Johannesburg/Abuja - The death toll from a suicide bombing outside a
church in Nigeria has risen to 21, with security forces to blame for
the eight of the deaths, the head of the Christian Association of
Nigeria was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
"Twelve died as a
result of the bomb blast while eight were shot dead by the military who
went to the blast site to maintain law and order," Lawi Pokti, the
director of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Bauchi, told the
Vanguard newspaper.
Pokti did not include the bomber in the death toll.
A
suicide bomber on Sunday blew up a car laden with explosives outside
the Harvest Field Pentecostal Church in Bauchi State, some 400km
north-east of the capital Abuja.
Witnesses reported that police and soldiers had opened fire at the scene of the bombing where a crowd had gathered.
"We
declare that the security has no moral, ethical and empirical
justification to open fire on the women, youths and children who came
out to mourn their loved ones. We see this act as extra-judicial
killing and worthy of remorse by the Nigerian Army," Pokti said.
Media
reports said the Islamist group Boko Haram, which is seeking to impose
strict sharia doctrine in the north of the country, claimed
responsibility for the bombing.
Monday, 11 June 2012
Another killer attack on a Nigeria church
Lagos - Scores of people were feared dead on Sunday after a bomb
attack on a church in the central Nigerian city of Jos during a Sunday
service, the government said.
Government spokesman Pam Ayuba said a bomb exploded near the church, adding that government sources feared "scores" of people had been killed and injured after the church collapsed with the force of the explosion.
Ayuba said the bombing of the God Chosen Church could be a "sustained war of attrition on our people by enemies of the state," which he said "has been going on for a while now".
A series of bomb blasts in the state and the country have been claimed by Boko Haram Islamist sect, he said.
The Boko Haram insurgency has killed more than 1 000 people since mid-2009, especially in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north.
The local co-ordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhassan Danjuma Aliyu, told AFP that the wounded had been taken to the Jos University hospital. He did not give any numbers.
Boko Haram's attacks have grown increasingly sophisticated and have affected a wider area, spreading from their base in the northeast across the wider north and down to the capital Abuja, in the centre of the country.
It claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja in August which killed at least 25 people as well as a suicide attack on the Abuja office of one of the country's most prominent newspapers.
The group has continually widened its targets, which have included security forces, churches and police headquarters in the capital. Jos lies on the fault line between the Muslim-majority north and the Christian-dominated south.
Government spokesman Pam Ayuba said a bomb exploded near the church, adding that government sources feared "scores" of people had been killed and injured after the church collapsed with the force of the explosion.
Ayuba said the bombing of the God Chosen Church could be a "sustained war of attrition on our people by enemies of the state," which he said "has been going on for a while now".
A series of bomb blasts in the state and the country have been claimed by Boko Haram Islamist sect, he said.
The Boko Haram insurgency has killed more than 1 000 people since mid-2009, especially in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north.
The local co-ordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhassan Danjuma Aliyu, told AFP that the wounded had been taken to the Jos University hospital. He did not give any numbers.
Boko Haram's attacks have grown increasingly sophisticated and have affected a wider area, spreading from their base in the northeast across the wider north and down to the capital Abuja, in the centre of the country.
It claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja in August which killed at least 25 people as well as a suicide attack on the Abuja office of one of the country's most prominent newspapers.
The group has continually widened its targets, which have included security forces, churches and police headquarters in the capital. Jos lies on the fault line between the Muslim-majority north and the Christian-dominated south.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Producer dedicates UK premiere of ‘Last Flight to Abuja’ to DANA crash victims
Award winning producer Obi Emelonye will on Friday, June 8, 2012, premiere his aviation movie ‘Last Flight to Abuja‘ in London.
The movie’s concept and inspiration was
derived from the series of plane crash tragedies that rocked the
aviation sector in 2006.
According to the organisers, ‘It is
quite unfortunate that plane crashes occurred before the premiere of
the movie. The movie is dedicated to all who lost their lives in the
two ill fated crashes that involved Allied Air and Dana Air on Sunday,
June 3 in Accra and Lagos respectively‘.
‘The movie is to express our
solidarity with the feelings of everyone affected by both tragic
events, especially those who have lost their loved ones. A minute’s
silence will be observed before the film screens, and the movie will be
used as a advocacy tool to highlight the issues of air safety in
Nigeria and Africa at large‘.
The Premiere, at the Troxy Cinema, will begin at 9pm and will include a Question and Answer session with the stars of the film, such as Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Jim Iyke, as well as the producer.
Obi recently won three awards for his 2011 movie ‘Mirror Boy’ at the just concluded Nollywood Movies Awards held in Lagos.
Lagos Doctors Suspend Strike For Two Weeks
Striking Lagos doctors who were unexpectedly
‘sacked’ by the Lagos State Government on the accusation of ‘misconduct
and absence from duty without leave’, have resolved to resume work
tomorrow Wednesday, giving the government two weeks to address the
Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) agreement between them.
The doctors, whose industrial action had attracted the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Gas workers as well as Federal Health workers into solidarity and sympathy strike actions, had refused to resume work since the government said it recalled them last Thursday.
In a press statement on Saturday, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) had directed all the Resident Doctors and the Health workers who joined in the sympathy strike to resume work without delay, while backing the decision of the sacked doctors not to resume until there is a formal letter of recall.
Dr. Muyiwa Odusote, the Lagos branch of the Medical Guild, insisted that the doctors could not be fools for two times on reaching “gentleman” or undocumented agreement with the government. “We trusted them before and we thought they were sincere. But now, whatever we must agree with them must be duly signed by them and us. If the Government is sure about the reinstatement, then, let them give us letters to that effect. We can’t just go back to work like that,” he told us earlier.
The Health Service Commission [HSC] had engaged the doctors since Monday, serving individual sacked doctors reinstatement letters. But with the letters not mentioning the CONMESS policy that bred the crisis in the first instance, the doctors today resolved to return to work for two weeks within which the Lagos State Government must address it.
“If after these two weeks the Government still does not say anything”, announced Dr. Saheed Babajide, President of the Resident Doctors LASUTH Chapter, “we shall give them a final three weeks ultimatum”.
Meanwhile, the NMA has encouraged doctors in other States of the federation which are yet to implement the CONMESS to begin to press their employers for same.
At last Saturday’s press conference, the President of the NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, advised doctors across the federation to “use the strike option, if need be” in demanding for the implementation of the CONMESS agreement in their various States of employment.
The doctors, whose industrial action had attracted the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Gas workers as well as Federal Health workers into solidarity and sympathy strike actions, had refused to resume work since the government said it recalled them last Thursday.
In a press statement on Saturday, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) had directed all the Resident Doctors and the Health workers who joined in the sympathy strike to resume work without delay, while backing the decision of the sacked doctors not to resume until there is a formal letter of recall.
Dr. Muyiwa Odusote, the Lagos branch of the Medical Guild, insisted that the doctors could not be fools for two times on reaching “gentleman” or undocumented agreement with the government. “We trusted them before and we thought they were sincere. But now, whatever we must agree with them must be duly signed by them and us. If the Government is sure about the reinstatement, then, let them give us letters to that effect. We can’t just go back to work like that,” he told us earlier.
The Health Service Commission [HSC] had engaged the doctors since Monday, serving individual sacked doctors reinstatement letters. But with the letters not mentioning the CONMESS policy that bred the crisis in the first instance, the doctors today resolved to return to work for two weeks within which the Lagos State Government must address it.
“If after these two weeks the Government still does not say anything”, announced Dr. Saheed Babajide, President of the Resident Doctors LASUTH Chapter, “we shall give them a final three weeks ultimatum”.
Meanwhile, the NMA has encouraged doctors in other States of the federation which are yet to implement the CONMESS to begin to press their employers for same.
At last Saturday’s press conference, the President of the NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, advised doctors across the federation to “use the strike option, if need be” in demanding for the implementation of the CONMESS agreement in their various States of employment.
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