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Briton, Greek, Italian, 4 others abducted in Nigeria  

Published on February 17, 2013 Gunmen stormed a construction site in northern Nigeria, kidnapping seven foreign workers and killing a security guard, police said Sunday, in the latest attack on expatriates in the restive region.
Two Lebanese, an Italian and a Greek have been confirmed by their governments to be among those seized in the attack late Saturday on the Setraco construction site in the town of Jama’are in Bauchi State.
Bauchi, among the states in northern Nigeria where Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has carried out repeated attacks, saw two separate gun attacks earlier Saturday, but it was not clear if the group was behind the weekend violence.
“From the report we have received, the hostages are seven in all. They include four Lebanese, an Italian, a Briton and a Greek,” Bauchi state police spokesman Hassan Auyo said.
There has been no confirmation that a Briton was among those kidnapped nor that the number of Lebanese was four.
“We are aware of reports and are making enquiries with the local authorities,” Britain’s Foreign Office said.
The Lebanese foreign ministry said two of its citizens were among those seized, while officials in Athens and Rome confirmed their citizens were kidnapped.
Bauchi’s police chief Mohammed Ladan said a security guard was shot dead in the raid in Jama’are, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the state capital Bauchi city.
Setraco Nigeria, a construction and civil engineering company, is a subsidiary of Lebanese-owned Setraco International Holding group.
The Nigerian subsidiary, which was established in 1977, is currently working on expanding a major road in northern Nigeria.
The attack on the construction site came after the same gunmen were repelled while trying to storm a police station and a prison in the town, the police chief said.
Gunmen also launched a similar attack on a police station in the town of Kafin Madaki, 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the state capital, triggering a shootout, Ladan said, adding that “the attackers fled without causing any damage.”
Boko Haram, a group blamed for hundreds of deaths in northern Nigeria since 2009, has claimed several attacks on police stations.
The Islamists have also attacked prisons, reportedly to secure the release of group members being held in custody.
The kidnapping of foreigners for ransom has long been a scourge in Nigeria’s oil-rich south, but such incidents in the north remain relatively isolated.
A Briton and an Italian kidnapped in the north in 2011 as well as a German engineer seized last year in the region’s largest city of Kano were all killed in captivity.
While many sought to blame Boko Haram for the deaths, the group, which often issues statements claiming attacks, has never acknowledged involvement in the abductions of Westerners.
In December, a group known as Ansaru claimed the kidnapping of a French citizen in the northern state of Katsina. The hostage’s condition and whereabouts remain unknown.
Ansaru is thought by some to be an offshoot of Boko Haram, which may have forged ties with other Al-Qaeda linked groups operating in north and west Africa, but little is known about its make-up.
Boko Haram has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north. Most people who live in the south of the country, Africa’s most populous, are Christian.

 

 

 

Dame Jonathan: ‘ I Was Dead for One Week’  

Published on February 17, 2013 Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
For Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of Nigeria’s President, Sunday 17 February, was a day of thanksgiving and praises to God over the still mysterious illness that took her away from the country for many weeks last year without any official explanations by the Presidency.

Patience Jonathan: admits serious illness

Though the first lady did not lift the lid on the nature of her affliction during the thanksgiving which began at Aso Rock Presidential Villa on Sunday morning, she however left no one in doubt that it was life threatening as she revealed that she was dead for a week and had nine surgeries within one month at the German hospital she was treated.
In her testimony during the thanksgiving service attended by her husband, members of the Nigerian cabinet and bigwigs of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mrs. Jonathan said she would have been dead but for God’s intervention.
The wife of Nigeria’s President added that her condition was so critical that she was the one asking for the surgeries while her travail lasted. She added that God gave her a second chance and sent her back to earth even after she gave up the ghost because she has not completed the assignments He gave her.

Oritshejafor, Jonathan, Patience and the children

Mrs Jonathan who likened her case to that of Biblical Lazarus said but for the divine intervention, her corpse would have been brought back to the country like that of Stella, the late wife of former President Obasanjo who died in Spain where she went for a tummy reducing operation.
“I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his. My doctors said all hope was lost. A black doctor in London who is with us in this service was flown in when the situation became critical. It was God himself in His infinite mercy that said I will return to Nigeria. God woke me up after seven days”, Mrs Jonathan said.
“I know that some people somehow leaked the information that I was dead. They are people that I trust and rely on; to them, I was dead and I would never return to the country alive. Some of them even sold my things off. “I won’t say everything here. It is the Lord’s doing that I returned alive. When God says yes, nobody can say no”, she added.
Mrs. Jonathan said her experience has now made her more committed to serving humanity: “The day I came back, I said God I have nothing to say, I offer myself to you. I will be doing things that will touch the lives of the less privilege”, she said.
The thanksgiving was rounded off with a session of praise and thanksgiving at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa Abuja attended by President Jonathan, former Head of State Yakubu Gowon and Ernest Shonekan, Vice President Namadi Sambo and his wife, Christian clerics led by Pastor Ayo Oritshejafor, President, Christian Association of Nigeria, members of PDP, technocrats, ministers, businessmen and others.

Patience Jonathan In the midst of kids on her arrival from Germany in October

Speaking at the event in which notable gospel musicians like Yinka Ayefele, Asu Ekiye and Onyeka Onwenu performed, Mrs. Jonathan thanked her husband, friends and her staff for standing by her during the period of her illness. While thanking Nigerians whose prayers, she said contributed to her healing, Mrs Jonathan however asked Nigerians to continue to pray for inhabitants of Aso Rock presidential Villa.
The First Lady who also reiterated her commitment to continue to serve humanity, especially doing things that will touch the lives of the less privileged in the society implored Nigerians to continue to pray for their leaders at every level.
Significantly, the Presidency had insisted that Mrs. Jonathan was not ill, but only resting abroad when it became public knowledge that the President’s wife, Patience has been evacuated to Germany.
Mrs. Jonathan’s spokesman, Ayo Osinlu, told journalists on 3 September 2012 that the President’s wife travelled out of the country to take a “moment’s rest”, though he refused to disclose her whereabouts: “If you look at her itinerary in August, you would be wondering how she was able to accomplish that. In the course of this week, she will be back home. But remember, it all depends on her plans,” he said.
Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, curtly told reporters that the story “was a rumour and there is nothing like that”, when he was asked to confirm if the First Lady was taken outside the country for treatment.