DAVIS, AUSTRALIAN NEGOTIATOR IS SELF-APPOINTED – DSS

DR STEPHEN DAVIS

The Department of State Services, DSS, has denied being the source of the information credited to Australian Boko Haram hostage negotiator, Dr Steven Davis, describing him as “a self-styled and self-appointed negotiator.”

Deputy Director, DSS Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar, nevertheless said the body was investigating Davis claims and has invited former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff to answer some questions bordering on the fresh allegations linking him with the sponsorship of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram.

However, the department said it couldn’t be true that the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika was a financier of the deadly Boko Haram, saying it would be wicked of anyone to link him with the sect.

BOKO HARAM: JONATHAN DECLARES FULL-SCALE WAR, DEPLOYS WARPLANES

Nigerian warplanes are carrying out air strikes against Boko Haram militant bases at Bama, Borno State, a senior official said yesterday, in a government counter-attack against Boko Haram’s drive to create an Islamist enclave.

The official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters Nigeria’s military was battling Boko Haram fighters at Bama, 70 km (45 miles) southeast of the Borno state capital Maiduguri.

Air strikes have been carried out “on all the Boko Haram bases”, the official said, adding this reflected President Goodluck Jonathan’s order for a “fully-fledged war” against the group which has waged a bloody insurgency since 2009.

HOW CAMEROUN ARRESTED, RELEASED SHERIFF

Lagos based human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana, yesterday, revealed how Former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff was arrested in 2012 by the Cameroonian government for the crime committed by the deadly Boko Haram sect.

Meantime, ahead of the 2015 election, former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Professor Tam David-West, Professor Akin Oyebode and Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, have, unanimously, urged Nigerians to wake up from their slumber and use the next year’s election to bring relief to their unwholesome circumstances.