BIAFRA : Boko Haram attack: CAN chairman declared missing

The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Lawan Andimi, has been declared missing.

Lawan Andimi’s disappearance followed a foiled attack on the Michika LGA by the Boko Haram insurgents on Thursday.  WATCH VIDOE HERE

The insurgents had entered the town on Thursday evening but were repelled by soldiers and vigilantes before they could do much damage.

Speaking on the CAN chairman’s disappearance, the District Head of Michika, Mr Ngida Zakawa, said on Saturday when a delegation of the Adamawa State Government paid a sympathy visit to Michika, that the missing man was last seen among strange individuals.

Receiving the delegation led by the Deputy Governor, Chief Crowther Seth, Zakawa said some women told him they saw the CAN chairman boarding a Hilux van with unknown occupants.

“We did not lose any civilian life but some shops were looted by the insurgents while the whereabouts of CAN chairman is unknown, except that some women claimed they saw him boarding a Hilux van,” he said.

The government delegation also visited Madagali town and the Madagali LGA headquarters, Gulak.

Michika and Madagali LGAs, being the closest to Borno State, have been the most troubled in Adamawa State’s history with Boko Haram insurgency.

The head of the delegation, Deputy Governor Crowther Seth, told the people the government was with them and would always act in its own way to lessen their concerns.

In Gulak, the District Head of Gulak, Alhaji Bello Ijadi who received the delegation, lauded them for the timely visit and called for deployment of more troops to the area.

BIAFRA : US vs Iran: Kanu reacts to killing of Soleimani, warns Nigeria

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, on Saturday reacted to the killing of an Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani by a United States, US, airstrike.

Kanu warned that Nigeria would bear the “brunt” of US strike.

The strike had killed Soleimani, who is the Revolutionary Guard General and head of the elite Quds Force, at Baghdad International Airport.

The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, the Popular Mobilization Forces, which recently stormed the US embassy in Baghdad.

Reacting, Kanu in a tweet wrote: “What they failed to add to their banner is “Death to Biafra” because Judeo-Christians, especially Biafrans in Arewa core north of the British created contraption ‘Nigeria’ will bear the brunt of this US strike in Iraq as always. Britain must stop shielding terrorists in Nigeria.”

Meanwhile, the US President, Donald Trump had given insight into why Soleimani was killed by an airstrike.

Trump had disclosed that Soleimani was plotting to kill lots of American citizens but was caught in the process.

In a series of tweets on his verified Twitter handle, the US President had insisted that the late general was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans.

BIAFRA : Don’t republish unverified Biafra stories, IPOB warns members

Emmanuel Ifeanyi

Aba

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has warned all its members and social media activists to refrain from republishing or circulating any unverified Biafra news report coming in the name of the group.

The Pro-Biafra body said the warning became necessary following its discovery of a clandestine plot to discredit the IPOB movement by subtly planting doubt in the minds of international observers through some sponsored fact-checks.

The Media and Publicity Secretary of IPOB, Comrade Emma Powerful, explained that the plot is to always publish outlandish claims about Biafra’s restoration, push them on social media, use unsuspecting Biafrans to republish, circulate the claims and when it gains momentum, same persons who pushed the stories will turn around to use them as fact check of fake news by IPOB.

“Their game plan is to bribe hungry university lecturers and freelance journalists to provide the basis through which Aso Rock can hopefully weaken IPOB’s international support base by deploying a series of well-choreographed disinformation machinery through multiple channels dedicated to driving home the narrative that Biafrans should not be trusted.

“Their plan is to discredit IPOB movement by subtly planting doubt in the minds of international observers through these sponsored fact-checks. It is a simple but effective game plan.

“Some of these people with fake Igbo names on social media are involved in the fabrication of such news thereby providing the basis for their counter narrative that IPOB is peddling fake news and should not be trusted by the international community. We must not allow them to succeed.

“There is a new and concerted high level conspiracy this 2020 to undermine IPOB in the eyes of the international community using what they hope could be seen as independent fact checking sources when in actual fact these publications and their supposedly expert contributors are paid unity begging Nigerian government agents masquerading as independent researchers,” he said.

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BIAFRA : Police confirms massive killings in Tawari community of Kogi State by suspected herdsmen

The Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Command, CP Ede Ayuba Ekpeji has condemned the unfortunate attacks on the people of Tawari Community in the early hours of Friday.

DAILY POST earlier reported that, 23 persons were feared dead as suspected militia, believed to be herdsmen invaded the community in Kogi Local Government Area, of Kogi State.

But the Administrator of the local government, Hon. Musa Tanko Mohammed, however, confirmed that 19 persons died in the midnight invasion.

According to an eye witness report, the attack is believed to be a reprisal by militia suspected to be herdsmen.

Confirming the incident, the Kogi State Commissioner of Police in a statement on Friday through the Police Public Relation, PPRO, DCP William Aya extends his message of condolence to the traditional ruler of Tawari, the entire community, the Kogi Local Government and Kogi State Government over the unfortunate incidents.

While assuring the people of the community and the State in general of the Command’s efforts to restore normalcy in the area, he said the command has deployed special forces, Federal Anti-Robbery Squad, Counter Terrorism Unit, Police Mobile Force, as well as the conventional Police to the area to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

” I have ordered the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Investigation to commence investigation so as to unravel the cause of the attack,” he added.

He appealed to the law-abiding people of the State to volunteer useful, timely and credible information to the Police and any other security agencies on the activities of criminal elements in the State just as he assured the people of the State of his determinations to ensure that Kogi State remains the safest in the country.

Meanwhile, the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has called for calm among residents of Tawari Town in Kogi/Koto Karfe Local Government Area of the State.

In a statement by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Onogwu Muhammed, Bello has immediately directed security agencies to swing into action and ensure those who carried out the dastardly act faced the law.

The governor condemned the incident and warned that anyone who wants to cause crisis in the state would have himself to blame, assuring that his administration would do everything to protect lives and property of the people of the state.

Governor Bello, therefore, urged the people to be calm and law-abiding, while assuring them of the determination of his administration to flush bandits and criminals out of Kogi State.

BIAFRA : Buhari speaks on withdrawing military from affected areas

President Muhammadu Buhari has reassured Nigerians that withdrawal of the military from areas where peace had been restored will not be done in a manner that will expose communities to more risks of attacks.

In a statement to DAILY POST on Friday by Garba Shehu, Buhari’s Media aide, the President said the withdraw exercise will be gradual and carefully planned, not abrupt or arbitrary to jeopardise the success already recorded by the military.

Reacting to concerns and appeals from governors and community leaders over the proposed withdrawal, President Buhari said the “administration will not abandon citizens in need of protection.”

He urged Nigerians, especially public affairs analysts, to carefully study the statement following a security council meeting with service chiefs that the withdrawal of troops will be done after an “assessment” to determine areas where peace had returned to enable civil authorities assume full control.

President Buhari said where it was determined that the withdrawal will not in any way jeopardize peace already achieved, the military pull out will be in a careful and gradual way.

“You don’t need to worry. We will not expose our people and their communities to harm or danger,” the President assured.

“The withdrawal is to allow the military focus on its primary duty of defending the nation against external aggression. It is the duty of the police to handle internal security since Nigeria is not at war.

“The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps will support the police to provide internal security. When it is time to withdraw, nothing will be rushed,’’ he added.

BIAFRA : UN official criticizes Sec-Gen Guterres’ ‘weak statement’

A senior UN official, Ms Agnès Callamard, has urged the body’s leadership to “step up” to prevent another war.

Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, said the statement of Secretary-General António Guterres was not weighty.

Guterres had called for maximum restraint on the rising tension between the U.S. and Iran over Friday’s killing of a top Iranian military commander in a U.S. strike in Iraq.

But Callamard said Guterres’ statement “does not bode well’’, urging UN and its leadership to use “all the legal tools and platform’’ at their disposal to de-escalate the situation.

“There is no more pressing time for the #UN and its leadership to step up than now.

“But this statement does not bode well. You have the legal tools and the platform. Please use them,’’ she tweeted.

At Friday’s briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York, Guterres spokesperson, Farhan Haq, said the UN chief had made several calls, including to the US ambassador “to ensure resolution of the natter through diplomatic means’’.

“As you know we have UN missions and diplomatic efforts throughout the region.

“There is the UN assistance mission in Iraq, our special representative there has been very active in working with the various groups to make sure that the situation on the ground can be as stable.

“And we will continue to work with all parties to further the cause of stability in Iraq,’’ he said.

BIAFRA : British Government Is Nigeria’s Greatest Enemy: Nnamdi Kanu

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, has accused the British government and some of its nationals of being Nigeria’s greatest enemy.

The IPOB leader accused those who are asking the group to go through “appropriate channel” to secure Biafra of being hypocrites.

Speaking in the last edition of the 2019 radio Biafra broadcast and new year message, Kanu said, “When the Jihadist in Abuja wanted Sharia law they did not go to the National Assembly or call for referendum to bote to get it, rather the twelve Sharia States went outside the Constitution of Nigeria and agreed and introduced Sharia Law, but today they are asking us why we are agitating for Biafra and telling us to go through the appropriate channel when they did not go through appropriate channel to get Sharia they are practicing today.”

“Who in Nigeria today voted for Sharia Law to be practiced in Nigerian Northern states today, is Sharia in Nigerian Constitution, they willingly subverted the Constitution of Nigeria and imposed Sharia on the Northern Nigerians.

“If they believe in the Constitution of Nigeria, they would not have introduced Sharia Law within Nigeria where the Constitution exist, so when they tell us not to agitate for Biafra, what is their moral right and justification for telling us that, Biafrans should ask them how they got Sharia being practised in Nigeria Northern States anytime they kick against Biafra agitation.

“We should ask them which channel did they use to introduce and get Sharia Law being practised in the twelve Northern States. You cannot tell us that one law operates for people in the North while another operate for the people in the South under one country that you said operate a Constitution.”

“The greatest enemy of Nigeria is British government and some of its nationals, they are the ones perpetrating, support and financing terrorism with the people occupying Aso Rock and deceiving Nigerians that they mean well for them.”

“The mistake the Southern Kaduna are making is that they think Biafrans hate them, but only Biafrans can save them,.no amount of peaceful resolution of intervention can save them because their Governor hates them and has confirmed that the state is divided between Muslims and Christian.

“The dichotomy that exist in Kaduna State between Muslims and Christians has never existed in any part of the country, El Rufai said his state is divided between Muslims and Christians and if it was IPOB that said it, they will say we are stoking crisis.”