United States Labels Three Boko Haram Leaders as Foreign Terrorists

The United States today formally named three alleged leaders of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram as "foreign terrorists", the first time it has blacklisted members of the Islamist group blamed for attacks across Africa's most populous nation.

According to a statement issued by the US Department of State on Thursday, “Abubakar Shekau, Abubakar Adam Kambar, and Khalid al-Barnawi were named ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorists’ under Section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224.

Shekau is the most visible leader of Boko Haram, based in northern Nigeria, Khalid al-Barnawi and Abubakar Adam Kambar have ties to Boko Haram and have close links to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.”

Abubakar Shekau has appeared in a number of videos posted on the internet and social media to affirm the groups demands and claiming responsibility for series of violent attacks.

Dana Plane Crash: Black Boxes to Leave Nigeria for US Today

Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah, on Wednesday said the black boxes retrieved from the ill-fated Dana Air flight that killed over 153 persons in Lagos on Sunday would on Thursday (today) be sent to the United States.

Oduah said sending the black boxes to the US was to ensure that a thorough investigation was carried out to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the crash.

She said, “At the site of the incident, there were officials of the AIB who gathered information; they cut the parts from the aircraft, looking for clues. Every and any information that they take will be taken back to the laboratory where it will be analysed to get the exact reason for the accident.

“But in addition to that, because we do not have a laboratory for that, things like the black boxes, for instance, we need to take them outside the country for proper analysis and then they come back.

“I want to also say that amongst the team that worked with the Aviation Investigations Bureau were are international experts. So you are not likely to have collusion or reports that will have integrity issue. So, I want to assure that the report you will get will be a very authentic report.”

Video: Singer, 9ice, talks House Of Representative Seat 2015

Nigerian artiste, Abolore Adigun Akande, well known as 9ice, has hinted on his intention to run for the position of House of Representative at the next round of elections in 2015.

9ice gave this hint recently while on Channels Television's Porgramme called 'Sunrise daily artist of the week'.

According to him, he is currently running an online programme in Public Administration at Capella University, Minneapolis, United States of America. 

View Video after cut.