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Insecurity: US Decries Rising Violence

United States ambassador to Nigeria Mr. Terence McCulley has expressed grave concern over the increasing killings and bombings in the country. The ambassador spoke in Abuja yesterday during his visit to the minister of state for defence, Erelu Olusola Agbeja Obada, in her office with the service chiefs in attendance.

The minister led him to her office with the chief of army staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, and his air force counterpart, Air Marshal Alex Sabundu Badeh, including the acting permanent secretary of the ministry, Mr. Oguche.

LEADERSHIP checks reveal that the ambassador expressed the concern of his country over the rising terrorist attacks; he cited the Kano bombings and those that reportedly took place in Jos and Maiduguri recently and was said to have told the security chiefs to do more in containing the menace.

A source close to the meeting also confided in LEADERSHIP: "The US ambassador told the minister and the service chiefs that his country was not happy with the rise in the terrorist attacks and made a particular reference to the Kano incident where five luxury buses scheduled to travel to Lagos were bombed which led to the death of people numbering about 60. He called for more intelligence gathering to prevent such an attack and disclosed the readiness of his government in this regard."

Although the defence ministry officials promised that the ambassador would speak with the media after the meeting, he could not do that. But the meeting continued with the service chiefs before some GOCs began to come in. They later joined them at the meeting.

The source disclosed further that the minister was able to convince the ambassador about what the military is doing to contain the Boko Haram. He cited the recent successes recorded of recent -- the arraignment of a kingpin, Kabiru Sokoto, last week and how the military has been consistently arresting some members of the sect and exposing their hideouts in the country. The service chiefs were said to have cited the military assaults on the Islamic extremists in Mali by the AFISMA as the factor responsible for the upsurge in the terrorist attacks and vowed to contain them.

Speaking with newsmen later, Minister Obada explained that the meeting with the ambassador was a regular one that has to do with the US-Nigeria bilateral relations and how to improve upon it, especially as regards the military support and other areas that are of mutual interest to the two.

She said: "We have a beautiful meeting with the ambassador to further deepen the cooperation between Nigeria and the US and we discussed a lot of issues that are beneficial to both countries. United States of America and Nigeria have come a very long way together in terms of military cooperation, in terms of training and so many other things. We intend to keep our relationship with them to ensure that the two enjoy each other's confidences. There are other issues that we discussed towards ongoing happenings which good explanations have been given."

When asked the reason for the presence of the service chiefs at the meeting, the minister explained that since the meeting had to do with military training, it is imperative to have them around. She disclosed that the chief of defence staff, Admiral S Ola Saad, was away to Ivory Coast attending the ECOWAS Chief of Defence Staff's meeting while the naval chief, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, was on official tour to Delta State.

According to Obada, the meeting has nothing to do with the controversial state pardon recently granted former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyesiegha. "No, no, we did not discuss that; this is the Ministry of Defence and we only discussed issue affecting the ministry," she added.

Soyinka tasks Boko Haram over Islam

In a related development, Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has called for the re-education of the members of Boko Haram on the true meaning of Islam, on the grounds that members of the sect have limited knowledge of Islam.

Soyinka made the call yesterday while speaking at the 2013 education summit organised by the Rivers State Ministry of Education at Government House, Port Harcourt.

The education summit was attended by Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, former vice- chancellor of the University of Ibadan Prof. Ayo Banjo and the first military governor of Old Rivers State and Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Diete-Spiff.

Soyinka said; " All hope is not lost, but the situation is desperate, very desperate. The kind of education also is important really. Those who call themselves Boko Haram, for instance... yes, they claim to be educated.

"Educated to mean books and they are not sufficiently educated even about their religion to know that some of the greatest philosophers came from that religion; some of the greatest mathematicians were pioneer Muslims, Islamic scholars.

"So, the killers roaming around sayimg they hate western education, they are uneducated. They have been taught on monorail -- one-track lane. They need to be re-educated even about their own history, culture. "

The Nobel laureate urged the federal government to closely monitor the programmes of the newly established Almajiri school currently functioning in several states in the northern part of the country.

Soyinka said: "So, when people talk about multi-pronged approach, yes, I agree and I approve of the attempts being made to create the so-called Almajiri schools, which should be supervised. The content and method of teaching should be supervised."

He decried the recent onslaught by members of Boko Haram against teachers and wondered how the society will increase in knowledge if teachers were being slaughtered on almost a daily basis.

The Nobel laureate said: "At the same time, however, to impart knowledge, you have to have the heads where they belong for knowledge to be imparted. So, at the same time talk about amnesty as much as you want, but you have to catch those who are trying to take heads off where we are supposed to impart knowledge."

Amnesty, panacea to sect violence – Coomassie

Sequel to calls from some quarters that amnesty should be granted to Boko Haram, a former inspector-general of police (IGP), Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, has said that amnesty is the solution to the insurgency.

Speaking in Abuja over the issue, the former IG said the government should not segregate the amnesty programme which has worked with the Niger Delta militants.

Commassie said, "We have tried it somewhere and it worked; when it was thrown to the Niger Delta militants, they accepted it and started surrendering their arms and they've been talking and now a lot of them have been sent abroad for various courses. So why can't we try this with Boko Haram, why can't we talk to the elders of Borno and Yobe on how they can help to get the leaders of Boko Haram so we can dialogue with them and grant them amnesty so they can talk freely and then we look into their problems?

"I'm saying this because I happened to have gone to Borno and Yobe under the auspices of Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation to sympathise with the leadership, where they told us that we should tell whoever wants to know that they can talk to the ghosts; let them just approach them and they will find out who they are because they have been talking to them."

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Original Page: http://www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/50874/2013/03/26/insecurity_us_decries_rising_violence.html