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BOKO HARAM DESTROYED at least 16 towns and villages, killing at least 100 people in a major attack in northeast Nigeria, local officials said.
The attack comes as President Goodluck Jonathan kicked off his campaign for re-election.
There were fears of heavy casualties in the Wednesday assault in the remote north of Borno state, which came after the militants captured the town of Baga in Borno state on Saturday, forcing at least 20,000 people to flee.
News that the insurgents had returned to the town and surrounding settlements in the Lake Chad region came as Jonathan launched his bid for a second term at a mass rally in Lagos.
But Jonathan, much criticised for his failure to end the Islamist violence, made only passing reference to the insecurity and appeared instead to blame his predecessors for failures in defence spending.
“These people did not buy anything,” he told thousands of supporters in a speech at the end of the five-hour long meeting, without mentioning his critics by name.
Jonathan’s main opponent, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, and his All Progressives Congress (APC) party, have blamed corruption for the inability to end the Boko Haram insurgency.
Soldiers have complained of a lack of weapons and even bullets to tackle the better-armed militants.
Homes razed
Nigerians are due to elect a new president on February 14 but there are fears that polling could be ruled out in swathes of the northeast because of the violence.
The electoral body in Africa’s leading economy and most populous nation maintains, however, that there are no plans to postpone the vote.
In a fresh indication of the scale of the rebellion, Musa Bukar, head of the Kukawa local government area, said petrol bombs and explosives were used to destroy Baga and nearby settlements.
“We have over 20,000 people displaced from Baga and surrounding villages in a camp in Maiduguri and we are making arrangements to convey another 10,000 from Monguno where they ran to,” he added.
And how much is that going to cost the tax payer for yet another Government blunder?
@niall:
Our political system has long been drowning in a sea of tribunals, inquiries, commissions, investigations, hearings and probes, all of which stem from gross incompetence and/or corruption. They never amount to anything because new ones keep arriving to swamp the older ones. We tolerate it whilst foolishly trying to eliminate the root cause of it – chronyism – by electing more chronies. We’re just like 5 million hamsters on a big wheel.
The two party FF/FG cartel has to be disempowered if anything’s to change.
Reports, reviews, enquiries are what politicians do to kick the can down the road when they get into trouble, hoping people will have forgotten about the issue when they eventually come out. Lots of political reports, reviews, enquiries in ireland.
Jaysus, Lieo could have to bring Denis and Frances back. Prove them innocent, and big returns.. Who are they kidding..
Its rotten in corruption with a tribunal written all over.FG and DOB have the country destroyed.
All these broadband stories appearing online. Anyone want to send a smoke signal with the update to the rural areas?
What a farce. I wonder have enough politician’s palms been greased to get this over the line. Ireland, sure it’s it a great little island all together.
The “Independent” auditor is the one that is currently employed as the process auditor on the broadband tender for the department/government ?
Procurement and Irish government never works ..brown envelopes are to hard to turn down
If it looks like corruption and smalls like corruption, it is corruption. Shame on you minister.
Another report, yeah I wonder how that will go,Fine Gael and their cronies looking out for their fellow trough dwellers!
Might be a blessing in disguise, fixed broadband is fast becoming obsolete. Even worse if it was monopolised by one player. If the government subsidised 4g transmitters in rural areas i’m sure all the service providers would offer the service much cheaper. Then invest in 5g eventually.
Can someone tell me what he did wrong?
He had dinner with a broadband contractor/supplier which he paid €37 for and he had to leave his job because of it? Is that the jest of it?
Denis Naughton should never have resigned or been made to resign. Instead, the Government should have just gotten on with the task at hand, issued the contract and ensured that the much-needed rural broadband network was built immediately.
Will the report tell us what they had for dinner? Was it a set or tasting menu ? Was there wine pairings to match each course or perhaps a prosecco or a scotch to kick off the evening ? Did they retire to the smoking room for an Xo afterwards ? Oh I can’t wait to see
Can someone tell me what he did wrong?
He had dinner with a broadband contractor/supplier which he paid €37 for and he had to leave his job because of it? Is that the jist of it?
have your say