Is Boko Haram heading for southern Nigeria?

Two days after Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, warned Nigerians not to think Boko Haram would be limited to the north, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were found at Winners Chapel, Owerri, Imo State. In a speech at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, last week, Shettima had said: “If Boko Haram succeeds in overrunning the north-east as they seek, they will surely want to extend greater havoc to other parts of the north and if they over run the north, they would want to extend to the south.” But for the timely discovery and denotation of these devices, Nigerians would be talking about yet another mass murder at a Sunday service. It has happened before in Suleja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Madalla ─ all in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram always claimed responsibility for the attacks. Investigation is still going on over the Owerri incident, and it is not yet confirmed if the devices were planted by Boko Haram or by any other group, but initial suspicion will focus on the insurgents who normally seek civilian casualties. On Sunday night, there was yet another scare. Soldiers attached to 144 battalion of the Nigerian Army, Asa, Ukwa West LGA, Abia State, arrested nearly 500 persons, aged between 16 and 24, who were in a convoy of 33 buses heading for “nowhere”. Two of the buses sped off and escaped arrest, according to the commander of the battalion, Lt. Colonel Rasheed Omolori, who said the matter had been reported to the defence headquarters and investigations are now on. Again, this is mere suspicion as no evidence has yet been established to prove that they are members of Boko Haram, but for now they are treated as suspects. Going south?

But the question is now being asked openly: could it be that Boko Haram is finally heading for southern Nigeria after terrorising the north for five years, during which 12,000 persons have been killed? Despite rumours and scaremongering, Boko Haram has never launched any attack in the south. The closest it ever came was Kogi State, a northern state which shares boundary with five southern states: Edo, Ekiti, Ondo, Anambra and Enugu. On August 7, 2012, three men, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, stormed the Deeper Life Bible Church, Otite, near Okene, Kogi State, as a Bible study session was about to begin. One of the men switched off the generator while the other men opened fire on the congregation, killing 19 persons. There has been a series of social media-based reports of sightings of Boko Haram militants in Lagos, but none has been confirmed. Last year, there were reports that suspected militants had been arrested. The rumour mills often warned about plans to bomb the third mainland bridge and shopping malls. In May, the United States warned its citizens to avoid a five-star hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, because of a planned terrorist attack. Coming officially from the US government, the rumour was not treated lightly and the hotel has now erected barriers at its entrance and shut one of its gates as part of heightened security measures. Caution Following the Owerri incident, South-east governors, after holding a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday, warned Boko Haram not to come to the area. “All I can assure you is that we are very alert in the south-east and we are watching what is going on. I can assure you that Boko Haram cannot come to the south-east,” Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State said after the meeting. Police authorities are trying to douse rumours ─ perhaps to avoid panic and paranoia in the south. Force PRO, CSP Frank Mba, said on Monday: “The media and the citizens should not be in a hurry to link the Owerri incident to a terror cell until the full identities of those behind it are known to security forces. “Until the motives are established, I think it will be pre-emptive for us to give it the toga of terrorism. It could be anything, for us in the security world, we live all options open, we are ready to test all hypotheses.” Can they? Will they? Beyond theories and analyses, however, Nigerians know very much that Boko Haram can strike anywhere they choose. They have attacked highly fortified military barracks and police headquarters, much less the highly vulnerable civilian targets. A security expert, who declined to be named because “it is not necessary”, told TheCable: “Boko Haram launches attacks primarily in two ways ─ through bombing and gun attacks, to put it in layman’s language. They bomb mainly in the cities and launch gun attacks in suburbs and less populated areas. “To carry out gun attacks, they usually operate from a base. They need isolated areas as bases. That is where they can retreat to after the attacks. This will be very difficult to do in the south because of its demographic pattern, but not impossible. Nevertheless, the general awareness of the threat of terror in the south can curtail gun attacks. “However, stopping a bombing campaign can be difficult. They can make IEDs from any location. And they do not need a large crowd for that to be effective. All they need are a few suicide bombers. They do not need an isolated area to make IEDs. “To answer your question more directly, therefore, yes, Boko Haram can strike in the south, but it would be mainly through bombing, not gun attacks. Bombers can strike anywhere.”

A senior intelligence source said although the security agencies are not leaving anything to chances, it is still unlikely that Boko Haram will strike in the south. “For now, they have only demonstrated interest in the north largely because they have sympathisers there. When we say the north, we also have to clarify that: they have never struck in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina and Kwara. So if you are talking about pattern of attacks so far, they are focused on parts of the north. “Nevertheless, it does not mean they cannot strike in the south just to make a point and create a general sense of insecurity. It remains a possibility, but we are not convinced yet that this is about to happen. The incidents in Owerri and Abia State will be thoroughly investigated. You don’t conclude Boko Haram is about to strike in the south without getting concrete proofs,” he said. What if? There yet remains a nightmare scenario ─ what if Boko Haram strikes in the south? What if Boko Haram was behind the attempt to bomb Winners Chapel in Owerri? What if the youths arrested in Abia State were actually Boko Haram militants on assignment? “Lebanon,” an Abia State government official said. “Nigeria will become Lebanon. Let’s just pray it won’t come to that. It will be to your tents O Israel.

The consequences are better imagined.” Lebanon, an Arab country, has been through a civil war fuelled mainly by religion. It is permanently divided along religious and sectarian lines, with frequent bombings and assassinations. Parliamentary positions are designed to accommodate Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, Orthodox and Maronite Christians, while seats are shared along religious lines. The nightmare scenario of a Boko Haram attack in the south is that there will be reprisals and counter-reprisals which will make the whole country ungovernable. The security agencies, already stretched, will be overwhelmed. A newspaper journalist in Owerri complained to TheCable last Sunday that the Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha has flooded the state with northerners since he joined the All Progressives Congress (APC). This, he said, has made the people very uncomfortable. “There is growing resentment against northerners here. They have virtually taken over the streets because Okorocha believes they are going to make him president in 2015. If there is a Boko Haram attack in this state, I fear for the reprisal. It won’t be pretty,” he said. Bloodshed is never pretty.

Two days after Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, warned Nigerians not to think Boko Haram would be limited to the north, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were found at Winners Chapel, Owerri, Imo State. In a speech at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, last week, Shettima had said: “If Boko Haram succeeds in overrunning the north-east as they seek, they will surely want to extend greater havoc to other parts of the north and if they over run the north, they would want to extend to the south.” But for the timely discovery and denotation of these devices, Nigerians would be talking about yet another mass murder at a Sunday service. It has happened before in Suleja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Madalla ─ all in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram always claimed responsibility for the attacks. Investigation is still going on over the Owerri incident, and it is not yet confirmed if the devices were planted by Boko Haram or by any other group, but initial suspicion will focus on the insurgents who normally seek civilian casualties. On Sunday night, there was yet another scare. Soldiers attached to 144 battalion of the Nigerian Army, Asa, Ukwa West LGA, Abia State, arrested nearly 500 persons, aged between 16 and 24, who were in a convoy of 33 buses heading for “nowhere”. Two of the buses sped off and escaped arrest, according to the commander of the battalion, Lt. Colonel Rasheed Omolori, who said the matter had been reported to the defence headquarters and investigations are now on. Again, this is mere suspicion as no evidence has yet been established to prove that they are members of Boko Haram, but for now they are treated as suspects. Going south? But the question is now being asked openly: could it be that Boko Haram is finally heading for southern Nigeria after terrorising the north for five years, during which 12,000 persons have been killed? Despite rumours and scaremongering, Boko Haram has never launched any attack in the south. The closest it ever came was Kogi State, a northern state which shares boundary with five southern states: Edo, Ekiti, Ondo, Anambra and Enugu. On August 7, 2012, three men, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, stormed the Deeper Life Bible Church, Otite, near Okene, Kogi State, as a Bible study session was about to begin. One of the men switched off the generator while the other men opened fire on the congregation, killing 19 persons. There has been a series of social media-based reports of sightings of Boko Haram militants in Lagos, but none has been confirmed. Last year, there were reports that suspected militants had been arrested. The rumour mills often warned about plans to bomb the third mainland bridge and shopping malls. In May, the United States warned its citizens to avoid a five-star hotel in Ikeja, Lagos, because of a planned terrorist attack. Coming officially from the US government, the rumour was not treated lightly and the hotel has now erected barriers at its entrance and shut one of its gates as part of heightened security measures. Caution Following the Owerri incident, South-east governors, after holding a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday, warned Boko Haram not to come to the area. “All I can assure you is that we are very alert in the south-east and we are watching what is going on. I can assure you that Boko Haram cannot come to the south-east,” Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State said after the meeting. Police authorities are trying to douse rumours ─ perhaps to avoid panic and paranoia in the south. Force PRO, CSP Frank Mba, said on Monday: “The media and the citizens should not be in a hurry to link the Owerri incident to a terror cell until the full identities of those behind it are known to security forces. “Until the motives are established, I think it will be pre-emptive for us to give it the toga of terrorism. It could be anything, for us in the security world, we live all options open, we are ready to test all hypotheses.” Can they? Will they? Beyond theories and analyses, however, Nigerians know very much that Boko Haram can strike anywhere they choose. They have attacked highly fortified military barracks and police headquarters, much less the highly vulnerable civilian targets. A security expert, who declined to be named because “it is not necessary”, told TheCable: “Boko Haram launches attacks primarily in two ways ─ through bombing and gun attacks, to put it in layman’s language. They bomb mainly in the cities and launch gun attacks in suburbs and less populated areas. “To carry out gun attacks, they usually operate from a base. They need isolated areas as bases. That is where they can retreat to after the attacks. This will be very difficult to do in the south because of its demographic pattern, but not impossible. Nevertheless, the general awareness of the threat of terror in the south can curtail gun attacks. “However, stopping a bombing campaign can be difficult. They can make IEDs from any location. And they do not need a large crowd for that to be effective. All they need are a few suicide bombers. They do not need an isolated area to make IEDs. “To answer your question more directly, therefore, yes, Boko Haram can strike in the south, but it would be mainly through bombing, not gun attacks. Bombers can strike anywhere.” A senior intelligence source said although the security agencies are not leaving anything to chances, it is still unlikely that Boko Haram will strike in the south. “For now, they have only demonstrated interest in the north largely because they have sympathisers there. When we say the north, we also have to clarify that: they have never struck in Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Katsina and Kwara. So if you are talking about pattern of attacks so far, they are focused on parts of the north. “Nevertheless, it does not mean they cannot strike in the south just to make a point and create a general sense of insecurity. It remains a possibility, but we are not convinced yet that this is about to happen. The incidents in Owerri and Abia State will be thoroughly investigated. You don’t conclude Boko Haram is about to strike in the south without getting concrete proofs,” he said. What if? There yet remains a nightmare scenario ─ what if Boko Haram strikes in the south? What if Boko Haram was behind the attempt to bomb Winners Chapel in Owerri? What if the youths arrested in Abia State were actually Boko Haram militants on assignment? “Lebanon,” an Abia State government official said. “Nigeria will become Lebanon. Let’s just pray it won’t come to that. It will be to your tents O Israel. The consequences are better imagined.” Lebanon, an Arab country, has been through a civil war fuelled mainly by religion. It is permanently divided along religious and sectarian lines, with frequent bombings and assassinations. Parliamentary positions are designed to accommodate Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, Orthodox and Maronite Christians, while seats are shared along religious lines. The nightmare scenario of a Boko Haram attack in the south is that there will be reprisals and counter-reprisals which will make the whole country ungovernable. The security agencies, already stretched, will be overwhelmed. A newspaper journalist in Owerri complained to TheCable last Sunday that the Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha has flooded the state with northerners since he joined the All Progressives Congress (APC). This, he said, has made the people very uncomfortable. “There is growing resentment against northerners here. They have virtually taken over the streets because Okorocha believes they are going to make him president in 2015. If there is a Boko Haram attack in this state, I fear for the reprisal. It won’t be pretty,” he said. Bloodshed is never pretty. Copyright 2014 The Cable. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.thecable.ng as the source

Read more at: http://www.thecable.ng/is-boko-haram-heading-for-southern-nigeria/ | TheCable

Security, Healthcare My Priorities - Gov. Orji

INTERVIEW

Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji, is passionate while discussing his developmental projects in the state. During the recent commissioning of the state's Eye Centre in Umuahia recently, he explained the importance of his healthcare projects to journalists. He also spoke on the current security challenges in Nigeria among other issues. Regional Editor, Valentine Amanze reports. Excerpts:

By commissioning this Eye Centre, you have bequeathed yet another legacy project to the people of Abia State, what was on your mind when this project was being conceived?

Well, what was on my mind and what has been in my mind is to make sure that Abians are healthy people. Health challenges can come from different angles, it can come from one's internal organs; it can also come from the mouth or anywhere and they need special attentions. In Abia, the priority remains security and health, because once you are secure, and your family and everything about you is secure and you are healthy and can move around; I'm assuring you that the other things willfall in line. But if you have health challenges, you are constrained in many ways. If there is insecurity, you will be harassed and you will run away. So once we have health and security, we are okay, others will come in and that is what I had in my mind. That Abians will be healthy people and when they are healthy and you are governing them, they will be happy with you because they will live to see your programmes, which are good programmes, like the ones that I am putting in place for them. They are seeing them and when they have any health challenge, they don't have to go outside; that is my priority to give good health to my people and provide security for them and the way to give them good health is to put the infrastructure on the ground.

The Eye Centre seems to be very unique in this region, as a leader of the South East at this moment, how will it benefit other states in the region?

Whatever I do in Abia is not only for the southeasterners but also for every person in Nigeria that wants to patronise us. For instance, the Diagnosis Centre that we have here is being patronised even by people outside the South East. People from Akwa Ibom, Cross River, and Rivers states come here. I don't want to mention names but these are prominent people in society. They come here and receive services and they are satisfied. The Dialysis Centre that we have here is not only for Abians, people from outside Abia also come here because we reduced the cost for the people who want to be diagnosed, so the place is opened for all Nigerians. But for sure, you know that those who will access that place more are those who are living around and these are Abia people. And other people who cannot go to other places but who can come to Abia, such people are highly welcome. So it is for every person at a reduced and affordable cost.

Can you give us an insight on what it cost to give Abians this Eye Centre?

I mentioned it in my speech, the building alone cost us about N25 million and the equipment cost us about N87 million but this is not comprehensive because there were other expenses that we made but these were the major expenses. However, I don't care whatever health will cost me, if I have the money, I will continue to invest it there. Also whatever security will cost me, if I have the money, I will invest it there.

Are you looking towards engaging competent professionals in that sector?

They are already engaged; we have the best optometrists and ophthalmologists. who can do surgery of the eyes there. We are also partnering with Eye Foundation in Lagos and Mecure. As you may have realised, Mecure has a partnership with John Hopkins University in Baltimore, which is among the best university you can think of. They are getting us people even though we have gone internally to get the best we have and we are giving them employment but the other ones that we cannot produce, we get them from outside and make the conditions suitable and comfortable for them to work for us. They can impart the knowledge on our people; this is what we have done. That project is not a wasted project; it is a project that will be sustained. We will reserve money to be sustaining it, in terms of the personalities that will be coming; not only the ophthalmologists and other professionals but also the nurses have to be special nurses, just as you have in the Diagnosis Centre. If we are sustaining the Diagnosis Centre, we can also sustain the Eye Centre.

But why are you so passionate about healthcare development?

I am very passionate about it because before I came on board as the governor, I traversed all the local governments of this state. You know, I am a home boy, I was not bred in the United States of America, I was born and bred here; I have interacted with my people and I know what sickness can do and I also know how they are being ravaged by all manner of sicknesses. There are people who have been in the villages for several years; they don't come out because they are sick, it is not that the diseases are incurable but because they don't have the money and the facilities. And I said, no, my people have to be healthy because health is wealth and I won't carry medical kits from village to village to look after them since I am not a doctor. But the right thing for me to do is to put up the health structures and the personnel where these people can come and receive attention at a reduced cost and in convenient environment, believe me, if you save a life, they (people) will sing your alleluia forever. Anyone who comes to that Diagnosis Centre and is saved will pray for us and God will hear him or her and bless us. I know what people who come there for dialysis say. For example, the day I commissioned the Dialysis Centre, I got text messages from prominent people, one of them was saying, 'governor, I want to thank you, if we had this facility here, my mother wouldn't have died, my father wouldn't have died.' Of course, you heard what Dr Anagha Ezikpe said about that place. That he is happy that this facility is here where he can come and be treated. That is what makes me passionate, that my people can come and get healthcare at a very reduced cost and be happy with themselves that they are cured, they will also be happy with God that he has saved their lives, they will also be happy with me, the Ochendo whom God has brought to help in saving their lives and that gives me joy. I don't want anything from them except this joy that I am giving to them by giving them back their health.

You said that your priority is on security and health but our investigation revealed that all sectors have received due attention of your administration?

Yes, I said that security and health are my priority but when you do a deeper analysis, you will see that these two sectors affect all the sectors and because we are on top of the situation in both health and security, that is why you are seeing progress in other sectors. If there is insecurity here, nothing works, you can't build roads. We can't even build the Diagnosis Centre, people will run away, it happened during the kidnapping saga, Aba people ran away, industries were not working, contractors ran away, nothing at all was working, but now that we are on top of the security situation, they have all come back, contractors are working, industries are operating, schools are on, traders are doing their business and everything that you can think of is on. But these things are propelled by human beings, if you have very unhealthy people, the contractors who are building the roads will need healthy men and women to operate the machines, dig the gutters and other things, machines alone can't do everything. You need human beings in the market to trade, you need human beings in the factory and everywhere, I mean healthy human beings. So these two factors, security and health are the key and when they are in place other things will follow.

This state also has effective outreach facilities, Can you tell us what it means to maintain these mobile clinics?

We have a very good outreach facility, you know, we are in partnership with the MTN, they came here and donated mobile clinic to us which we now use to access people in the rural areas. Our health centres in the rural areas are all linked to this our Diagnosis Centre. We have also bought 17 ambulances, which we gave to the local government areas for the transportation of sick people from the rural areas to this place. Those that cannot be contained in the rural areas are brought here. If it is what they cannot do here, we also have the facility to refer them to outside Nigeria particularly those whose cases are very severe. We have a link with them and we have the technology where a doctor here can be discussing with a doctor in India or America on particular case. This is the interconnection that we have for our people. What we want here is that no sickness will be above us, except when God has destined that the person should die but we have to do everything possible to save the life of the person.

What should be the way out of the present state of insecurity in our nation?

The way out is actually what President Goodluck Jonathan is doing, there is insecurity and we are fighting the insecurity; no one is sleeping but we all know that insecurity is not peculiar to Nigeria, but we are blowing our own up, don't you hear of kidnapping and insurgency from other parts of the world but they are not being blown up the way our own is being blown up. But since it is a situation in which we found ourselves in, every person, not only the president but also the governors, the journalists also, every person has to help, so that we can fight this insurgency. You can help in your own little way and not leaving everything to the federal government or Armed Forces alone. The Armed Forces will try their best but you don't leave it for them alone without any input, in the villages people have to get the needed information and give same to the security operatives because the information you give to them matters a lot, the help that you give to them also matters a lot. So it has to be something that every person should make an input for us to succeed. It is not the question of relaxing and telling the federal government to go after them. Anybody can be a victim, now that we have seen the problem that we have, it is not the question of looking for who to blame, it is for us to face it. 

Insurgency, kidnapping, armed robbery and the issue of herdsmen are the issues that we have and for sure, the federal and state governments and all the people that are concerned are putting their heads together to make sure that we overcome and I am sure and very confident that we will overcome these challenges. If I 'm able to overcome kidnapping here with the assistance of the federal government, there is no state that cannot overcome, once you are determined and resolute about it and ready to invest and put resources in it, you will overcome. The advice that I will give to Nigerians is that we should not despair, this is our country, we are still here and should be ready to defend our country because the insurgency is a sort of war and we have to stay and fight it. This is the angle that we are going to make sure that we fight and suppress insurgency, kidnapping and other crimes.

DAILY INDEPENDENT