It seems things are pretty serious over there,renaming Gwoza,establishing and caring out sharia laws,killing pastors and burning down Churches.God help Nigeria.
Governor James Ngilari of Adamawa
State, yesterday, cried out to President Goodluck
Jonathan to save his state from being overrun by
Boko Haram insurgents who have already taken
over five local governments and are advancing to
other towns.
Governor Ngilari took his case to the Presidential
Villa, Abuja on a day Boko Haram renamed
another town it captured as part of its Islamic
caliphate. It also commenced full enforcement of
Sharia law in its areas of control.
President Goodluck Jonathan has, however,
assured that in spite of the present security
challenges, Nigeria will remain unbroken even as
he promised free and fair general elections next
year.
Ngilari, who spoke with State Hose
correspondents after a closed-door meeting with
President Jonathan in Abuja yesterday, disclosed
that five local governments in Adamawa State
have been taken over by Boko Haram insurgents
and pleaded with the military authorities to
deploy more troops to the state.
Ngilari said that failure to boost military presence
in the state may mean that the terrorist group will
completely overrun it, noting that the security
situation in the state remained fluid and required
a more urgent intervention by the Federal
Government.
According to him: “The security situation in
Adamawa is very dicey right now and we are only
trying to do our best to manage the situation. We
are praying that it will improve, but it is really
something to worry about”.
Speaking on the number of towns being occupied
by the terrorists, the governor said: “I can talk of
my entire senatorial district, Mubi senatorial
district. Five local governments have been
overrun; Gombi was taken and I just got a report
now that perhaps they are on the outskirts of
Shanli.
“There is a semblance of movement in that area.
Really, we need a lot of intervention. We need to
move more troops to secure the state. Really, it
is a big challenge.”
The governor played down the seizure of the
home town of the Chief of Defence Staff, saying
that the issue of insurgency was much more than
taking one person’s home town.
He stated: “We shouldn’t reduce this issue of the
insurgency to simply the taking over of the house
of the defence chief. There are a whole lot of
things that make the challenge of insecurity.
What about the problem of unemployment? You
know it is a whole long story. We don’t just
reduce it to the taking over of the house of the
defence chief. I think it is more than that.
Absolutely it is a challenge. We look up to God,
God is there, there is nothing impossible for Him.
“We will do our best, but it is not something that
we should leave in the hands of government.
Everybody has a role to play in terms of giving
out information timely, in terms of convincing
people who are involved. They live with us, they
are not from planet Mars, they are part and
parcel of the society.”
Despite the dismal picture painted by the
governor, he expressed optimism that the
insurgency would soon be a thing of the past. “I
believe that Nigeria will really overcome, but I
don’t know the time frame. Anything that affects
any part of Nigeria affects the rest. We must all
see how we can tame this monster,” he added.
Boko Haram renames Gwoza
Meanwhile, Boko Haram has renamed Gwoza, in
Borno which it captured in July as Darul Hikma,
or “House of Wisdom” according to the residents
who fled the area. The terrorists last week
renamed Mubi, the second largest town in
Adamawa as Madinatul Islam, which means City
of Islam in Arabic.
Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, in a video
released in August declared that he had made
Gwoza part of a caliphate.
“They have given new names to Gwoza and Mubi,
which they say are now part of their Islamic
state,” said Ahmad Maishanu, who fled Mubi with
his mother on Wednesday to Yola.
Tijjani Kalifa, who left Mubi on Monday and has
contacts in Gwoza, also reported that Boko
Haram was forcing people in both towns to use
the new names.
Both witnesses said all the churches in Mubi had
been burnt down and that Islamists were
patrolling the streets regularly, with no sign of
resistance from the security services.
Enforces Sharia Law
The residents also said the insurgents have
started implementing Sharia law in the towns they
captured. Maishanu said in Mubi that Boko
Haram members chopped off the hands of 10
men accused of theft last Friday and burnt down
churches. In a video released on October 2, Boko
Haram showed the stoning to death of a man
accused of adultery, a man having his right hand
cut off for theft and a young man and woman
given 100 lashes each for sex outside marriage.
Also, the civilian vigilante group was said to have
beheaded some Boko Haram terrorists. A member
of the group, Umar Hassan, said they and troops
ambushed Boko Haram fighters last Friday as
they prepared a raid on Sabon Gari village in the
south of the state. “We killed 41 of them and
decapitated them and brought the heads to Biu,
which we displayed to people to demystify Boko
Haram,” he said.
Two Biu residents said the vigilantes put the
heads on wooden spikes and drove around the
town, telling people the Islamists did not have
magical powers. “It was like hunters displaying
their game after a hunting expedition,” said, one
Silas Buba.
Nigeria will remain unbroken—Jonathan
In spite of the security challenges, President
Jonathan said, yesterday, that Nigeria would
come out stronger than before, insisting that
contrary to fears of possible disintegration being
expressed by some people, it would remain
unbroken.
He equally reiterated his commitment to the
sustenance of free and fair election, assuring that
the 2015 general election would be conducted
according to international best practices just as
he charged Nigerians to ensure the principle of
“one man, one vote”.
Dr. Jonathan, spoke in Abuja, through his Chief of
Staff, Brig-General Jones Arogbofa, rtd, at the
launch of a book titled: “Diverse But Not Broken-
Wake-up calls for Nigeria”, written by Nigeria’s
former Ambassador to Canada and one-time
Head, Department of Theatre Arts, University of
Jos, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher.
The President called on Nigerians to use their
voters’ cards to fight for their lives, children and
future but said such must be done in a very
decent and peaceful manner.
He said: “This is Nigeria and Nigeria belongs to
us. We don’t have to run anywhere, but stay here
and use our voters cards to fight for our lives,
our children and our future in a very decent and
peaceful way. The title of the book reflects a lot
and speaks volume. It adds colour to the rainbow
that we have in Nigeria. We are a diverse people
but we are never a broken people. We are all
together even in diversity; this has proven itself
repeatedly and is proving itself even now.”
Insurgents invade Borno village, kill two, burn
churches
Meanwhile, no fewer than two persons were
feared dead while another person sustained
gunshot wounds when a group of terrorists
suspected to be Boko Haram sect on Wednesday
invaded Whitambaya village of Hawul Local
Government Area of Borno state.
The gunmen also burnt down two churches
including the Church of Brethren in Nigeria,
popularly known as E.Y.N church.
It would be recalled that the Caretaker Chairman
of Hawul, Dr. Andrew Usman Malgwi complained
of lack of military presence in his Council where a
Pastor of Living Faith Church, Pastor Eluid
Gwamna Mshelizza and 19 other residents of
Shaffa town were slaughtered with over six
churches burnt in the last one month.
Culled from Vanguard.
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