President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday revealed that the masterminds of the two deadly bomb blasts that rocked Nyanya, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory have been arrested and are currently helping the security agencies in their efforts to unmask their financiers.
Jonathan spoke while fielding questions from journalists at the end of the 24th World Economic Forum for Africa, WEFA, held in Abuja which ended yesterday.
He also said that the Federal Government had earmarked $10 million as matching grant to the efforts by the international community to rescue the 230 abducted female students of the Government Girls Secondary School, GGSS, Chibok in Borno State.
Jonathan said he had declared a total war on Boko Haram ‘’terror group’’ to rout it out of existence in the country, warning that anybody thinking that the spate of bombings and other devastation activities by the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria would force his administration to bend over forward and negotiate power with the sect or their sponsors should rather have a re-think as such a situation would not arise.
He however, reiterated that the successful hosting of the WEFA in Abuja in spite of threats by the insurgents was a clear demonstration that the days of Boko Haram were numbered as they will soon be smoked out with the help of the international community and made to face the consequences of their evil deeds.
”Boko Haram is a terror group and as journalists you should know the meaning of terror. Before the 9/11 no body in the US or UK imagined the dimension of terrorists in the world. You can not be too sure of what ideology that drives their leaning. Sometimes, it is from the religious sentiments… but we need to combine so many factors to underscore their driving spirit . But I want to advice that the terrorists should also know that they don’t do certain things and get away with it because most of these activities are criminal offenses and they should know that when they are caught, they would pay dearly for it. ‘’For instance, I can tell you that the masterminds of the last Nyanya bomb blast have been arrested and would face the long arm of the law.
”I want to assure also that sooner than later, the abducted Chibok school girls would also be rescued with the help of the global community and we will use remote sensing technology to smoke them out to face the consequences,” Jonathan added.
Also, the US Marines currently in Nigeria to help the government combat Boko Haram terrorists have made their first arrests taking two male suspects into custody after they were found in possession of arms and ammunition during a targeted search.
The two suspected Boko Haram members were arrested at Anyibe in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.
According to the Director of Defence Information, DDI, Major General Chris Olukolade, the duo, including a teenager and an elderly man, were arrested during a cordon-and-search operation and found to be in possession of firearms.
Weapons found in their possession included two rifles, three locally fabricated pistols and 61 rounds of special ammunition.
Earlier, at a separate briefing by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minster of Finance, Dr.( Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala and former British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown among other WEF Officials, had expressed the desire of both the Nigerian government and the international community to continue with the agitation of the Bring back the Chibok Girlscampaign.
Brown described the abduction of the school girls as ‘’disgusting and devilish’’ but assured that the international community would not stand by and watch the senseless action by Boko Haram to scuttle the educational desire of innocent girls. He further said that the global community was already mobilizing million of dollars to combat the menace.
”There is nothing going to stand between the Nigerian children from going to school. There will be multi- million pounds from the international community to ensure that every boy and girl has opportunity to go school in Nigeria through the save school initiative launched by the Nigerian Private Sector Initiative,” NPSI.
On her own part, the Okonjo-Iweala expressed satisfaction over the successful hosting of the WEFA and adding that Nigeria used the opportunity of the forum to canvass for investments and other networking between local businessmen and the foreign investors that attended the meetings.
”We are grateful for the first WEF in Africa. The attendance was very strong with over 1000 delegates from all over the world. The forum was a success because it enabled us to mobilize the support to bring back the girls. We also managed to mobilize the international support and the local ones too,’’ She said.
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