Rivers State Deputy Governor, Engr. Tele Ikuru, administering polio vaccine to a baby during the Maternal and Infant Immunization Week in Port Harcourt, recently.
Military authorities have confirmed that twin suicide bombings hit a church inside a military barracks of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, in Jaji, Kaduna state, killing 11 people and injuring 30 others.
A military source confirmed that a bus entered the barracks and drove straight to the wall of the Saint Andrews Protestant Church, where it exploded and ten minutes later another car blew up outside the church.
Though the first blast caused no casualties, the second blast however did as curious worshippers gathered around the scene of the first blast looking at the debris of the initial explosion.
The area has since been cordoned off.
No one or group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile, the Northerner Elders? Forum said the bounty placed on the leaders of Boko Haram, was an indication that the Federal Government has suspended the plans to negotiate with the sect.
The spokesman of the forum, Dr. Paul Unongo, said the President could not say leaders of the group were still faceless.
According to him, it was the responsibility of the Federal Government to kick-start the negotiation with the sect in the interest of Nigerians.
He said, ?If by facelessness, Jonathan means that there are different versions of Boko Haram, then it is understandable. Security agencies have been arresting people they say are leaders of the sect. So, there must be something not quite correct here.
?When we (NEF) met the President, we suggested the carrot-and-stick approach to him and he accepted it. However, what is reprehensible is the excessive application of the stick. What Nigerians want to see is the end of the violence and loss of innocent lives.
?If Jonathan applies himself to it, he would identify people he can talk to and they would relate his message to Boko Haram. He has to create the atmosphere for that negotiation to happen.?
Unongo added that when the Federal Government could not handle the violent activities of the Niger Delta militants, it negotiated with them.
He said, ?The militants were rehabilitated and compensated with huge sums of money; some of them were given big contracts. If it was possible for the militants in the Niger Delta, which is Jonathan?s part of the country, why would it not be possible for Boko Haram in the North??
On the cash reward placed on the leaders of the sect, Unongo said, ?On the surface, placing a bounty on the heads of the leaders of Boko Haram shows that the FG has dropped negotiation.?
Similarly, Secretary of the Borno State Elders? Forum, Dr. Bulama Gubio, said by giving excuses for the inability of the Federal Government to initiate the negotiation, Jonathan had shown poor commitment to resolving the crisis.
He said, ?Since the President has said there is no negotiation going on between the Federal Government and Boko Haram, what else can we say? All we can do is to continue to appeal to both sides to negotiate in the interest of the people. ?Our people are dying every day and our economy is paralysed. Borno State is still part of Nigeria, so the Federal Government should swallow its pride and go the extra mile to make sure the negotiation works. I don?t think Federal Government can solve the problem without negotiation.?
In addition, the Convener of the Concerned Northern Professionals, Politicians, Academics and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said it would amount to double standards if Jonathan?s administration shies away from negotiating with Boko Haram, the way the late President Umaru Yar?dua did with Niger Delta militants.
?The Federal Government has been spending about N1bn every year on security; that amounts to about 20 per cent of the total budget going to the armed forces. So, they have made a lot of money and would not be interested in seeing the end of the violence,? he claimed.
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