U.S. bombed Kunduz clinic ‘in error’

Photo; BBC

NITED States (U.S.) aircraft attacked a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic in the Afghan city of Kunduz because of “human error”, a U.S. military inquiry said.

The investigation found that the crew of the AC-130 gunship mistook the clinic for a nearby government building that had been seized by Taliban, according to BBC.

At least 30 civilians were killed in the October 3 attack, amid a campaign to retake Kunduz from Taliban forces.
MSF described the attack as a war crime and demanded a thorough investigation.

The medical charity also disputed initial U.S. justifications for the attack, which suggested U.S. forces had struck near the hospital because they had come under fire in the area.
The U.S. military later admitted that the strike was a mistake and launched an investigation.

Yesterday, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, said that the crew of the AC-130 had mistaken the MSF clinic for a nearby security services building that had been captured by the Taliban.

Home not so sweet for 500 UK deportees

Some of the deportees PHOTO: DAILY POST

48 Nigerians were deported, 29,000 others expected next year, says NIS

THEY had placed all hopes on a better future outside the shores of Nigeria. They acted on their desires, gave all it took to see their dreams of living abroad to make ends meet a reality, only for the dream to be short-lived and truncated abruptly.

For the 500 Nigerians deported from the United Kingdom (UK) and who arrived the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, yesterday morning, it is back to the familiar past they thought they had left behind, at least, for a while, to begin afresh the struggle to keep body and soul together. Some others are stranded with nowhere to go after leaving Nigeria, several decades ago.

Many of them have been deported over illegal stay permits. A few who spoke to newsmen complained of the way they were handled by the British authorities, alleging that majority of them were not even allowed take their belongings before being deported.

More Nigerians are expected to be deported next year when an immigration policy, which requires non-EU migrants, who have spent more than five years working in the country to earn £35,000 (N10.5 million) per year or leave. It had earlier been reported that the British authorities plan to deport 29,000 Nigerians.

But in a swift reaction, the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) yesterday denied reports that 500 Nigerians were deported from the United Kingdom, stressing that only 48 persons were actually deported.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) had on Tuesday evening reported that 500 Nigerians were already on a chartered plane, which took off from the London Stansted Airport to arrive around 6.00a.m. at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

According to a spokesperson of the NIS, Mr. Ekpedeme King, the 48 Nigerians were deported for overstaying their visa validity period and other immigration-related offences, adding that the 48 deportees had nothing to do with the 29,000 Nigerians the UK government announced it is planning to deport back to the country.

The Nigeria High Commission in London had last month expressed worry over plans by the migration and removal policy of the UK Government to deport 29,000 Nigerians. The Acting Nigerian High Commissioner in London, Olukunle Bamgbose, said: “I think about 29,000 Nigerians have been designated to be deported. We are insisting that due process must be followed before Nigerians are really removed from the UK to Nigeria,” he said.

He gave four conditions that should be met by the UK Immigration Office before the commission could accept the migration and deportation agenda.

“First, we must ensure that they are really Nigerians; they are medically fit to travel; all the legal processes must have been completed and that they have a role to play in Nigeria.

“You do not expect someone who has not been to Nigeria for 30 to 40 years, and does not have any family and you want to deport him. He will constitute social problems to us in Nige

Diezani returns, to visit The Synagogue for healing

Diezani

FORMER Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, is being prepared to be flown back to Nigeria from the United Kingdom, where she has been receiving treatment for cancer, to visit the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) pastored by Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua.

According to the International Business Times, the embattled former petroleum minister receiving treatment for breast cancer is making the return to seek spiritual healing. A source said she asked to be returned to the country after her condition deteriorated.

“They have decided to fly her back into the country tomorrow (Friday) to seek for spiritual help. The condition worsened last weekend and she personally asked the family to return her to the country. She has not tasted any solid food since last Monday. She did not speak throughout Thursday. When she eventually spoke Friday morning, she ordered them to return her to the country to visit Prophet T. B Joshua for prayers,” the family source stated.

In a related development, the Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed its sympathy and solidarity support to the church founder over the building collapse that occurred last year, killing over a hundred worshippers.

In a letter signed by the council president, I.A. Adelekan, it said: “We believe the man of God has touched the lives of many Nigerians morally, financially and spiritually without respect to ethnicity or religion. We sympathise with you and are calling on the Lagos State government to seek foreign assistance to unravel the mystery surrounding the collapse of the building.

Terrorists Now Conceal Bombs In Attractive Objects, DHQ Warns

The Defence Headquarters has revealed that the Boko Haram insurgents in one of their desperate moves have resorted to concealing Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in attractive objects and warned people against falling prey to their plot.

The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Col. Rabi Abubakar made this disclosure yesterday in his office in Abuja at an interactive session with Defence Correspondents, where he asked the media to desist from publishing stories based on mere speculation without getting clarification from the military.

Abubakar also disclosed that five of the 100 most wanted Boko Haram terrorists, have been arrested at various locations in collaboration with other security agencies and useful information from the populace.

He urged members of the public to be security conscious and to resist the temptation of picking any strange things found around them.

He said: “All these things we are doing is to make sure that the populace remain safe from the hands of this Boko Haram terrorists who are now devising different means of fighting through this issue of IED and even some cluster bombs which they conceal in attractive objects and drop it in the streets for people to pick.

“We are using this platform to enlighten the citizens to make sure that our citizens do not fall victim on what could be avoided,” he added.

Abubakar who praised the media for contributing immensely to the success of the war, urged the media to confirm whatever information at their disposal before publishing.

ISIS: Nigeria, French Security Chiefs Meet In Abuja

The Director of Military Intelligence of the France Ministry of Defence, Gen. Christophe Gormet and his Nigerian counterpart, the Chief of Defence Intelligence, AVM Monday Morgan met yesterday in Abuja over counter-terrorism operations in the country.

LEADERSHIP recalled that Paris has been in the news for suffering attacks from the dreaded ISIS, which has led to the death of no fewer than 130 innocent citizens last week.

The Boko Haram sect, which is perpetrating its criminal atrocities in the sub-region and Nigeria in particular is linked to ISIS which claimed responsibility for the deadly Paris attacks.

According to Gormet, the French delegation was in the country to discuss the issue of Boko Haram and intelligence gathering to counter them and ISIS.

He explained that he was visiting the country for the first time to hold crucial talks with his Nigerian counterpart on counter-terrorism. He recalled the training of 13 Nigerian military operatives in geo-spatial intelligence in Strasbourg, France.

In his own remarks, his host, Morgan, also recalled a visit of the country’s military leadership to Dakar, Senegal, where the French were requested to encourage the Francophone countries to intensify campaign against the Boko Haram.

He said that diplomatic relations between Nigeria and France had become more robust after the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to France in September, 2015.

He said that the visit culminated in the meeting which had to do with effective collaboration between Nigeria and France in the onslaught against terrorism.

He said that the military was making arrangements to set up a geo-spatial intelligent unit to combat the insurgency.

AVM Morgan said the military would require expertise of developed countries to be able to set up the planned department.

“I want to refer you back to the visit of President Buhari to France early this year; that brought about the serious synergy that we have today between the French government and Nigeria in terms of intelligence sharing.

Boko Haram Fuelled By Wrong Teaching Of Islam, Says Army Chief

Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, yesterday blamed wrong interpretation and teaching of Islam as part of the reasons for the spread of Boko Haram ideology.

General Buratai said Muslims had been scourged by the menace of illiterate or half-baked teachers of Islamic scriptures who would rather impart skewed knowledge than impart what is stated in the Holy Books.

The COAS spoke while opening a two-day seminar organised by the Directorate of Islamic Affairs of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, the Bonro State capital.

The seminar was organized to enlighten people on terrorism and misinterpretation of Islam.

Addressing participants at the Maimalari Cantonment, 7 Division of the Nigerian army in Maiduguri, the COAS, who was represented by the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Abubakar Yushau, asserted that it was time people embraced and taught true religious knowledge devoid of ulterior interpretations.

“Muslims are faced with ignorance and wrong interpretation of Islam,” said Major General Yushau.

“We have to sensitize the public to embrace the true teachings of Islam, as propagated by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as anything outside that does not represent Islam,” he said.

According to him, “miscreants and criminals terrorizing people in the northeast under the guise of Islam have gone out of the real teaching and interpretation of Islam as taught by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his disciples…Such teachings have misled people into wrong acts including terrorism in Nigeria.”

The Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garbai, was represented at the occasion by the Wali of Borno, Alhaji Wali Idris.

The foremost Borno monarch said the “the seminar is timely and would go a long way in sensitizing people about what true Islam is about.

“Nigerians should be their brother`s keeper irrespective of religious or ethnic affiliations, as all of us belong to the same country and cannot develop without peaceful coexistence. Our doors are always open to the security agencies to seek useful advice and suggestions on any security matter.”

Director of Islamic Affairs, Nigerian Army, Col. S. Mustapha, said in his opening remark that “despite Islamic warning against extremism and terrorism, some people did not heed the warning, but always embark on distorting the real meaning of Qur`anic verses and Hadith, disseminating wrong information on Islam in order lure ignorant Muslims youths into criminal activities in the name of fighting Jihad.”