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Nigerian Presidential C’ttee Holds Talks with 104 Boko Haram Suspects in Lagos
http://www.africaeagle.com/2013/06/nigerian-presidential-cttee-holds-talks.html
The Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North Thursday held talks with 104 suspected members of Boko Haram sect, who were detained in Lagos prisons, in continuation of efforts by the federal government to tackle the insecurity in the area.
It was gathered that both the Kirikiri Medium and Maximum Prisons, Apapa, Lagos, currently house about 104 suspected members of the Islamic sect.
However, it was not clear whether the suspects, 34 of whom were detained at the medium prison and 70 at the maximum section were arrested in Lagos alone and other parts of the country.
The committee met with the suspects just as Vice-President Namadi Sambo assured Nigerians and the international community that the federal government through its multi-pronged approach, is winning the fight against the Islamic militants whose terrorist activities have led to the death of some 4,000 people since they began their insurgency in 2009.
Investigations also revealed that about 16 persons suspected to be suicide bombers, including their armourer, were arrested in a joint raid by the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) and other security agencies in Lagos the last three months ago.
The suspects were arrested at the Ijora-Badia area of the state, after the sect’s plan to simultaneously bomb 16 designated landmarks in Lagos, was blown open. Their plan to establish terrorist cells in the South-west region with Lagos as headquarters, was also foiled.
The 18-member presidential committee, led by the Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, who also doubles as its chairman, first paid a visit to the Kirikiri Medium Prison and was received by the Deputy Controller of Prison, Mr. Tunde Ladipo.
Also on the entourage were the Controller of Prisons, Lagos State Command, Katherine Nkolika Onoye; the Assistant Controller General of Prisons in charge of Operations, Mr. Nuhu Zuru; Head of Operations of the SSS, Mr. Raymond Nkemdilim; and the state Prison Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Bisi Jeje.
After a one-on-one session with the 34 suspects at the medium prison, the committee later moved to the Maximum Security Prison, under the command of Mr. Olumide Tinuoye, a Deputy Controller of Prisons (DCP), to confer with 70 members of the sect being detained in the facility.
In an interview with journalists afterwards, Turaki said the visit was in furtherance of the committee’s responsibility to hold talks and engage the suspects in order to get the necessary information that would enable the committee come up with its recommendations.
He said: “We came here basically to have interaction with people who are detained in connection with acts relating to terrorism. We have interacted and spoken to them and they responded to us very sincerely and frankly and I think I can say that we were well informed about most of the things they were interested in as a result of the interaction we had with them.”
Debunking claims that the visit was aimed at releasing some of the Boko Haram suspects, the minister said it was just to give the committee members a better perspective of how to go about their job of ensuring that peace is restored in the country.
He said: “The issue of release is usually contingent upon certain conditions. For now, we are more concerned with the release of vulnerable people and in this group of vulnerable people we have those people the security agencies have not been able to pin anything on them.
“We have seen those, who the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPR) have advised their release. We have also seen some whom the security agencies have conceded that they have nothing against them.
“These are the people that usually the committee advises that they be released. But we have not seen any woman or child here but even at that, I am sure the committee will make appropriate recommendations as usual even in the interim as far as the issue of their release or non-release is concerned."
On the extent at which they have succeeded in carrying out their assignment, he said: “We have gone very far as far as our terms of reference are concerned. We have interacted with a lot of stakeholders. We have been more informed and we have been given advice and suggestions that will help us in our recommendations to government on the way forward.
“I can assure you that the committee is on top of the situation as far as dialogue is concerned. We have no serious challenges at the moment that we cannot surmount."
While declining to comment on when the suspects would be released, the chairman said since they had interacted with the detainees, the committee would meet and discuss before suggestions on the release of anybody are made to the appropriate quarters.
“Of course, even after our recommendations, there are plans for a concrete impact assessment programme because at the end of the day, we have been asked to study the situation critically and carefully and make recommendations for victims’ support. I assure you that Nigerians will be very proud of this committee,” Turaki added.
Also, the federal government has said it is gaining ground against Boko Haram militants following the declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno States.
Vice-President Namadi Sambo stated this Thursday when he received the United Nations Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mrs Valerie Amos, at the State House, Abuja.
According to him, the military offensive in the wake of the emergency rule imposed on the three states has started yielding results as normalcy has returned to the troubled areas.
He said following the military expedition, the sectarians have been forced to flee while their enclaves have been destroyed.
“It is a common knowledge that the action that the federal government has taken has really been successful.
“I can confidently say that we have succeeded in completely uprooting the terrorists from their various locations in the North-east to the extent that the fear instilled in the citizenry by the terrorists is no longer there, as the people now assist the security agencies in exposing the militants in their midst,” he added.
According to him, the federal government has approved additional supply of food and relief materials to victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the three states.
He said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was being strengthened to enable it meet the challenges of disaster management in the country.
In her remarks, Amos expressed the readiness of the UN to partner Nigeria in the provision of emergency reliefs to victims of disasters.
She commended the way and manner the 2012 flood disaster was handled by the federal government, saying “the UN has a lot to learn from your experience in the incident.”
However, it was not clear whether the suspects, 34 of whom were detained at the medium prison and 70 at the maximum section were arrested in Lagos alone and other parts of the country.
The committee met with the suspects just as Vice-President Namadi Sambo assured Nigerians and the international community that the federal government through its multi-pronged approach, is winning the fight against the Islamic militants whose terrorist activities have led to the death of some 4,000 people since they began their insurgency in 2009.
Investigations also revealed that about 16 persons suspected to be suicide bombers, including their armourer, were arrested in a joint raid by the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) and other security agencies in Lagos the last three months ago.
The suspects were arrested at the Ijora-Badia area of the state, after the sect’s plan to simultaneously bomb 16 designated landmarks in Lagos, was blown open. Their plan to establish terrorist cells in the South-west region with Lagos as headquarters, was also foiled.
The 18-member presidential committee, led by the Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, who also doubles as its chairman, first paid a visit to the Kirikiri Medium Prison and was received by the Deputy Controller of Prison, Mr. Tunde Ladipo.
Also on the entourage were the Controller of Prisons, Lagos State Command, Katherine Nkolika Onoye; the Assistant Controller General of Prisons in charge of Operations, Mr. Nuhu Zuru; Head of Operations of the SSS, Mr. Raymond Nkemdilim; and the state Prison Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Bisi Jeje.
After a one-on-one session with the 34 suspects at the medium prison, the committee later moved to the Maximum Security Prison, under the command of Mr. Olumide Tinuoye, a Deputy Controller of Prisons (DCP), to confer with 70 members of the sect being detained in the facility.
In an interview with journalists afterwards, Turaki said the visit was in furtherance of the committee’s responsibility to hold talks and engage the suspects in order to get the necessary information that would enable the committee come up with its recommendations.
He said: “We came here basically to have interaction with people who are detained in connection with acts relating to terrorism. We have interacted and spoken to them and they responded to us very sincerely and frankly and I think I can say that we were well informed about most of the things they were interested in as a result of the interaction we had with them.”
Debunking claims that the visit was aimed at releasing some of the Boko Haram suspects, the minister said it was just to give the committee members a better perspective of how to go about their job of ensuring that peace is restored in the country.
He said: “The issue of release is usually contingent upon certain conditions. For now, we are more concerned with the release of vulnerable people and in this group of vulnerable people we have those people the security agencies have not been able to pin anything on them.
“We have seen those, who the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPR) have advised their release. We have also seen some whom the security agencies have conceded that they have nothing against them.
“These are the people that usually the committee advises that they be released. But we have not seen any woman or child here but even at that, I am sure the committee will make appropriate recommendations as usual even in the interim as far as the issue of their release or non-release is concerned."
On the extent at which they have succeeded in carrying out their assignment, he said: “We have gone very far as far as our terms of reference are concerned. We have interacted with a lot of stakeholders. We have been more informed and we have been given advice and suggestions that will help us in our recommendations to government on the way forward.
“I can assure you that the committee is on top of the situation as far as dialogue is concerned. We have no serious challenges at the moment that we cannot surmount."
While declining to comment on when the suspects would be released, the chairman said since they had interacted with the detainees, the committee would meet and discuss before suggestions on the release of anybody are made to the appropriate quarters.
“Of course, even after our recommendations, there are plans for a concrete impact assessment programme because at the end of the day, we have been asked to study the situation critically and carefully and make recommendations for victims’ support. I assure you that Nigerians will be very proud of this committee,” Turaki added.
Also, the federal government has said it is gaining ground against Boko Haram militants following the declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno States.
Vice-President Namadi Sambo stated this Thursday when he received the United Nations Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mrs Valerie Amos, at the State House, Abuja.
According to him, the military offensive in the wake of the emergency rule imposed on the three states has started yielding results as normalcy has returned to the troubled areas.
He said following the military expedition, the sectarians have been forced to flee while their enclaves have been destroyed.
“It is a common knowledge that the action that the federal government has taken has really been successful.
“I can confidently say that we have succeeded in completely uprooting the terrorists from their various locations in the North-east to the extent that the fear instilled in the citizenry by the terrorists is no longer there, as the people now assist the security agencies in exposing the militants in their midst,” he added.
According to him, the federal government has approved additional supply of food and relief materials to victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the three states.
He said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was being strengthened to enable it meet the challenges of disaster management in the country.
In her remarks, Amos expressed the readiness of the UN to partner Nigeria in the provision of emergency reliefs to victims of disasters.
She commended the way and manner the 2012 flood disaster was handled by the federal government, saying “the UN has a lot to learn from your experience in the incident.”
