An area known as Imeohia Mmaku in Awgu LGA of Enugu State recently came under the siege of robbers cum kidnappers, who invaded the community to perpetrate their heinous crime. On the fateful day, a priest was said to have led some notorious gang of robbers/kidnappers in the deadly operation.
While the operation lasted, the gang sealed off entrances and exits to the community. Clad in a white cassock, Rev. Fr. James Ani, in company with about eight other people held the community by the jugular and laid siege on their prey for hours.
It was gathered that they combed the community to see if they could find a prime target to kidnap on which they could feed. As the siege was going on, a team of anti-robbery patrol team usually on routine checks on communities in the state was passing by and accosted the gang.
On seeing the police team, Fr. Ani reportedly commanded his 'boys' to launch offensive. Wielding dangerous weapons, the gang reportedly engaged the police team in fierce gun duel which further sent habitants of the community and travellers scampering for safety.
During the clash, Fr. Ani and his gang reportedly got hold of one Inspector Cosmas Nzeribe and a couple of his colleagues, and almost sniffed life out of them. They however bowed to the superior firepower of the law enforcement agents leading to their arrest. Before they were arrested, the hoodlums damaged the two vehicles used by the police.
In the end, Fr. Ani and three others; Ugwu Marcel, Obasi Felix and Norbert Eke were arrested and taken to custody. About five other members of the gang escaped from the scene of the attack.
In a chat with reporters, an eye witness, who identified himself as Okey, said: "I ply this road very often and I can tell you that most travellers had had harrowing experiences to share about this place. It is such a bad spot and when the robbers were arrested and we saw a supposed man of God among them, not many of us were surprised because we had experienced that before in this area. Criminals would put on cloths meant for the clergymen to rob people. Thank God, this one was caught."
At the time of his arrest, Fr. Ani claimed that he is not a robber but a priest. However, upon interrogation, he confessed to his crime, saying he was pushed into the crime due to lull in his business.
Spokesman of Enugu Police Command, Ebere Amaraizu confirmed the arrest. He said "The Commissioner of Police has said it many times that there is no hiding place for criminals again in Enugu. This statement he is matching with actions which are evident in the arrest of the four suspects. Imagine someone supposed to be a man of God, being the ring leader in such a crime!"
A report by a committee of the United States House of Representatives has linked the fundamentalist Islamist sect, Boko Haram to al Shabaab, the terror group that carried out the September 21 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya.
The report dated September 13, 2013 and entitled, 'Boko Haram: Growing Threat to the US Homeland', also acknowledged the growing relationship between the Nigerian sect and another terror group, the Al Qaeda in the land of the Islamic Maghreb.
The 39-page report noted that "while there is no evidence that al Qaeda's core in Afghanistan and Pakistan commands Boko Haram's operations, it is clear from the words of multiple US officials and media reports that Boko Haram is supportive of, and supported by Al Qaeda networks such as AQIM."
It noted that "it is the unity of ideology and mutual hatred for the West between the Al Qaeda networks that exposes the danger Boko Haram poses to the U.S Homeland."
The committee described Boko Haram as a "hardened and sophisticated terror network" that required multiple simultenous local and international efforts to enhance the capacity and capability of the the Nigerian Police and the military to curtail its activities.
It said there was an urgent need by the US to designate the sect as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation because it has shown no signs of ending its aggression against the government of Nigeria and the Western world.
The commiteee wrote, "The world is coming to know more about Boko Haram; their intentions, what they're capable of, and who is supporting them.
"The US Intelligence Community is working to erase the gaps in our understanding of Boko Haram, but it is already evident they are a serious threat to US interests and potentially to the US Homeland.
''Acknowledging this threat publicly by designating Boko Haram an FTO will establish a legal mechanism for prosecuting any supporters within US jurisdictions.
"This is an increasingly important tool given their attempts to market themselves to a wider international audience.
"Boko Haram shows no signs of ending its campaign against the government of Nigeria and the Western world. Two years after their August 2011 bombing of a United Nations facility in Abuja, Nigeria, Boko Haram remains a threat to the international community, and continues to be a developing threat to the US Homeland."
The report said that Boko Haram had "highly skilled bomb makers who might have received training from experienced militants elsewhere, potentially indicating a stronger relationship between them and AQIM or Al Shabaab.
It said that besides building sophisticated weaponry, it was now possible that Boko Haram had acquired or will acquire SA-7 and SA-24 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
The SA-7 missile is effective up to 1,300 metres, while some newer models reach altitudes of almost four kilometres. Although most aircraft cruise around 9,140 metres, the SA-7 could be used to target aircraft during takeoff and landing.
In the report, the committee warned, "It does not take much imagination to picture the threat these weapons would pose to commercial aviation in Abuja if they fell into Boko Haram hands."
Out of the 20,000 such weapons in Libya, only 5,000 of them had been secured through a $40m US programme to buy up loose missiles during the fall of the Gadhafi regime. Most are believed to have found their way into countries that share common boundaries with Nigeria.
The committee acknowledged that the Goodluck Jonathan administration had taken some potentially promising steps in its effort to fight Boko Haram.
It said the appointment of Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), a northern Nigerian Muslim, to the position of National Security Adviser on June 23, 2012, demonstrated Jonathan's willingness to give northerners and Muslims a visible role in Nigeria's struggle with Boko Haram.
"Dasuki has taken the lead in organising government's fight against Boko Haram, and his background as a Muslim from the North may give him obvious and potent symbolic significance," the committee said.
In spite of this, the committee observed that concerns regarding the capability of the Jonathan administration to effectively deal with Boko Haram remained prominent.
The committee said without foreign assistance from countries such as the US and the UK, the Nigerian government would almost certainly face a prolonged battle in neutralising Boko Haram.
According to the committee, the State Department, which has also engaged Nigeria through its African Coastal and Border Security programme, has focused its assistance on peacekeeping support, training, border and maritime security, and increasing military professionalisation.
But it lamented that in spite of the training, the "JTF continues to behave unprofessionally, and has been accused of human rights abuses by Human Rights Watch, among other entities, including the State Department's most recent annual human rights report."
It also warned that greater pressure must be applied to the JTF to abandon counter-productive and brutal tactics alienating northerners.
The committee said failure of the Secretary of State to designate the Boko Haram sect an FTO, was the 'most obvious flaw in the US effort to combat it and prevent its expansion.'
It said, "If Boko Haram were to be designated an FTO, it would support US intelligence community efforts to curb the group's financing, stigmatise and isolate it internationally, heighten public awareness and knowledge, and signal to other governments the US takes the threat from Boko Haram seriously.
"If Boko Haram is not designated an FTO, its potential threat to the US and its capability to attack the homeland would likely increase. It is therefore an urgent next step to take in fighting this growing al Qaeda affiliate in Nigeria."
The committee further said as the number of attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram had increased in 2013, so had the attention paid to the group by the US.
Elliot Prior, from Windsor, Berkshire, told one of the terrorists that he was a 'very bad man' as he protected his mother, Amber, who had been shot in the leg, and six-year-old sister Amelie.
Incredibly, the attacker took pity on the family and bizarrely handed the children Mars bars before telling them 'Please forgive me, we are not monsters.'
His story emerged as sporadic gunfire continued to ring out from inside the mall early today as Kenyan security forces battled Al Qaeda-linked terrorists into a fourth day.
Despite Kenyan police assurances that they had taken control of the building, a security expert with contacts inside the mall said at least 10 hostages were still being held by a band of attackers, possibly as many as 13.
Kenya's foreign minister Amina Mohamed said 'two or three' Americans and one British woman were among those who attacked the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.
His mother, Amber, told of her family's terrifying escape from Al Shabaab terrorists who butchered 62 people in the Nairobi shopping centre.
The film producer had been queuing to buy milk in Nairobi's Westgate Shopping Centre when the militants struck.
She hid under a cold meat counter in the Nakumatt supermarket for an hour-and-a-half with her children beneath her before terrorists finally found them and shot her in the thigh.
Elliot's uncle, Alex Coutts, told The Sun: 'They had a lucky escape. The terrorists said if any of the kids were alive in the supermarket they could leave. 'Amber made the decision to stand up and say "yes".'
'Then Elliot started arguing with them and called them bad men. He was very brave.'
After discovering the advertising producer was of French origin, the men began to plead with her and claimed that the Muslim faith 'was not a bad one'.'He told me I had to change my religion to Islam and said "do you forgive us? Do you forgive us?', the mother told The Independent.
'Naturally, I was going to say whatever they wanted and they let us go'.
Bizarrely, the terrorists handed the children Mars bars before they fled with two other children, including a 12-year-old boy who had at first refused to leave his dead mother.
The fate of 20 others who had taken refuge under the meat counter is unknown.
The family's escape is particularly astonishing in light of the indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children throughout the mall after Al Shabaab launched their assault on Saturday
