How FG can permanently defeat terrorism – Report

The federal government has been called upon to exit the Rome Statute and its creation, the International Criminal Court (ICC). According to a conference organised by Global Amnesty Watch in conjunction with the Institute for African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, participants agreed that the government must in the interim assure the military that it was insulated from the International Criminal Court in view of its operations in meeting international standard of rules of engagement. His was contained in a communiqué released yesterday by Dr. Mutiullah Olasupo, Chairman, Communiqué Drafting Committee andBarrister Maxwell Gowon, Secretary, Communiqué Drafting Committee. The Conference agreed that a special task team should be set up to review and respond to any report emanating from Amnesty International, UNICEF and or their associates. “The task team is to help citizens understand when they are being willfully misled by these entities.
The task team is made up of representatives from the CSOs that attended the conference,” the communiqué read in part. Participants also agreed in the communiqué thus: “We demand that the federal government immediately activate the necessary steps for Nigeria to exit the Rome Statute and its creation, the International Criminal Court, to ensure that the military can fight terrorism without the cloak of blackmail constantly hanging over them.” During the conference, participants and resource persons evaluated Nigeria’s war on terrorism in the three years from 2015 till date, the period the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has been in office. According to them, the war against terrorism made progress in the three years under review during which senior commanders of the terror group have been killed arrested or surrendered; remnants of the group have resorted to sporadic cross border raids – they launch attacks from neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon as well as retreat back to these places once the Nigerian military is in Executive Secretary, Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Rev. Uja Tor Uja (middle), in a group photograph with some Ground Handlers and Air Carriers, during the expression of interest (bid opening) for airlifting and ground handling for 2018 Christian Pilgrimage exercise, in Abuja yesterday Photo: NCPC Unidentified motorcyclists have continued to wreak havoc on Bauchi metropolis as two more pedestrians were again stabbed on Thursday and Sunday night. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that motorcyclist had been terrorising residents of Fadaman Mada, Gida Dubu, Awalah and Madina Quarters areas of the metropolis in the past two months, stabbing no fewer than 10 pedestrians, of which two died. The Sunday incident occurred around 8 pm, adjacent the office of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at Fadaman Mada, when the motorcyclist slowed down, stabbed one Isiaka Hamisu, and zoomed off . Hamisu, a resident of Madina Quarters, said he was trekking home when the incident occurred, adding that he was taken to the hospital and treated of the wound inflicted on him. The Thursday incident also took place in Fadaman Mada area at about 7.30 p.m., when another pedestrian, Husaini Umar, was stabbed in the same manner. “Initially, the pain was not much but after some hours, it became severe that I had to be rushed to the hospital for a second time.” NAN gathered that in all cases recorded, the mode of action was same – a motorcyclist slows down, stabs a person trekking, and zooms off .
“Most worrisome is that the motive for this rampant stabbing of innocent pedestrians is not clear. Unlike the one we are used to, whereby youth on drug stab to dispossess people of their valuables, nothing is taken away from the victims in this case,” a cleric in Bauchi, Buhari Dahiru, told NAN. Meanwhile, the state Police Command said yesterday that it had arrested 12 persons in connection with the incidents recorded. “So far, 12 persons suspected to be behind such ugly incidents have been arrested and taken to courts. They were arrested during our patrols and incriminating objects were found on them; prosecution is in progress,” Kamal Abubakar, spokesperson of the command, told NAN. He confirmed that the Command had received report about a fresh incident yesterday. “We have intensified security patrol as well as intelligence gathering, to track down some of the culprits and bring them to justice. “I am assuring members of the public that the command is always ready to save lives and property; all we need is cooperation in providing information on questionable characters.” pursuit. “It is regrettable that there has been a stall in the efforts to totally eradicate Boko Haram insurgents owing to several external interferences. These interferences include strategic support for the terrorists by international NGOs like Amnesty International and other groups representing its interests in Nigeria and the failure of Nigeria’s neighbours to honour international and regional commitments. “The support from these NGOs has ensured that Boko Haram continues to get sympathy to use as propaganda for recruiting and radicalising new members and continue to attempt occasional attacks on soft targets. It has in this regard moved from using hardened fighters to deploying underage girls that are able to evade security scrutiny to carry out attacks.”