), Brymo (Ara), Illbliss (Emi ni baller), Tilla man (Ko ma roll).

Wizzy signed his first artiste, Maleek Berry, a UK based producer, only few days ago.

Source: Thenetng

Source: Naij.com

Baga Mayhem: ”We Are Still Picking Corpes Of Women, Children In The Bush”

Borno State is Nigeria’s self- acclaimed ‘Home of Peace’. That is the appellation. But you may not be wrong if you now describe it as ‘The Home of Ruins and Pieces’. The truth about the state is that it has become a theatre of a war unleashed by the Islamist group called Boko Haram. Insurgency has been the order of the day in the state, leaving in its trail bombings, shootings and deaths.

When the residents are lucky, the death toll is low, but sometimes it can be high. Some analysts blame the problem on the international borders with Chad, Niger and Cameroun which they believe is porous as to allow Islamic extremists from the countries to enter the state at will.
The Federal Government raised a military outfit under the aegis of the Joint Task Force (JTF) which it deployed to contain the Islamists. However, the efforts to abate the violence in the state have led to the JTF’s stand-off with the intransigent Islamists, claiming more lives. One of such incidents was the face-off of last week between the JTF and the Boko Haram elements which reportedly claimed about 185 lives – the JTF is the arrowhead of a multinational force working in the state to contain the insurgents.
The face-off took place at Baga, a remote village in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State, believed to have been a haven for the Islamist group. Most of those killed in the four-hour battle were said to have been civilians thus sparking national outrage.

The dead, according to reports, include women and children, while hundreds of houses were torched.
Baga, about 235 kilometers away from Maiduguri, Borno State capital, is a border town with Niger and Chad. It produces fish. Troops from Niger and Chad were reported to have been involved in the operation.
Until this incident, the last reported insurgent activity in the area was the killing of a Customs officer. This time, the multinational force took the battle to the ‘home’ of the Boko Haram Islamists. Reports said the civilian casualty was high as the Islamists used residents as human shields from the multinational force fire.
A Baga resident, who gave his name as Mallam Bana, said he survived the battle by whiskers. According to him, it all started at about 8pm penultimate Friday. “The soldiers were heartless that night in their approach; they killed and burnt our houses, chased everyone into the bush including women and children. So far, we have buried 185 corpses. – some were burnt beyond recognition; others are hospitalized with various degrees of injuries,” Bana said.

But the commander of the JTF, Brigadier General Austin Edokpaye, who confirmed the incident, while conducting Governor Kashim Shettima round the affected area, on Sunday, debunked the claim that scores of civilians were consumed during the battle. “We lost an officer during an attack on our men on patrol. We received intelligence report that some suspected Boko Haram members usually prayed and hid arms at a particular mosque in the town. It was around that mosque that our men were attacked with several of them injured and an officer died”, Edokpaye said.

“When we reinforced and returned to the scene, the terrorists came out with heavy firepower including RPGs which usually have a conflagration effect that caused houses with tatched roof or fencing to catch fire.”
The commander revealed that the fire that consumed the community and the resultant deaths should be blamed on the Boko Haram Islamists who opened fire on soldiers and using civilians as human shields. He denied the residents’ allegation that the shootout was unprovoked.
Edokpaye noted that in his many years of stay in Borno State, he had cultivated civil and military relations to the effect that Baga and environs had enjoyed relative peace.
He said those who died as a result of the incident could be victims of the crossfire between the soldiers and the Boko Haram gunmen, which he said was highly regrettable.
Shettima drove through the village with a large retinue of government functionaries, including the member of the House of Representatives representing the area, Hon. Isa Lawan Kangarwa, and the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Baba Ahmed Jidda.
The governor and his entourage also visited the General Hospital, Baga, where he commiserated with the women, children and aged men admitted for various cases of burns.
The governor took time to pacify the aggrieved residents and pleaded with those in the bush to return home.
He directed that those in hospital with severe cases of burns be transferred to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital where they could get better treatment.

Shettima later expressed his displeasure with the way the soldiers carried out their duties on the fateful day, just as he implored the commander to “take full charge” of his operation and ensure he personally supervises his field officers from time to time “in order to avert such nasty incidents in the future.”
Before he left the town, he inaugurated a high-powered committee, led by Hon Isa Lawan Kangarwa, to ascertain the extent of the damage and how the people could be helped out of their “seemingly irreparable trauma”.

Sunday Vanguard checks revealed that food and other basic needs became a problem in the community throughout last weekend as a grocery merchant, who lost his house and business stall in the conflagration, Malam Bashir Isa, said, “Everyone has been in the bush since Friday night; we started returning to town because the governor came today. To get food to eat now is a problem because even the markets are burnt. We are still picking corpses of women and children in the bush”.

To cushion the effect of the hardship faced by the surviving residents, the Federal Government ordered the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, North East Zone to collaborate with Borno State government to mobilize to site on Wednesday to assist the victims with relief materials. Consequently, NEMA officials were deployed to the area.

Source: Vanguard

Source: Naij.com

Baga Mayhem: ”We Are Still Picking Corpes Of Women, Children In The Bush”

Borno State is Nigeria’s self- acclaimed ‘Home of Peace’. That is the appellation. But you may not be wrong if you now describe it as ‘The Home of Ruins and Pieces’. The truth about the state is that it has become a theatre of a war unleashed by the Islamist group called Boko Haram. Insurgency has been the order of the day in the state, leaving in its trail bombings, shootings and deaths.

When the residents are lucky, the death toll is low, but sometimes it can be high. Some analysts blame the problem on the international borders with Chad, Niger and Cameroun which they believe is porous as to allow Islamic extremists from the countries to enter the state at will.
The Federal Government raised a military outfit under the aegis of the Joint Task Force (JTF) which it deployed to contain the Islamists. However, the efforts to abate the violence in the state have led to the JTF’s stand-off with the intransigent Islamists, claiming more lives. One of such incidents was the face-off of last week between the JTF and the Boko Haram elements which reportedly claimed about 185 lives – the JTF is the arrowhead of a multinational force working in the state to contain the insurgents.
The face-off took place at Baga, a remote village in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State, believed to have been a haven for the Islamist group. Most of those killed in the four-hour battle were said to have been civilians thus sparking national outrage.

The dead, according to reports, include women and children, while hundreds of houses were torched.
Baga, about 235 kilometers away from Maiduguri, Borno State capital, is a border town with Niger and Chad. It produces fish. Troops from Niger and Chad were reported to have been involved in the operation.
Until this incident, the last reported insurgent activity in the area was the killing of a Customs officer. This time, the multinational force took the battle to the ‘home’ of the Boko Haram Islamists. Reports said the civilian casualty was high as the Islamists used residents as human shields from the multinational force fire.
A Baga resident, who gave his name as Mallam Bana, said he survived the battle by whiskers. According to him, it all started at about 8pm penultimate Friday. “The soldiers were heartless that night in their approach; they killed and burnt our houses, chased everyone into the bush including women and children. So far, we have buried 185 corpses. – some were burnt beyond recognition; others are hospitalized with various degrees of injuries,” Bana said.

But the commander of the JTF, Brigadier General Austin Edokpaye, who confirmed the incident, while conducting Governor Kashim Shettima round the affected area, on Sunday, debunked the claim that scores of civilians were consumed during the battle. “We lost an officer during an attack on our men on patrol. We received intelligence report that some suspected Boko Haram members usually prayed and hid arms at a particular mosque in the town. It was around that mosque that our men were attacked with several of them injured and an officer died”, Edokpaye said.

“When we reinforced and returned to the scene, the terrorists came out with heavy firepower including RPGs which usually have a conflagration effect that caused houses with tatched roof or fencing to catch fire.”
The commander revealed that the fire that consumed the community and the resultant deaths should be blamed on the Boko Haram Islamists who opened fire on soldiers and using civilians as human shields. He denied the residents’ allegation that the shootout was unprovoked.
Edokpaye noted that in his many years of stay in Borno State, he had cultivated civil and military relations to the effect that Baga and environs had enjoyed relative peace.
He said those who died as a result of the incident could be victims of the crossfire between the soldiers and the Boko Haram gunmen, which he said was highly regrettable.
Shettima drove through the village with a large retinue of government functionaries, including the member of the House of Representatives representing the area, Hon. Isa Lawan Kangarwa, and the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Baba Ahmed Jidda.
The governor and his entourage also visited the General Hospital, Baga, where he commiserated with the women, children and aged men admitted for various cases of burns.
The governor took time to pacify the aggrieved residents and pleaded with those in the bush to return home.
He directed that those in hospital with severe cases of burns be transferred to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital where they could get better treatment.

Shettima later expressed his displeasure with the way the soldiers carried out their duties on the fateful day, just as he implored the commander to “take full charge” of his operation and ensure he personally supervises his field officers from time to time “in order to avert such nasty incidents in the future.”
Before he left the town, he inaugurated a high-powered committee, led by Hon Isa Lawan Kangarwa, to ascertain the extent of the damage and how the people could be helped out of their “seemingly irreparable trauma”.

Sunday Vanguard checks revealed that food and other basic needs became a problem in the community throughout last weekend as a grocery merchant, who lost his house and business stall in the conflagration, Malam Bashir Isa, said, “Everyone has been in the bush since Friday night; we started returning to town because the governor came today. To get food to eat now is a problem because even the markets are burnt. We are still picking corpses of women and children in the bush”.

To cushion the effect of the hardship faced by the surviving residents, the Federal Government ordered the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, North East Zone to collaborate with Borno State government to mobilize to site on Wednesday to assist the victims with relief materials. Consequently, NEMA officials were deployed to the area.

Source: Vanguard

Source: Naij.com

Presidency Warns Of “Dire Consequences” In Niger Delta If Jonathan Is Not Re-elected

A presidential aide has warned of “dire consequences” in the oil rich Niger Delta should President Goodluck Jonathan fail to secure a fresh term in 2015.

In a startling remark to U.S. officials in Washington on Thursday, Special Adviser to the president on Niger Delta, and chairman, presidential amnesty programme, Kingsley Kuku, said current relative peace in the Niger Delta is tied to the continued stay in office of Mr. Jonathan, and strongly urged the American government to back his presidency.
Mr. Kuku, who spoke at a session with officials of the U.S. State Department led by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of African Affairs), Donald Teitelbaum, told the Americans that only Mr. Jonathan can guarantee peace in the restive region and hence, the compelling need to persuade him to seek re-election in 2015.
“It is true that the presidential amnesty programme has engendered peace, safety and security in the sensitive and strategic Niger Delta. Permit me to add that the peace that currently prevails in the zone is largely because Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who is from that same place, is the President of Nigeria. That is the truth.
“It is only a Jonathan presidency that can guarantee continued peace and energy security in the Niger Delta,” Mr. Kuku said.
The presidential aide said the consequences would be dire if the U.S. gets distracted by the activities of terror cells in parts of northern Nigeria, and takes its attention off the Niger Delta.
“Terrorism is a global phenomenon. President Jonathan inherited the situation in northern Nigeria and he has adopted a multifaceted approach to tackle this unfortunate situation. So far, profound results are being achieved,” he said. “But I insist that this must not distract the U.S. and the international community from giving the Niger Delta region of Nigeria the requisite attention.”
“I hope the U.S. is aware that with peace and stability in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy will remain buoyant enough to empower the Federal Government to contend with terrorism and other forms of insecurity in other parts of the country.
“However if we allow anything to hurt the peace in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy will be endangered and energy security in Nigeria and even America will not be guaranteed. The attention and interest of the U.S. in Nigeria must remain the stability of the Niger Delta and the easiest way to ensure this is to encourage President Jonathan to complete an eight-year term,” he said.
Mr. Kuku, who has pushed for talks with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, after the group warned of restarting fighting in the region, told the session that the Niger Delta continues to yearn for attention and development.
More“In spite of the peace that prevails in the Niger Delta now, the issues that led to militancy in the first place are yet to be properly addressed. The issues of development, greater say in the control of the resource that comes from the place, issues of environmental remediation, youth unemployment among others are still there,” he said.
“However, the agitators are prepared to patiently await development as long as one of their own, Dr. Jonathan remains the President, and I think this is one thing the American government should reflect seriously on.”
In response, Mr. Teitelbaum acknowledged his country was worried about the activities of terror cells in northern Nigeria, but said the U.S remains committed to deepening of the peace in the Niger Delta.
He said that the U.S. views the Niger Delta amnesty programme as a huge success, and pledged that the State Department will brief other organs of the U.S. Government on possible ways of offering technical support to the amnesty programme.
At a separate meeting with members of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) in Washington DC on Thursday, Mr. Kuku challenged investors, particularly Americans, to leverage on the relative peace that the amnesty programme has engendered in the Niger Delta to invest in the region.
He told the members that following the proclamation and the acceptance of amnesty by former agitators in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economy witnessed astronomical growth as crude oil production, which had declined to as low as 700,000 barrels per day in the first quarter of 2009, has been rising steadily and currently stands about 2.6 million barrels per day.
Mr. Kuku however warned that unless the thousands of youths being offered skills and vocational training by the Amnesty Office become gainfully employed, peace may once again elude the Niger Delta.
“We were given the mandate to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate these ex-agitators. We are doing just that and peace has returned to the Niger Delta as several of the ex-agitators are now very busy in schools and vocational centres across the world. But what becomes of them after their training is our biggest challenge now.
"On our part, we have done our best but we now need the practical support of all persons and nations who truly seek and want peace in the Niger Delta, to join efforts to create employment opportunities for our youths,” Mr. Kuku told the American investors.
The CCA President and Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Hayes, said the Council was irrevocably committed to attracting American investors to Africa.

Source: Premium Times

Boko Haram Got $3.15 million to Free French Hostages

Boko Haram was paid an equivalent of around $3.15 million by French and Cameroonian negotiators before freeing seven French hostages this month, a confidential Nigerian government report obtained by Reuters said.

The memo does not say who paid the ransom for the family of seven, who were all released on April 19, although it says Cameroon freed some Boko Haram detainees as part of the deal.

France and Cameroon reiterated denials that any ransom was paid. Nigerian authorities declined to comment.

 

Armed men on motorcycles snatched Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, his wife, brother and the couple's four young children, the youngest of whom was four years old, on February 19 while they were on holiday near the Waza national park in north Cameroon, some 10 km (six miles) from the Nigerian border. They were believed to have been held in northeast Nigeria.

Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed the capture of the family of Moulin-Fournier, who worked in Cameroon for French utility firm GDF Suez.

 

French President Francois Hollande at the time denied any money was paid when the family was released on April 19.

The Nigerian report suggests that 1.6 billion CFA francs ($3.15 million) was paid, but that right up until the last minute Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had insisted on double that, before agreeing to reduce it if some Boko Haram members in Cameroonian jails were freed.

 

Reacting to the report, a French foreign ministry official said that France has passed a clear message that it does not pay ransoms. Cameroon government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said "Cameroon did not pay any ransom".

A spokesman for Nigeria's government declined to comment.

 

The report suggests Nigerian security forces decided not to try to rescue the hostages so as not to endanger their lives. A botched rescue attempt of a British and an Italian hostage believed to have been held by Islamist sect Ansaru in March last year resulted in both hostages being killed.

 

French news network i-tele reported earlier on Friday that a ransom had of $7 million had been paid, suggesting either Cameroon President Paul Biya or GDF-Suez had paid it.

 

Eight French hostages are being held in the Sahel region, although the fate of one of them is unclear after al-Qaeda's north African arm last month said it had beheaded Philippe Verdon.

 

Hollande has said Paris has ended a policy of paying ransoms for hostages, but suspicion that the country still does despite official denials has been a source of tension with the United States.

 

France brushed off an allegation by a former U.S. diplomat that it paid a $17 million ransom in vain for the release of four hostages abducted in 2010 from Niger.

 

Hollande told the family of the Sahel hostages in January that the new policy also meant that he had told companies and insurance firms to not pay ransoms.

 

 

Source: Reuters

Give Amnesty Committee A Chance -David Mark Tells Nigerians

Senate President, Senator David Mark has called on Nigerians to give the Federal Government Committee on Amnesty for Boko Haram members a chance, saying that the job of the panel is a delicate one that requires patience.

He also noted that the present attempts at amending the 1999 constitution would not be the last, adding that the National Assembly is committed to providing an acceptable constitution.
Mark, who said this yesterday in Lagos at a Working Retreat convened by Senate Committee on Constitution Review, urged Nigerians to refrain from condemning the move to constitute an amnesty committee on Boko Haram.
His words:” Why don’t we  give the committee a chance  now, because we have got to a situation where people don’t just make comments anyhow. This is a very delicate situation and it’s even better for you the media men not to ask any question on that because the committee is in charge and the issue is delicate.
‘’When the matter  on Baga came up, I allowed the Senator who is from Baga to inform us and there was no further comment from anybody because we don’t know the facts and we cannot begin to make comments when  we don’t know the facts. All we are saying is that for all those human beings to be killed, something has to be done.”
He further said, ‘’It is not the military that handed over the constitution, there was a constitution drafting committee that prepared the document and the drafters were not military men. There are areas we need to make amendment on and this is not going to be the last constitution amendment because as democracy develops and improves there   will be grey areas that people will continue to agitate for amendment. ‘’
Also speaking, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu   said the constitution review committee, had not taken any position on any of the issues for amendment.
He said, “I want to restate that the committee has not taken position on any issue. The committee has no such powers. Senate’s   position on any matter on proposed amendment can only come by way of voting and resolution in plenary. There will be exhaustive debate to dissect all sides to each proposed amendment.
Senators will continue to be in touch with their constituents to ensure that they continue to resonate their views on every issue. Live broadcast and online streaming will be encouraged as much as possible to enable Nigerians from all parts to follow the development.”
In addition, Ekweremadu said, “In keeping faith with our timelines, our mission at this retreat, therefore, is essentially to review all the bills refer to the Senate Committee on the review of the 1999 constitution by the senate as well as the thematic areas we have been working on in relation to the inputs by Nigerians.
We are working to dissect the reports of  various public hearings and other channels of inputs by Nigerians and  articulate a bill to cover especially those issues we appear to have achieved public consensus.”
Continuing, he said, “The committee is mindful of the self- sacrifice and support by Nigerians, which have helped nurture the process to this stage.
The people of this nation have demonstrated great enthusiasm and commitment to addressing our perceived constitutional deficits through the instrument of constitution amendment.”

Source: Vanguard

Notorious Boko Haram Operative, Mohammed Chad, Shot Dead

The notorious Boko Haram operative, Mohammed Chad, was yesterday evening killed in a gun battle with JTF.
The fight occurred at Ruwan-Zafi area of Maiduguri metropolis when the officers of the JTF’s Operation Restore Order and operatives of the State Security Service confronted Boko Haram fighters.
Mohammed has been on the top list of the most wanted Boko Haram leaders. Intelligence sources told Saharareporters  that Mohammed was involved in the planning and execution of various terrorists attacks in and outside Borno state.
He was allegedly the mastermind of the March 18th Boko Haram’s attack on Sanda Karami Secondary School at Ruwan-Zafi in which a teacher and three female students were killed.
Mr. Mohammed is believed to be the successor to Ba'ana Assalafi , a Boko Haram commander who was killed in a gun battle with security agencies in Sokoto.

Source: Sahara Reporters

Boko Haram: The Confessions Of Ahmad Salkida By Gimba Kakanda

Let’s face it; Nigeria can’t, and is structurally unfit to, fight terrorism. A people who cannot run a democracy long thirsted for are only qualified to be the yes-men of colonial governments, which is what the so-called heroes of our past had done, for which they even earned their Queen’s medals
 

Long before we realised that the foundations that hold our mud-built nationhood is badly done—bad is not irreparable. But how reparable are our security lapses, since the coming of the militants? Amnesty, yes amnesty I agree, is the easiest way to hamper our exploding mortality rate.

As I reflected on the state of our despair in the rough hands of Boko Haram insurgents, especially the killings in Baga town in northern Borno when two elephants, the task force and the terrorists, fought, I was attracted to the misadventures of the Nigerian journalist Ahmad Salkida.
He remains the only Nigerian reporter, as far as I know, who has reported extensively on the psyche and ideology and militancy of the sect. In a sane country, with brains for security and intelligence, our bogus security votes may be invested in this journalist.
Unfortunately, Nigeria couldn't protect him, hence he fled the country. Just like that!
Of course, I too wouldn’t have given exile a second thought if I were in his dilemma. 185 citizens killed and our world is still the same. NTA is still airing pro-government propagandas only the imbecile watch.
The Nasir El-Rufais are still tweeting some useless budget statistics to their ego-massaging crowds. And the Dino Melayes, drama queens, are still screaming that assassins had come for them and that everybody is just their antagonist. And the Femi Fani-Kayodes are still writing some poems of the semi-literate and bragging over these intellectual delusions.
And the activists of past student unionism days are here boasting over who spent the most days in General Babangida’s prison. These are the activists who have chosen to fight for these people, yet all they could offer are tweets and status updates.
None makes an attempt to ensure media coverage and exacting of the massacres; none bothers to really task the government with upholding the sanctity of our lives; and, perhaps, none bothers to call the attention of international human rights bodies, which is what we are good at, to Baga; just a few taps on keyboards and keypads from their air-conditioned rooms and offices… dazall!
Their brand of activism is only to tweet an insult on the presidency and how their absence in this cabinet, whereas they were no better in their days, seems to be a loss. How we embrace their Out-of-Office syndrome as solidarity with our kind I don’t know!
Ahmad Salkida’s latest interview with blogger Abang Mercy takes us on a soul-depressing journey down the precipice of a misfortune initiated by an armed circus that calls itself Nigerian security organisation.
The uncontrollable storm that is now Boko Haram militancy was, according to Salkida, born with the killing of Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the sect, alongside “hundreds of sect members and other innocent bystanders” under a seeming conspiracy championed by the then Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, and taken over by the Federal Government.
“I guess that crisis in July 2009 was never meant to be prevented by the government of President Umar Yar’adua,” says Salkida, who also says he had unrestricted access to Mohammed Yusuf and was even to meet him on the day he was executed but for unjustified detention by agents of our security circus.
That was the beginning of a war for which the sect reacted the wrong way, with reckless monstrosity; the killings of innocent Nigerians, churchgoers, social development workers, dissenting Muslims and other non-aligned citizens, all in retaliation of the extra-judicial killings of their leader and members. They have carried out evils which have outdone the jackboot attempts by the Federal Government to stamp them out.
I think the Nigerian security circus must be regretting the unfortunate day they provoked a downpour whereas they had no umbrellas. The rain, however, has beaten us enough, and, yes, we need to find a way to resolve our differences and unscrew the lids off our egos.
You can never fight a man who is ready to die! It is a good thing that the Federal Government hides its inability to crush who it earlier branded “ghosts” under a bogus amnesty. But is Boko Haram being approached the right way?
Hear Abang Mercy and Ahmad Salkida:
Abang: Do you agree for Amnesty to Boko Haram as proposed by some politicians and religious leaders?
Salkida: If you read my last interviews with Abul Qaqa, he has always said that if amnesty means forgiveness then they are the ones that should forgive government for the wrong done to them in 2009. According to them many Nigerians don’t see what they undergo instead it is only what they do that is easily shown in the media.
And I think issues as sensitive as amnesty suppose to have been tabled first through a trusted mediator who has access to the leadership of the sect before you take it to the media. The sect as I understand heard about the amnesty on the pages of newspapers.
Abang, how would you feel if you heard about your marriage proposition with a man from a third party and not from the man?
I think you will feel irritated at best. These past years I have been struggling to really understand the brand of marijuana smoked by the occupants of Aso Rock.
Everything from them has been flawed and logically dumb, from their proposed (sorry, partial) removal of fuel subsidy to the imposition of Cassava Bread project on uninterested citizens.
How can anyone organise a wedding fanfare without the consent of the groom—which in this scary case is Boko Haram?
While it’s morally impossible for me to sympathise with Boko Haram, counting the deaths it recorded in its rash of retaliation, we must remind the members of our security circus to be wary of the manner they kill innocent citizens.
Extra-judicial killings, and the enjoyed impunity, are the reasons we are in this mess. This is not the time for expressive prose; this is the time to resist having our intelligences turned into volley balls. First, which Boko Haram is the government offering amnesty? Second, Ahmad Salkida has declared that any other, including the so-called Abdulaziz’s, aside from Mallam Shekau-led group is a fraud. Third, if the government proposes a genuine amnesty, what happened in Baga? Fourth, if Boko Haram was in the know of amnesty, and has agreed to be part of it, we need an explanation for the Baga massacre!
I feel that Ahmad Salkida knows more than he can ever express in an interview. And being a victim of our police/military brutalities, it’s understandable that he does not trust our gun-toting men anymore.
So long as the soldiers and the policemen treat every innocent citizen as suspects and those killed as collateral damages, for so long is our fight against terrorism lost. The boy who lost his mother is already an enemy of the state, and his aunties and sisters his supporters. That is what ill-planned counter-terrorism showoffs cause.
Let whoever labels Ahmad Salkida a Boko Haram member do so, but this mess can only be redeemed by the Ahmad Salkidas, not by a Cabal tasked with doing what they are good at—arguing in air-conditioned conference rooms and hiring small boys like us to ghostwrite their exchanges of "exotic" grammars. May God save us from us!

By Gimba Kakanda

Source: Sahara Reporters