Nigeria Senate seeks government, Boko Haram dialogue( David Mark)

The Senate Tuesday expressed concern at the recent spate of bomb attacks and the general level of insecurity across the Nigeria. It urged the Federal Government to re-open dialogue with Boko Haram, which had claimed responsibility for the terror attacks. President of the Senate, David Mark said the growing insecurity was unacceptable to the parliament and the generality of Nigerians. He said it was in the national interest for the country to experience peace and security particularly if the transformation agenda of government must succeed. In a brief remark on resumption from his medical vacation, Mark said since the members of the dreaded sect were Nigerians, government should explore the dialogue option to the resolution of the crisis. He said the activities of the group was not only a declaration of war on Nigerians but a threat to the unity and corporate existence of the country. Mark admonished the group to eschew violence and seek better ways of expressing whatever grievances they may have with the government. “In spite of all these bombings, we should not despair or be disillusioned. We shall overcome through our collective determination. “This is the time for concerted action by all Nigerian; ethnic group, political affiliation, religious belief notwithstanding. We have a real problem on our hands and we must handle it with the seriousness it deserves and we should never politicise it,” he said. “Divisive statements or finger pointing are not helpful. Attempts to apportion blame for failures at this time of the burgeoning terror threats will not lead to any practical and long lasting solution. The primary responsibility of tackling this challenge lies with the Government but that notwithstanding, we all have roles to play,” he said. Mark also urged security agencies to intensify efforts geared towards improving on their operational capacities and prevent further bomb attacks. He also challenged the standing committees of the Senate to strengthen their oversight responsibilities on government agencies to curb inefficiency and corruption in the system. “In this regard, all Committees must submit their reports before our summer recess and as soon as we resume we shall take the Committee Reports in plenary. May I remind us that in the course of preparing our Committee Reports, we should look at the capital appropriation released for the first two quarters of the year and weigh it against the implementation of the capital projects,” he said.

Nigeria, attack foiled in Kano UNIVERSITY, Boko Haram suspected

(AGI) Abuja - A new murderous attack on the University of Kano, the northern Nigerian city with the country's second highest population, has been foiled. The company in charge of security at the university this morning discovered three bombs, each placed in a different area of the campus. The devices were found in the Law Faculty, the Science Faculty and in a gymnasium. Police told local media that the devices were ready to explode and could have caused major loss of life. On April 29, Kano's Bayero University, one of the most important in the country, was the setting for an attack on the Christian community, whose members were praying in a room dedicated to religious services, in which 19 people (including two university professors) were killed. At the end of January, also in Kano, the Islamic terror group Boko Haram staged their deadliest ever attack. Nigerian police say that 185 people were killed, though independent sources put the figure at at least 250. . .

Dozens killed, injured in Nigeria cattle market attack

Thirty-four people were killed and 30 wounded in an attack on a cattle market in Nigeria's northern Yobe state, a government official briefed on the investigation said Thursday. The attack Wednesday evening appears to have escalated from an initial raid on the market by two suspected robbers, one of them armed, said the official, who did not want to be named for security reasons. The market traders eventually overpowered the man with the gun and beat him severely before burning him with tires, the official said. This appears to have angered allies of the two robbers, who then attacked the market with grenades and sporadic shooting, the official said. He noted that the tactics used were similar to those of the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The governor of Yobe is believed to be on his way to the market to see the level of damage, the official said. The official said a member of the Cattle Market Owners' Association had told him he counted 60 bodies Friday morning, most of which have been collected by their relatives for burial. Nigeria has suffered a string of violent attacks, many of them sectarian in nature, in recent months. A suicide attack Monday in northeastern Taraba state killed 11 people and wounded another 26, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross said. The attack appeared to target a police commissioner. And at least eight people were killed, including a suicide bomber, and dozens wounded last Thursday in three bomb blasts in central and northern Nigeria, two of them targeting newspaper offices.