Why we killed NTA journalist –Boko Haram
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The Jama’atu Ahlus Sunnati Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram said that they were responsible for the killing of Zakariyya Isa, a reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority’s (NTA) Maiduguri Network Centre.
The group has also claimed responsibility for Saturday night’s multiple attacks on a police station and banks in Saminaka, Kaduna State as well as last week’s attack on a Mopol barracks in Kwami, Gombe State.
The group said Zakariyya was killed because he was “an informant of security agencies.” Spokesman of the group, Abul-Qaqa in a telephone conversation with huhuonline.com, said, “Zakariyya was not killed in error. We killed him because he was spying on us.”
There were earlier speculations that Zakariyya was a victim of “mistaken identity” because this is the first time that a journalist was killed since the beginning of the violence in Maiduguri, but Abul-Qaqa said the killing was “carefully planned and executed.”
According to him, “We have ample evidence beyond reasonable doubt that he was giving vital information to security agencies on our modus-operandi…We investigated thoroughly before we killed him.”
Asked to give more details on what the late journalist did, Qaqa said, “He gave information to security agents that led to the arrest of many of our members.” He added, “We sent him a text and told him that we would visit him. We killed him not because he was a journalist, but because of his personal misconduct. His actions were against the ethics of his profession.
“And I want to tell you that we have no grudge against journalists that are working in line with the professional provisions of their work. Whenever they misquote or misrepresent our position, we normally call them and tell them to correct the error,” Qaqa said.
The group has also claimed responsibility for Saturday night’s multiple attacks on a police station and banks in Saminaka, Kaduna State as well as last week’s attack on a Mopol barracks in Kwami, Gombe State.
The group said Zakariyya was killed because he was “an informant of security agencies.” Spokesman of the group, Abul-Qaqa in a telephone conversation with huhuonline.com, said, “Zakariyya was not killed in error. We killed him because he was spying on us.”
There were earlier speculations that Zakariyya was a victim of “mistaken identity” because this is the first time that a journalist was killed since the beginning of the violence in Maiduguri, but Abul-Qaqa said the killing was “carefully planned and executed.”
According to him, “We have ample evidence beyond reasonable doubt that he was giving vital information to security agencies on our modus-operandi…We investigated thoroughly before we killed him.”
Asked to give more details on what the late journalist did, Qaqa said, “He gave information to security agents that led to the arrest of many of our members.” He added, “We sent him a text and told him that we would visit him. We killed him not because he was a journalist, but because of his personal misconduct. His actions were against the ethics of his profession.
“And I want to tell you that we have no grudge against journalists that are working in line with the professional provisions of their work. Whenever they misquote or misrepresent our position, we normally call them and tell them to correct the error,” Qaqa said.
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He said the group will not hesitate to kill anybody that “steps on our toes.” According to him, “Zakariyya was responsible for his actions and the consequences that followed. Nobody, no matter who can go free if he or she spies on us.”
On the issue of dialogue, Qaqa said, “We cannot talk on that because it makes no sense to us. How can you talk of dialogue when government and security agencies are busy arresting and persecuting our members?” He said the group will continue to attack government and security formations in Nigeria.
When contacted on phone, Borno State Police Commissioner, Simeon Midenda said he was in Abuja. Efforts to speak to officials of the Joint Task Force (JTF) were not successful. Also Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, the Head of Field Operations of the JTF did not answer a call to his line.
The killing of Zakariyya had sent jitters into the nerves of journalists in Maiduguri, with many thinking on how to strike a balance in covering the crisis in the state. Late Zakariyya, who worked as a cameraman and Hausa translator at the NTA, was shot at close range on Saturday night in front of his house at Bulunkutu area of Maiduguri. Witnesses said two gunmen trekked to the house and shot him in the head and chest before they fled.
On the issue of dialogue, Qaqa said, “We cannot talk on that because it makes no sense to us. How can you talk of dialogue when government and security agencies are busy arresting and persecuting our members?” He said the group will continue to attack government and security formations in Nigeria.
When contacted on phone, Borno State Police Commissioner, Simeon Midenda said he was in Abuja. Efforts to speak to officials of the Joint Task Force (JTF) were not successful. Also Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, the Head of Field Operations of the JTF did not answer a call to his line.
The killing of Zakariyya had sent jitters into the nerves of journalists in Maiduguri, with many thinking on how to strike a balance in covering the crisis in the state. Late Zakariyya, who worked as a cameraman and Hausa translator at the NTA, was shot at close range on Saturday night in front of his house at Bulunkutu area of Maiduguri. Witnesses said two gunmen trekked to the house and shot him in the head and chest before they fled.
A native of Potiskum Local Government area of Yobe State, Zakariyya had worked at the Maiduguri network centre of the NTA for many years. He was married with children.
OCCUPY WARRI"-Unemployed Youths And Students Stop Gov. Uduaghan Birthday Party In Warri.
Youth groups in Warri, Delta state yesterday took to the streets to protest mass unemployment in the state. The unemployed graduates led by a youth activist and leader of the "unemployed Graduates Association of Nigeria, Progress Omo-Agege forced the governor of the state, Mr. Emmanuel Uduaghan to abandon his birthday party scheduled for the city.
Mr. Uduaghan and his guests fled the city after the protesters blocked major streets and highway leading to Warri metropolis chanting revolutionary songs.
How Boko Haram leader was killed, Army chief tells court.
ABUJA— Commander of a military task-force in Borno State, Colonel Benjamin Ahanotu, who arrested the former leader of the Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Yusuf, in 2009 and handed him over to the police, Monday, told a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that he was murdered by the police.Col. Ahanotu testified before the trial high court on a day a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Maiduguri, Aliyu Abdulazeez, alleged that the deceased Boko Haram leader and his followers, previously attacked police stations in the state with sophisticated weapons.
The two security officers appeared before Justice Donatus Okorowo, Monday, as witnesses of the Federal Government.
They testified against five police officers who are facing trial following their alleged complicity in the extra-judicial execution of the late Boko Haram leader and other members of the sect in Borno State.
Those on trial are CSP J. B Abang, ACP Akeera, CSP Mohammed Ahmadu and ACP Mada Buba and Sergeant Adamu Gado.
They are answering to a two-count criminal charge bordering on acts of terrorism and murder, an offence under section 315 of the Criminal Code.
It would be recalled that Yusuf, his father-in-law, Baa Fugu and an alleged financier of the group, Buji Foi, were on July 30, 2009, murdered in a police station in Maiduguri, shortly after they were captured alive and handed over to the police command by a team of military personnel who were drafted to the state to quell a crisis that bedevilled the town two years ago.
Though the police had, in a bid to exculpate themselves from blame, claimed that they died after an intense gun battle with officers, however, video clips that later emerged, showed they were executed in cold blood.
At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, the two witnesses told the court that the deceased Boko Haram members died in police custody.
Ahanotu, who identified himself as the commander of the task force that arrested Yusuf from his hide-out, said he was handed to the police alive, adding that the original copy of the handover note was with the police authorities in Maiduguri.
He said after Yusuf was arrested by his men following an intelligence report that he was hiding in a cave, he was taken to the Brigade Headquarters where he was grilled and subsequently moved to the state police headquarters where he was handed over to the police for prosecution.
Ahanotu tendered a copy of the said handover note and it was marked as an exhibit and admitted by the trial court.
The Army officer further told the court that he had before the incident of 30 July met Yusuf when the Borno State Government forwarded to his team, a letter from the Presidency which he said had directed him to interview and if possible, persuade Yusuf to prevail on his followers to embrace peace in Maiduguri.
The commander told the trial court that he complied with that instruction to the latter, stressing that further investigations by his team revealed the Yusuf indeed took five days and spoke to his followers in the state capital.
The second witness, DSP Abdulazeez, in his examination in chief, told the court that the Boko Haram members were armed with sophisticated weapons including machine guns, assaulted rifles, bow and arrow and had over powered the police before the military were invited in to restore peace in the state.
He told the court yesterday that he saw dead bodies of police men at the gate of the Mobile police office and a dead body lying in the premises and did not know who it was.
While under cross examination by the defence counsel, Mr Edwin Amegedu, the witness said he did not see any of the five accused persons shooting Mohammed Yusuf.
Meantime, the judge yesterday adjourned further hearing on the issue till December 7 and 8.
The 2 count charges against them read: “That you, ACP J.B. Abang, ACP Akeera, CSP Mohammed Ahmadu, ACP Mada Buba, Sgt Adamu Gado, PC Anthony Samuel and PC Linus Luka, all of the police command, Maiduguri, on or about the 30th day of July, 2009, at Maiduguri within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, unlawfully killed one Mallam Mohammed Yusuf and his followers, which act is an offence under Section 315 of the Criminal Code and you thereby committed a terrorist act contrary to and punishable under Section 15 (1) (2) of the EFCC Act, 2004.
“That you, ACP J.B. Abang, ACP Akeera, CSP Mohammed Ahmadu, ACP Mada Buba, Sgt Adamu Gado, PC Anthony Samuel and PC Linus Luka, all of the police command Maiduguri on or about the 30th day of July, 2009, at Maiduguri, conspired with one another to commit an offence to wit; a terrorist act and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 516 of the Criminal Code and punishable under Section 15 (1) (2) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act, 2004.
WOMEN PROTEST KILLING OF MOTHER OF FIVE
Bauch-Hundreds of women in Bauchi Friday staged a peaceful demonstration , condemning the killing of a mother of five, Mrs Charity Augustine, by some soldiers at Anguwan Ngas in Bauchi, the state capital Thursday.
The women were however persuaded against carrying their demonstration into Government House to lay their complaint to the Governor, Isa Yuguda by both the police and some elders in the area.
The elders appealed to the women to remain calm and allow the family and the authorities affected to handle the situation so that the situation would not degenerate.
The ‘’killer’’ soldiers were said to be among those drafted to quell students’ uprising inside Baba Tanko Secondary School, so that it would not spill over to other parts of Yelwa and Anguwan Ngas in particular.
Charity’s husband said three soldiers entered their compound on that fateful day adding that one of them broke the glass of the door, pointed his gun through the shattered glass of the door and shot his wife twice on the chest.
Augustine, a retired banker, who said members of his family were inside the house when the incident happened said, “She died at the Teaching Hospital in Bauchi. We could not save her.”
The women who carried green leaves decried the killing of Mrs Augustine calling on military authorities to fish out the soldier who murdered the late woman in her matrimonial home.
One of the protesting women, Elizabeth Yahay, wondered why soldiers would open fire on woman who was neither fighting nor a threat to them.
“They went right into her compound and killed her when there was no trouble in the area,” she said. Everybody was ordered by soldiers to enter their house the next thing we knew was Charity was killed. We want the government to intervene so that the man who killed her is brought to book.”
The women’s mood however changed as the atmosphere became charged when Comfort, daughter of the deceased collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.
The protest by the women started from the compound of the deceased and the women vowed to, “Continue to protest and cry until that soldier who killed this innocent woman is brought to justice,” just as they demanded the withdrawal of soldiers from the area.
The women were later addressed by the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the state, Lewi Pokti, who advised them to allow the authorities and God to handle of the situation, assuring that CAN would convey their grievance to the authorities concerned to ensure that justice was done.
Police arrest man for piercing wife’s eyeball
IKEJA - Lagos State Police Command has arrested one Sylvester Emezi, who fled his Port Harcourt, Rivers State, home for Lagos, after allegedly piercing his wife’s eyeball with a sharp object during a scuffle.
Mean time, the body of the motorcycle passenger, who, Monday, plunged into the lagoon at Third Mainland Bridge, is yet to be recovered, though his name had been given as John Ame.
Emezi was arrested at a hotel in the Festac Town area of the state, weekend, and during investigation, it was discovered that he was preparing to flee the country.
The suspect, it was gathered, allegedly used the sharp object on his wife, Deanne, a youth corps member, at their Ada George Junction home, Port Harcourt, near Shell Petroleum Road on October 7, 2011, after she complained about his uncaring attitude.
After the alleged deed, 34-year-old Emezi, who claimed to be a cement distributor, reportedly locked his wife and their one-year-old baby inside, leaving her apparently to bleed to death.
But, before she passed out, Deanne, it was gathered, contacted a family friend in Port Harcourt, who quickly rushed her to the hospital where, she was told that the eyeball was damaged and needed urgent surgery to avoid infection from spreading to the second one.
She was reportedly brought to Lagos last week, where she underwent a surgery. But doctors said she would only make use of one eye, unless by divine intervention.
