Parts of this news story are based on a lecture series by Jim Kouri for police and security officers in the Caribbean prior to the al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001.

Police officers and detectives on the scene of an explosion must first gather evidence in order to better understand what they are dealing with, as well as for future prosecutions.

As occurred during the aftermath of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York, the actual search of the scene of an explosion is possibly the most important aspect of the investigation. Investigators should start with a quick visual search in order to familiarize themselves with the area.

They should keep in mind that there could be multiple bombs planted in the immediate area of the blast and these additional bombs are planted for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill or maim the emergency personnel who respond to the initial blast. If a suspicious object is sighted during this phase of the crime scene search, detectives and other emergency personnel will evacuate the scene until bomb technicians can determine the nature of the threat or disarm the additional devices.

Once the visual search is completed, with the utmost care and continuous caution, detectives and police officers will start removing large pieces of debris from the area of the explosion. They should keep in mind that there could be live electrical wires or ruptured gas lines in the immediate work area. The scene of an explosion should be viewed as hazardous at all times.

When any of the large pieces of debris are removed, they are stored within a protected location, catalogued as to the description and place of recovery, name of the officer involved, and held at the location for a subsequent detailed search.

After the large pieces are moved and secured, detectives and officers must get on their hands and knees and start searching the debris looking for anything that appears foreign to the scene such as: leg wire (color-coded wire used in blasting caps); parts of a blasting cap; remains of a safety fuse; battery fragments; metal pipe fragments; other metal fragments (clock, propane tank, etc.); and bomb container fragments (metal, leather, canvas, cloth, paper, etc.).

Whenever anything considered significant is found, it will be bagged and marked for identification purposes. The location, time, date, name of officer or detective, shield (badge) number and command should always be marked on evidence bags.

If there are other data, these should be written on a separate report form or piece of paper and enclosed in the evidence bag. Investigators will never mark or deface the recovered evidence.

Detectives and officers at a blast scene must be persistent and they may have to go over the same area numerous times before uncovering anything of value.

Ultimately, they will have to conduct a sifting operation because some objects such as watch springs and other internal mechanisms are so small that they could easily be overlooked by investigators. The type of search to be conducted at the scene of an explosion will be determined by Bomb-Section personnel and investigators will be guided by their decisions. A properly conducted search may yield fingerprints,
serial numbers, manufacturers’ names, price tags and many other investigative aids which would eventually help in solving the crime.

Any information regarding the nature of the explosion, type of device, damage, amount of explosives used, etc., is the function of the Bomb Section because they are the ones who possess the expertise to make those determinations. Investigators should not volunteer any information to the news media. Instead, advise them to consult with the explosion squad supervisor or the police department’s public information officer.

AUTHOR: Jim Kouri
URL: http://www.renewamerica.com/
E-MAIL: COPmagazine [at] aol.com

Nigeria

Death toll rose to 39 Sunday after bomb exploded at a Catholic Church in Nigeria’s town of Madalla in Niger state just as another church bombing and two suicide attacks were witnessed in other northern cities. The explosion at St. Thesera’s Catholic occurred after a Mass to celebrate Christmas while the second church bombing took place in a Mountain of Fire church in central city of Jos where constant clashes have taken place between Muslims and Christians. Also on Sunday, police in cities of Damaturu in Yobe state and Maiduguri in Borno state said the number of wounded are still being counted as a suicide bomber attacked the two restive cities.

The carnage in Madalla left at least 17 cars damaged by the bomb which killed those who queued up to drive or board commercial vehicles to their homes. The increase in number of deaths from an initial 25 came as more died in hospitals where they were taken to for medical attention. The owners of these vehicles queued up to drive home after the early morning mass where the message of love, peace and joy was delivered to herald the Feast of Nativity. Sadly, what we met was this ugly situation.” the pastor of the church, Rev. Fr. Isaac Achi said.

One of the victims was found on the roof of the church while several dead bodies were littered in gutters and other parts of the premises. “The victims have been moved to different hospitals but at St. Lucas hospital, nine of my parishioners were recorded dead. At Diamond Hospital, a little baby of 5 years who was injured could not locate his parents.” Achi said adding that some other victims were commercial vehicle operators who came in to pick passengers home.

Angry youths gathered to protest after the attack but were dispersed by the police. The explosion in Jos killed a police officer and while three vehicles were destroyed. The spokesman for Islamic radical sect, Boko Haram, Abu Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks. “The officers of Search and Rescue Team of NEMA in collaboration with stakeholders have evacuated at least 10 dead bodies from the explosion scene at Madalla to hospitals.” Spokesman for he National Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Yushua Shuaib said that the evacuation exercise was still going on and military men were also involved. In Yobe state, the police commissioner, Mr. Tanko Lawan said a suicide attacker targeted the headquarters of the oil rich African country’s secret police, State Security Service (SSS).

Boko Haram sect, which wants to install an Islamic government, has been waging war on Nigeria state in its quest to fulfil its ambition but the Nigerian military also battles them especially in their northern stronghold. More than 100 people mostly their members were killed last week when the army engaged them in gun battles in Damaturu, Maiduguri and Potiskum. Nigeria is a circular state with Muslims and Christians having equal share of the 150 million people in the country. Boko Haram also claimed responsibility for several bombings and shootings in the north and capital city of Abuja. A suicide bomb attack by the group at the United Nations headquarters in July killed 26 persons and injured more than 70. The group’s leader, Muhammed Yusuf was killed in 2006 during an insurrection which claimed more than 800 lives.

AUTHOR: Paul Ohia
URL: www.paulohia.blog.com and www.paulohia.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: paulohia [at] yahoo.co.uk

Map of Nigerian states that currently implement Shariah

Boko Haram (translated: “Western or non-Islamic education is a sin”) is a controversial Islamist group that seeks the imposition of Shariah law in the northern states of Nigeria. The group’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.”

Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, released a bipartisan report entitled “Boko Haram – Emerging Threat to the U.S. Homeland,” detailing the rapid evolution of the Nigerian-based terrorist organization Boko Haram. In August 2011, Boko Haram attacked the United Nations headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria with a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED), killing 23 people and wounding more than 80 others.

In a video recorded before the attack, the suicide bomber described the U.N. as a forum for “all global evil” and stated that the attack was designed to “send a message to the U.S. President and ‘other infidels.’”

“It is critical that the U.S. Intelligence Community thoroughly and carefully examine the extent of the threat from Boko Haram to the U.S. Homeland. Our report found that the August attack on the U.N. represented a major escalation in the targeting and tactics of Boko Haram, an evolution that mirrors the rise of other al Qaeda affiliate groups, including Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),” said Rep. Meehan.

“While some believe Boko Haram will focus only on targets within Nigeria and does not have the intent or capability to strike the U.S. Homeland, the same was assessed about AQAP and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), before their near fatal attacks over Detroit on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day 2009 and in Times Square in May 2010,” Meehan stated.

Boko Haram (translated: “Western or non-Islamic education is a sin”) is a controversial Islamist group that seeks the imposition of Shariah law in the northern states of Nigeria. The group’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”.

As reported by the Law Enforcement Examiner in July, Boko Haram was formed by Muslim cleric in 2002 in Nigeria. While claiming to be a peace loving religious group, in the Summer of 2009 the radical Islamist organization launched a rebellion hoping they would be able to establish Sharia law and an Islamic state in the northern part of Nigeria.

In the aftermath of Boko Haram’s battle with the military in July 2009, over 800 were left dead, and hundreds more were wounded. After the battle, Boko Haram’s founder and leader Mohammed Yusuf and several ranking members including Yusuf’s father were killed while in police custody.

Since January 2010, surviving terrorist group members have bombed targets and conducted guerilla warfare — or hit-and-run — operations. In one attack a police stationhouse was bombed in June 2011. The group claimed responsibility for the bombing attack on the police force headquarters in Abuja that occurred the previous day. Officials believed that the attack was the first suicide bombing in Nigeria’s history and that it specifically targeted Police Inspector-General Hafiz Ringim, according to the Law Enforcement Examiner source.

This latest congressional report is intended to raise awareness of the emerging threat posed by Boko Haram to the U.S. Homeland and to encourage the U.S. Intelligence Community to be especially vigilant to ensure Boko Haram does not reach U.S. shores, which has been accomplished by another African-based group, Somalia’s terrorist group Al-Shabaab

“We must constantly be vigilant to new threats, wherever they may arise. In attacking the United Nations headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria with a sophisticated car bomb killing 23, Boko Haram graduated from a domestic Nigerian threat to a terrorist threat to the international community. What we need now is information, intelligence and cooperation with our allies to understand and appropriately respond to this new threat. Hopefully this report and this hearing will help us do just that,” said Rep. Speier.

The report was released in conjunction with a Subcommittee hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning entitled “Boko Haram – Emerging Threat to the U.S. Homeland” and follows a September 13, 2011 letter from Chairman Meehan and Ranking Member Speier to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requesting the State Department initiate an investigation to determine whether Boko Haram warrants Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation.

AUTHOR: Jim Kouri
URL: http://www.renewamerica.com/
E-MAIL: COPmagazine [at] aol.com

Nigeria

Terrorist activities have been on the upswing in Nigeria, a country that has been in the throes of daring suicide bombers masquerading as Islamic adherents. By the day, the Nigerian economy wobbles under the attendant weight of terrorism, which has punctured investors’ confidence and left the economy on the downward slope. Correspondent, EMEKA UMEJEI, takes a critical look at the recent wave of terrorist activities in the country and what the trend holds for its economy.

Boko Haram attacks in the country reached threatening dimensions with adoption of suicide bombing by the group. Though the group is said to have carried out over 50 attacks in various parts of the North, it soon gained national prominence when it deployed one of its members on a suicide mission to the country’s Police Force headquarters. If the attack on the Police headquarters was daring, the attack on the United Nations house in Abuja was international by operation standard and successful in every sense of the word. The August 26 attack on the world body’s office, which saw over 23 people dead and more than 78 others injured, left an indelible dent on the security situation in Nigeria. As the security situation in the country continues to dwindle, investors’ confidence became a willing casualty and risk factor appears to have reached its crescendo.

These two factors are believed to have helped in no small measure in complicating the Nigerian business climate and made it investor-unfriendly. Though investors have always found the Nigerian business environment suffocating, rising wave of terrorism may have sounded the death knell. According to analysts, this development would in no small measure dampen the economic outlook of the country. The economic cost of terrorism remains legion because there are both direct costs and immediate effect on productivity. While the direct cost would include declining investor confidence and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the immediate effects are loss of man-hour of productivity to bureaucracy and security checks at both airports and offices across the country. No doubt, these issues would have telling effects on the economy on various fronts.

Some analysts agree that terrorism does not forebode anything good for the economy. According to them, terrorism has never done any good in any part of the world it has reared its ugly head. Principal Consultant of BIC Consulting, Dr. Boniface Chizea, stressed that terrorism would complicate the already unattractive Nigerian economy. “There is no doubt that terrorism has a definitive cost on any economy, including the Nigerian economy. These costs for an economy such as Nigeria’s, which had suffered from lack of attractiveness to foreign investments, is to particularly worsen the unattractiveness of the economy to direct foreign investments. But it is going to be difficult to quantify the extent and quantum of this cost,” Chizea stresses. “The direct effect of terrorism is to increase the risk factor on doing business in Nigeria and would imply that the cost of risk management, including insurance, would to that extent increase. There are also costs which would arise from the need to increase spending on security in terms of the diversion of scarce capital for the procurement of hi-tech equipment for the purpose of combating this menace.” Stating further, Chizea noted that as a result of the heightened awareness of this risk factor, the amount of capital that will be expended in providing security at various locations across the length and breadth of the country cannot be underestimated.

Corroborating Chizea, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lionstone group, Amaechi Ndili, sees terrorism as evil to the economy. “Terrorism is bad for the economy of Nigeria, as it is bad for the global economy. It certainly leads to economic, political and regional instability,” says Amaechi. “Accordingly, we will begin to see a slowdown in macro and micro economic activity in the affected areas. Fortunately, in the case of Nigeria at this point, the thought is that it is a fairly localised problem that can be dealt with by a determined government.” Toeing the same path with others, Opeyemi Agbaje, CEO of Resources and Trust company Limited, says terrorism is already a potential threat to investors’ confidence in the economy. “Terrorism strikes at the confidence on the economy. Though it is not yet something you can generalise that an investor will worry about, the prospects for it to escalate to rock national security is what the investors will look out for,” Agbaje notes. On his part, Percy Raditladi, Managing Director of Global Security Firm, G4S, says the risk assessment for external travellers confirms that foreigners are scared of coming into the country.

“Risk assessment for external travellers show that foreigners are afraid to come to Nigeria, but in Lagos life goes on. The truth is that Nigeria is a very secure place to live and work; it still remains one of the best places to do business on the African continent,” he says. However, if there is one area of the economy that appears to bear the brunt, it is FDI, which has been on the decline in recent times. The 2011 world investment report prepared by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development confirms the decline in FDI.

According to the report, FDI capital to Nigeria declined to $6.1 billion in 2010 from $8.28 billion in 2009. Executive Secretary of Nigeria Investment Promotion (NIP), Mustapha Bello, laments the decline when he notes that the country is not insulated from global recession. “The Foreign Direct Investment capital to Nigeria declined to $6.1 billion in 2010 as against $8.28 billion in 2009,” Bello states. “So the profile that we recorded $8 billion last year and $6 billion this year shows a decline of two, which shows we are not unaffected by the global recess.”

Lamenting further, Bello agrees that it is a major challenge to the Nigerian economy because it has to rely on FDI, which terrorism is fast eroding. His words: “Nigeria has to rely on FDI capital from outside the country as well as what it can harness internally to be able to drive the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. It is a major challenge. “That means we still need to talk to a lot more transnational companies. We need to bring the CEOs to come and see what Nigeria is, appreciate the kind of market that we have and the larger market of about 150 million people that will support them.” While Bello’s anticipation is not out of place, terrorism has made it difficult for foreign investors to be enthralled to invest in the economy. For instance, the FG projects a net capital inflow of $33 billion; but, going from the rising terrorist activities in the country, there is very slim chance it will be realised.

To complicate the situation, most of the foreign missions have advised their citizenry to be wary of doing business in the country because of what they termed high security risk. It is a known trend that investors often seek advice of their missions in any country before investing in such economy. Hence, with travel advisory by most of the foreign missions warning their citizenry of the risk of doing business in Nigeria, it remains to be seen how government can muster $33 billion as projected. Chizea agrees with this position, even as he acknowledges that the Nigerian economy has not been attractive as a destination for FDI, save for the energy sector.

“The fact remains that the Nigerian economy has not been attractive as a destination for Foreign Direct Investment. The FDI found in the country are mostly in the extractive sector of oil and gas, and the mining sector,” Chizea says. “And investments in this sector are locked in investment which cannot easily be affected by the current deterioration due to the increased incidents of bomb blasts. Although in the long run, even for locked-in investment as is now being discussed, it is conceivable that the willingness to undertake new investments could be undermined if this development is not nipped in the bud but allowed to fester.” Amaechi toes the same path with Chizea, saying that terrorism discourages FDI into any country. “Terrorism always affects FDI into any country.

The happenings in the Niger Delta are a good example of this. Many multinational oil companies threatened to physically pull out of the Niger Delta as a result of the kidnappings going on there,” Amaechi says. “There is not, and has never been, anything beneficial that comes out of terrorism, either to the terrorised or to the people doing the terrorising. As a means of elevating a cause, terrorism simply does not work.” Analysts, however, are of the view that poverty, lack of education and high rate of unemployment are at the root of terrorism in the country. They argue that there is a correlation between poverty and terrorism.

A recent report presented by Professor Mohammed Ladan at a public lecture on criminal justice system and the new security challenges in Nigeria in Abuja appears to shed more light on this. The report had acknowledged that the North East, North West and North Central have retained the poorest geo-political zones in Nigeria since 1985. The index highlight states like those the North East (Borno, Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa) with the highest incidence of poverty ranging between 54.9 per cent to 72.2 per cent followed by North West which consist of Katsina, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa and the North Central consisting of Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, Niger and Kwara. “By the index of 50.6 per cent, Nigeria is the third among 20 countries in the world with a wide gulf between the rich and the poor, poverty in Nigeria is undoubtedly the face of the North,” Ladan states.

“This is the fault of bad governance which is one of the key issues, because if we fail to address social economic, political injustices, unemployment and issues relating to education, you create a time bomb and you allow the youth to become hopeless, frustrated and their energies are driven towards something else.” Also, president of Chemical and Non-Metallic Senior Staff Association (CANMPSSA), Abdul Gafar Mohammed, at the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, laments that high rate of poverty elicit social ills. “Today, we have a lot of social ills, anarchy, and disorder by youths roaming the streets. We have universities in every corner, polytechnics as well as colleges of education and other tertiary institutions, all of them producing graduates in great numbers,” Mohammed says. “These graduates are being pumped into the river of unemployment. When such are not gainfully employed, they take into criminal activities. It is not by their making.”

Lamenting further, Mohammed noted that rising wave of terrorist activities and infrastructure challenge have forced many players in his sector to close shop. “If there is any sector that is most hit by this misappropriation, maladministration and misrule over the years, it is the chemical and non-metallic products sector. Companies are closing down, redundancy everywhere, outsourcing, casualisation,” Mohammed emphasises. “Companies are operating today on skeletal basis, below installed capacity utilisation. We have companies struggling to survive while some are about to be submerged. If nothing is done and done quickly, those companies would go underground.” However, analysts say that all hope is not lost.

According to them, the Nigerian economy can be insulated from the impact of terrorism, but with a proviso that government has to fine-tune security measures to boost investors’ confidence and tackle poverty. Amaechi concurs, stressing that governments, both at state and national levels, should focus on education and job creation. “The governments, federal and state, have to focus on education and job creation opportunities, equalising society, and allowing for economic growth in the country.

Without this, the youth will remain disenfranchised, outside of mainstream economic development and susceptible to being manipulated,” Amaechi says. “It is very difficult (except in extreme cases) to get an educated, balanced and economically-relevant young person to engage in an act of terrorism. To eradicate it, we simply have to deal with these issues at the grassroots.” Agbaje agrees with others, even as he acknowledges that the economy has grown by 7.8 per cent, but notes that the economic structure of the country has made difficult for the masses to feel it. “The economy has grown by 7.8 per cent, but certainly people are not feeling the growth. The structure of the Nigerian economy and politics denies the effect of economic growth. We are dependent on the oil sector that is based only on crude export.

The political system is tuned towards the elite,” Agbaje states. On his part, Chizea says the Nigerian economy can be prevented from the impact of terrorist activities by reducing incidence of bomb blasts in the country. “Measures that would insulate the economy from the impact of terrorist activities would include such and any measures that would reduce the incidence of bomb blasts in the economy. One of the measures crying for implementation is the punishment of those found culpable. It is certainly not reassuring that since the incidents of bomb blasts commenced, that no culprit has been caught and sanctioned as a deterrent to others so inclined. It has been a case of endless setting up of various panels without any one caught or sanctioned in an exemplary manner,” Chizea says.

“Therefore, as a first step, there is the need to muster the necessary political will for the imposition of exemplary sanctions and punishments on culprits. The recent efforts at collaboration with the international community must be intensified. The declared intention to instal Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at strategic locations in the country is well thought out and recommended, and must be pursued without much delay.” Stating further, Chizea advocates state police and further training for security operatives in intelligence gathering skills. His words: “There will also be the need to sharpen our skills at gathering intelligence. In this respect, the much-discussed state police force might be an idea whose time has at least come, and therefore it should be experimented with.” And no effort must be spared in the attempt to educate the generality of our citizens that the efforts at stemming the rising tide of terrorism must now be a collective one.

Campaign to heighten security consciousness among the population must therefore be intensified.” President Goodluck Jonathan also appears to have agreed that terrorism has impacted negatively on the economy when, in a recent interview to mark his 100 days in office, he assured Nigerians that his administration was committed to improving the security situation in the country “We are working on changing the security architecture of the country. We know we have challenges, but I can assure Nigerians that the security challenges will be brought under control,” President Jonathan had promised Nigerians.

On the way out of the woods of insecurity, analysts task government to consciously embark on improving the security situation in the country, job creation, reduce poverty, and prosecute offenders without sentiments. “The way forward would entail the single-minded and purposeful pursuit of the measures I highlighted earlier. We cannot over-emphasise the need to impose exemplary sanctions on culprits to act as a deterrent to those so minded,” Chizea notes. Amaechi says government should not enter into any form of dialogue with perceived terrorists, as it would only give legitimacy to terrorism. “Dialogue is not necessarily the answer, as dialogue legitimises these causes and the means that are sought to achieve them,” Amaechi adds.

AUTHOR: Shout Africa
URL: http://www.shout-africa.com
E-MAIL: news [at] shout-africa.com

Nigeria

The unnecessary anxiety raised before the April election by the international community has turned to become a blessing in disguise for Nigeria. At the moment, it appears as if the whole West is heading down here with the visit of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister, David Cameron and some officials from Canada and other countries. And from what I heard through diplomatic grapevine, many of them are still coming this way.

Maybe we can stand aloof, behave like an overshadowed beautiful bride flattered by many suitors and wait for our knight with a glamorous amour to appear or accept everybody as friends.

It seems to me that what we need at this point in time is nothing but a heuristic strategy and good enough, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) ended a meeting last week and stated that attracting investment is the core principle of Nigeria’s foreign policy now.

For me, this pronouncement was not necessary because the investors seem ready to come despite security issues posed by Boko Haram or Niger Delta militants at home probably because businessmen are risk takers.

What they often desire is stable government and not a country jumping from civil into military rule or peace into crisis, a situation which often make them to lose all they have invested.

Now, on the strategy I stated earlier, it may be good to make possible investors shoulder some social responsibilities like helping in our rail transportation system which has been difficult to tackle for years. They can also help in building roads in areas where they’re located since their products must be transported through such routes.

But the most important strategy would be to make investors spend on areas that would increase our terms of trade and create employment or on the other hands help us develop such through their expertise.
However, this issue could be tackled better by our readiness to produce what they need and export such to the countries.

I confronted a certain top diplomat whose country is eager to invest in ours with the question of balance of trade and coincidentally he had called me on phone earlier requesting for phone number or contact of a company that produces palm oil.

He told me his reason for seeking for this contact was because the people of his country wanted to import palm oil from Nigeria but could not find any company which exports such.

Fired by the zeal to deliver, I chased after a top producer of the product only to be told that it cannot satisfy the internal market and have no capacity to export. And this is a vital area where the government or rather banks have to come in and finance certain companies.

The company told me that it would be ready to work with the country if there’re investors willing to come in and set up palm-produce companies.

Of course, this tells a lot about our lack of readiness to balance trade because other countries, while chasing after foreign investors, also engage in aggressive trade promotion through their chambers of commerce.

All told, my profession is not economics but common sense tells me that if we encourage many companies to produce what the intending suitors nay investors wish to import, it could be a win-win situation if we negotiate with them on the terms that they must import our products outside crude before we allow them in.

Let’s take heed of an early statement which appeared in Discourse of the Common Weal of this Realm of England, 1549: “We must always take heed that we buy no more from strangers than we sell them, for so should we impoverish ourselves and enrich them.”

An observer was telling me the other day that we should tell the leaders heading to Nigeria no to promise aids for fight against malaria or HIV/AIDS but to bring our concrete proposals for the economic advancement of the continent. Of course, the visitors already know what they want and have since refocused. Therefore we should also refocus and make the best use of this opportunity.

Inasmuch as we may need them to see us as partners in progress rather than aid seekers, we must also act in that line because whether the present circumstances make us to believe it or not, Nigeria nay Africa is a continent of the future because the resources here are enormous even though we’re still exploring.

AUTHOR: Paul Ohia
URL: www.paulohia.blog.com and www.paulohia.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: paulohia [at] yahoo.co.uk

Nigeria

A relatively unknown Islamic terrorist group in Nigeria is seeking an alliance with al-Qaeda and they’re believed to be responsible for a series of bomb attacks in that African country, according to an intelligence source who spoke with the Law Enforcement Examiner.

Boko Haram (translated: “Western or non-Islamic education is a sin”) is a controversial Nigerian Islamist group that seeks the imposition of Shariah law in the northern states of Nigeria. The group’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”.

A radical Islamist terrorist organization, Bokom Haram in the Nigerian capital of Borno were reportedly retaliating for a military crackdown on the group’s headquarters. The battle between the Nigerian soldiers and the Bokom Haram has displaced thousands of villagers fleeing the violence.

According to the intelligence source, Boko Haram was formed by Muslim cleric in 2002 in Nigeria. While claiming to be a peace loving religious group, in the Summer of 2009 the radical Islamist organization launched a rebellion in the hope they would establish Sharia law and an Islamic state the northern part of Nigeria.

In the aftermath of Boko Haram’s battle with the military in July 2009, over 800 were left dead, and hundreds more were wounded.

After the battle, Boko Haram’s founder and leader Mohammed Yusuf and several ranking members including Yusuf’s father were killed while in police custody.

Since January 2010, surviving terrorist group members have bombed targets and conducted guerilla warfare — or hit-and-run — operations. In one attack a police stationhouse was bombed last month. The group claimed responsibility for the bombing attack on the police force headquarters in Abuja that occurred the previous day. Officials believed that the attack was the first suicide bombing in Nigeria’s history and that it specifically targeted Police Inspector-General Hafiz Ringim, according to the LEE source.

In another bombing, Boko Haram attacked a church — the All Christian Fellowship Church — in north Nigeria.

The Law Enforcement Examiner’s intelligence source claims that Boko Haram members had received training in Somalia.

Other reports have suggested the same thing, saying Boko Haram already has links to international terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda, and has the potential to link with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb which operates in nearby regions, according to Wall Street Journal.

AUTHOR: Jim Kouri
URL: http://www.renewamerica.com/
E-MAIL: COPmagazine [at] aol.com