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No More Dialogue With FG, Says Boko Haram

For the first time in about 10 months, the leader of Jama'atu Ahlil Sunnah Lid da'awati Wal Jihad, better known as Boko Haram, has appeared in a new video, asserting that his sect has not suspended its violent attacks and rejecting dialogue with the Nigerian government, Sahara Reporters has reported on Sunday. 
 
In the nine-minute video that is being circulated in Nigeria, Imam Abubakar Shekau describes as fraud and lies, the dialogue purportedly being undertaken by one Imam Abdulazeez on behalf of Boko Haram.  He says there none of his officials is known as Abdulazeez and he doesn’t know the said Abdulazeez.
 
"It is a lie, there is nothing like ceasefire or dialogue going on with government,” he says.  “We have never sat in any meeting for dialogue, we have not and it is not true that we are talking with Nigerian government. We don't know the Imam Abdulazeez, he is not speaking on our behalf like he claimed. He is not one of us, I don't know him.
 
"There are procedures of dialogue as it is spelled out in Islam, they are busy arresting our people, small boys and women and so they are not serious with any dialogue and we are also not interested in any talking with them. We are only doing God's work and serving Him and not men."
 
He further maintains that the time for any dialogue effort with the Nigerian government has passed, and that no further talk about dialogue will be entertained by the sect.  
 

He accused the government of continuing to arrest members of Boko Haram, as well as their wives and children, sometimes on the pretext that they are armed robbers.

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JTF Repels Attack On Military Barrack In Munguno – Spokesman

The Joint Task Force (JTF) on Operation Restore Order (ORO) said on Sunday it repelled an attack by suspected Boko Haram terrorists on the military barrack in Munguno, Borno.

Munguno is about 200 km from Maiduguri, about two hours drive from the capital.

``Information available to JTF indicated that some suspected terrorists attempted to attack a military barrack in Munguno, headquarters of Munguno Local Government Area of Borno State on Sunday.

``The attack was repelled by the JTF troops at the outskirt of the barracks,'' JTF spokesman Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, stated in a statement in Maiduguri.

He said that 20 of the attackers were killed during exchange of fire with the soldiers.

``The encounter led to the death of 20 suspected Boko Haram terrorists.

``Three four-wheel drive vehicles and eight motor cycles used by the suspects were destroyed and several arms and ammunition were recovered.

``The following items were recovered, seven AK 47 rifles, 10 rocket propeller grenade, two RPG Tubes, large quantities of assorted ammunition and eight assorted magazines,'' he said.

Musa said that the JTF had also arrested suspected masterminds of last week’s bomb blasts in Maiduguri.

``In a related development, based on intelligence reports, a special operation was conducted by the JTF which resulted in the arrest of two suspected high profile commanders of the Boko Haram sect in Maiduguri.

``Those arrested were suspected to be responsible for the Feb. 28 explosions which coincided with the Progressive Governors’ meeting in Maiduguri,'' Musa said, adding that the two suspects were being interrogated.  (NAN)

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Admission Constraints: FG To Establish Mega Varsities

The Federal Government is planning to establish mega universities to address admission constraints among Nigerians, President Goodluck Jonathan said on Saturday in Zaria, Kaduna State.

The President said this at a special convocation and launching of N50 billion Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Phase II Development Fund at the university’s main campus, Samaru, Zaria.

Jonathan was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

He said that when established, each of the mega universities would absorb more than 200,000 students.

Jonathan, however, did not mention how many mega universities the government will establish or when and where they will be sited.

 The president expressed concern at the growing number of Nigerian university admission seekers yearly in the last three years which, he said, was about 1.5 million.

He noted that the absorption capacity of the universities was about a quarter of that number.

He commended the ABU for its contributions to education and national development, saying that the university had not disappointed its founding fathers.

Jonathan said that university education development was capital intensive and required the contributions of parents, well- meaning Nigerians and all other stakeholders.

The Chairman of the project and former Military President, retired Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, attributed the nation's security and development challenges to declining fortune in education.

  "The security, peace and progress we aspire for ourselves and our families are not attainable, if the majority of the citizenry remains trapped in ignorance and poverty.

"Ignorance and poverty are two sides of the same coin, in the same way that knowledge and progress are to another coin,’’ he said.

Gov. Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State remarked that ABU graduates had distinguished themselves in all aspects of human endeavour.

Yero pledged to support the institution, saying that education was a topmost priority of his administration.

A former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, who was conferred with an honorary doctorate degree in science at the occasion, thanked the university for the honour it gave him.

Danjuma, also a former Minister of Defence, because of whom the special convocation was held, promised to assist the university to actualise the dreams of its founding fathers. (NAN)

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