Nigerian Times

Nigeria's Head of State President Goodluck Jonathan Saturday afternoon declared State of Emergency in three states in the northern region and one state in the middle belt. The states have been under the siege of the dreaded Boko Haram Islamic terrorist group and other nomadic Hausa-Fulani marauders who have been on rampage killing several hundreds of innocent Nigerians who were mostly Christians and destroying properties in Borno, Yobe, Niger and Plateau. The Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing of the UN office in Abuja on Friday, 26 August 2011, killing 21 people and injuring over 60 others. On November 5, 2011, the group launched series of coordinated attacks in Borno and Yobe states, killing about 67 people in Damaturu and destroying a new police headquarters and other government offices. The most outrageous were the bomb attacks on St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla in Niger State and other churches in Jos, Gadaka, and Damaturu on Christmas Day wit...

A bomb blast rocked the troubled northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri on Sunday in an attack on a military patrol vehicle, the army and residents said. Although residents reported seeing an ambulance speeding away from the area, the army said there had been no casualties. The city has previously been targeted by scores of bombings blamed on an Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. Thousands of residents have already fled Maiduguri out of fears of further violence. The city, located in Nigeria's far northeast near the border with Chad, Cameroon and Niger, has seen the brunt of the violence blamed on the sect. Click here to read the full report by Agence France-Presse (AFP). Tweet

25 Jul 2011 16:18 Africa/Lagos Nigeria security forces in random killing following bomb blast LONDON, July 25, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Nigerian authorities must immediately put a stop to unlawful killings by security forces, Amnesty International said today after at least 23 people were killed by police following a bomb blast on Saturday in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri. The bomb, allegedly set off by the Islamist group Boko Haram, went off in the Budum market in central Maiduguri and injured three soldiers. According to reports received by Amnesty International, the Nigerian Joint Military Task Force (JTF) responded by shooting and killing a number of people, apparently at random, before burning down the market. “President Goodluck Jonathan must get a grip on the Nigerian armed forces and immediately prevent them from carrying out further human rights violations and unlawful killings,” said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Af...

PRESS RELEASE Security In The Country/Boko Haram Sect As mark of commitment and responsibility to our statutory duties, I find it very expedient to address the Press for the purpose of acquainting you and the nation at large with the recent happenings in Bauchi and Borno States The Inspector-General of Police Hafiz Abubakar Ringim, NPM, mni wishes to inform the general public that the Police are fully aware of the current threat to security in some parts of the country. The Police in collaboration with other security agencies are working tirelessly to restore peace and order in the affected areas and the IGP has vowed to bring to book the Islamic sect called Boko Haram and any other group of persons who are behind the current spate of bomb blasts in the country. Considering the previous activities of Boko Haram sect in the country, the sect is responsible for almost daily killings in remote northeastern Nigeria and is thought to be behind a bombing on Thursday 19/05/2011 that injured p...