3 Policemen killed as gunmen raid Police Station In Yobe, Steal Police guns and ammunition

Suspected Islamist gunmen attacked a police station in Nigeria's northeastern Yobe state on Friday, killing three officers and stealing guns and ammunition, the police said.

Radical Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds in bomb and gun attacks in the northeast since it launched an uprising there in 2009, mostly targeting people who work for the government.

"In the early hours of today, gunmen attacked the police station at Bonny Yadi in Gujba local government area. Three policemen were killed and some arms carted away," said Lazarus Eli, a spokesman for Yobe police.

The gunmen stole 25 AK-47 assault rifles, eight handguns and large quantities of ammunition, a police source told Reuters, asking not to be named.

Gujba is close to Damaturu, a town that Boko Haram has attacked several times this year, while Yobe is next to Borno state, a remote region bordering Niger and Cameroon regarded as the cradle of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Styled on the Afghan Taliban, the sect's purported leader Abubakar Shekau has said he wants to impose sharia, Islamic law, on the country of 160 million people, around half of whom are Christians and the other half Muslim. His movement has become the number one security threat to Africa's top energy producer.

A recent military crackdown appears to have reduced Boko Haram's ability to launch deadly attacks of the kind seen earlier this year, but violence in the northeast is still an almost daily occurrence.

Western governments are concerned about Boko Haram linking up with other militant groups in the region, including al Qaeda's north African wing.

Two Chinese construction workers were shot dead by unknown gunmen in Borno on Wednesday.

PHOTO: File Photograph of President Jonathan taken as a youth

Young Ebele Jonathan

Fast Rising Priest Appointed Head Of Anglicans Worldwide After Only One Year As Bishop

A former oil executive with experience in conflict resolution has been chosen to lead a global Anglican Communion riven by sharply divided views on gay people and their place in the church.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced Friday that Justin Welby, 56, a fast-rising priest with only a year's experience as a bishop, had been picked to succeed Rowan Williams as archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans.

Welby, the 105th holder of a post that stretches back to the 6th century, will take over after Williams retires in December.

Welby said he felt privileged, and astonished, to be chosen to lead the church at "a time of spiritual hunger."

"It's something I never expected," Welby told reporters, saying he had been "overwhelmed and surprised" to be offered the job.

"My initial reaction was 'Oh no,'" he said.

Welby said he supported the ordination of women as bishops, and indicated his thinking on same-sex marriage — which he has opposed — was evolving.

"We must have no truck with any form of homophobia in any part of the church," he said, adding that he planned to "listen to the voice of the LGBT communities and examine my own thinking."

Cameron welcomed the selection of Welby, who was chosen by a church commission and formally approved by Queen Elizabeth II.

"The Church of England plays an important role in our society, not just as the established church, but in the provision of education, help for the deprived and in furthering social justice," Cameron said. "I look forward to working with the Archbishop in all of these areas and I wish him success in his new role."

Welby, appointed last year as bishop of Durham, worked for 11 years in the oil industry, rising to treasurer of Enterprise Oil, before deciding he was called to the priesthood.

Even before formally becoming archbishop, Welby could face a test of his mediation skills later this month when the church's governing General Synod votes on allowing women to serve as bishops. Welby supports that change, but the latest proposed compromise has drawn fire from activists on both sides of the issue — either as being too weak or going too far.

He was recently appointed to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, which is examining possible reforms of the industry, and he serves as ethical adviser to the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Welby has denounced multi-million executive pay packages in big British companies as "obscene" and has said the Occupy movement "reflects a deep-seated sense that something is wrong."

His views on corporate responsibility, he has said, "came out of working in an extractive industry often in developing countries where ethical questions were very frequent."

Before seeking ordination, Welby spent six years with French oil company Elf Aquitaine and then as treasurer of exploration company Enterprise Oil in 1984. He resigned in 1989 to study for the priesthood.

"During my time there I came to realize there was a gap between what I thought, believed and felt was right in my non-work life and what went on at work," he said.

Following ordination in 1993 he was a parish priest for nine years before moving to Coventry Cathedral, as co-director of international ministry. In 2005, he became co-director of the cathedral's conflict reconciliation ministry in Africa, where he had experience in the oil industry.

He has spoken of having to "establish relationships with killers and with the families of their victims, with arms smugglers, corrupt officials and more."

In 2007 he was appointed dean of Liverpool Cathedral, Britain's largest church. He caused a bit of controversy there by allowing the tune of John Lennon's "Imagine" to be played on the cathedral bells.

Welby was schooled at Eton College and Cambridge University. His mother was a private secretary to Winston Churchill. But his father went to the United States during Prohibition and became a bootlegger, the Mail on Sunday newspaper quoted Welby as saying.

Welby and his wife, Caroline, have two sons and three daughters. Their first child, a 7-month-old girl, was killed in a traffic accident in 1983.

Reports suggest top Boko Haram member escaped from custody Thursday

A drama is playing out in the nation’s capital, Abuja, as yesterday, Thursday, news reports circulated that a top Boko Haram commander, Sani Mohammed, reportedly escaped from the SARS headquarters, Area 11 Garki Abuja, where he was been held.
The suspect who was arrested with another Boko Haram kingpin, Kabir Sokoto in January, 2012, allegedly escaped from the cell where he was kept with other terror suspects.
Though, the Force Headquarters claimed that no terror suspect escaped, security sources confirmed that Mohammed absconded from custody.

The details of his escape was however sketchy as at the time of filing this report.
In his reaction, Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said no terror suspect escaped from its custody, adding that a check of its records showed no such name as Mohammed Sani or Sani Mohammed on its list of detainees.

He said, “The police authority hereby informs the public that the information being circulated by a TV Station is totally untrue and should be disregarded in its entirety.”
It would be recalled that a similar incident happened early this year when Kabiru Sokoto, the alleged mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing of Saint Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, escaped from police custody enroute Abaji, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory.
Arrested at the Borno State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja, Sokoto was said to have escaped while being taken for a search of his apartment 24 hours later. A development which sealed the fate of Hafiz Ringim as Inspector General of Police.

Boko Haram: Presidency Points Accusing Fingers On Buhari, CPC

The sour relationship between the Presidency and former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, took a further downward spiral, yesterday, when the seat of power took exception to the allegation by the former head of state that the Boko Haram sect was a creation of the PDP-led government and that he shouldn’t be roped into its problems.

Buhari had addressed the press in Abuja on Wednesday and absolved himself of any link with the sect as well as declined an offer from the group to mediate in its reconciliatory talks with the Federal Government.
The Presidency was infuriated by the general’s statement and has asked him to explain why the sect chose him and not another former head of state to lead its talks.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said it was amazing that the sect named Buhari as one of its leading mediators with the government.
Okupe said: “What amazes me here is the fact that they mentioned Gen. Buhari  to be one of the mediators. So things are beginning to fall into place.

“And the reaction from the CPC does not help matters at all after all an elder statesman, Dr. Ali Mongunu, was also mentioned and the man has neither rejected nor said anything wrong but the CPC quickly disowned Boko Haram in a very suspicious and questionable manner.
“From my own perspective, it would appear to me that with the statement that is coming from Gen. Buhari that Boko Haram is a creation of PDP and that they should go and fix it, that he is economical with the truth.
“How does that apply to Boko Haram inviting him to mediate in its talks? Is it the government that asked Boko Haram to invite him? And even if it is PDP that created Boko Haram, why should they be asking for Buhari to mediate?”