{"id":1920,"date":"2014-09-19T03:48:37","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T03:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=1920"},"modified":"2014-09-19T03:48:37","modified_gmt":"2014-09-19T03:48:37","slug":"european-parliament-member-exposes-links-between-apc-and-boko-haram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=1920","title":{"rendered":"European Parliament member exposes links between APC and Boko Haram"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"boko<\/a>A senior member of the European Parliament in
\nBrussels, Franz Obermayr MEP, has accused the
\nOpposition All Progressive\u2019s Congress (APC) of
\nchanneling European Parliament financial aid to
\nBoko Haram in the North East of Nigeria and called
\non the European Commission to investigate alleged
\nconcerns over the party\u2019s financial and political
\nallegiance with the terror group.
\nMEP Franz Obermayr, of Austrian Freedom Party,
\ncurrently the most popular political party in Austria,
\nmade the statements in a press release issued on 16
\nSeptember and covered widely by the European
\npress.
\nThe Nigerian Times also learnt that Obermayr has
\nbeen working closely with Stand for Peace, a
\nMuslim-Jewish interfaith organisation dedicated to
\ncountering extremism and promoting social and
\nreligious cohesion. Oberamyr has also called on EU
\nelection observers to closely scrutinise the links
\nbetween the APC and Boko Haram in the run up to
\nthe 2015 presidential election.
\nHe said: \u201cIn Nigeria\u2019s case, a large proportion of the
\nsubsidies from Brussels are used in the north of the
\ncountry. The federal states of Borno, Yobe and
\nAdamawa in the extreme north-east of the country
\nare precisely the areas in which Boko Haram\u2019s
\ncampaign of terror is largely tolerated by the
\nauthorities. The aforementioned sub-republics are
\ngoverned by the All Progressive Congress (APC)\u201d
\nIn the statement made available to The Nigerian
\nTimes, Obermayr says that all further European
\nParliament cooperation and funding to Nigeria
\nshould be subject to the findings of a report into the
\nclose relationships between political parties and
\nterrorist groups in the country, suggesting that all
\ndevelopment aid should be immediately suspended
\nif any wrong doing is exposed.
\nTurning to individuals in the APC, Mr Obermayr
\nraised the US Embassy memo which states that
\nformer Vice-President and 2015 Presidential hopeful,
\nAtiku Abubukar, received money from Al-Qaeda to
\n\u201cdestabilise the south of the country\u201d and the recent
\ndefection of Femi Fani-Kayode from the APC because
\nof their \u201cclear islamist agenda and sympathies with
\nBoko Haram\u201d.
\nFurther, in a statement that highlights widespread
\nconcern ahead of the 2015 presidential elections, he
\nsaid: \u201cEven the most senior man in the APC, former
\nNigerian head of state and presidential candidate,
\nMohammadu Buhari, was quoted in the British
\nnewspaper The Guardian back in 2001 calling for
\nsharia law to be introduced throughout Nigeria,
\nincluding the Christian-dominated south.\u201d
\nThe announcement from Obermayr and Stand for
\nPeace follows a similar call from Andrew Rosindell
\nMP, of the UK parliament, for an inquiry into the
\nrelationship between members of the APC and Boko
\nHaram.
\nStand for Peace have long investigated Boko Haram
\nand their international financial and political
\nconnections, previously exposing links between the
\nextremist sect and the controversial UK based
\ncharity the \u201cAl-Muntada Trust\u201d. The allegations will
\ncast a severe blow to the APC who have struggled
\nto challenge its alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram
\non the international stage, particularly in the UK.
\nThe full press release can be read here and below:
\nhttp:\/\/www.ots.at\/presseaussendung\/<\/a>
\nOTS_20140916_OTS0106\/fpoe-obermayr-an
\nstehendewahlen-in-nigeria-lassen-weiteren-auf
\nstieg-der-islamistischen-boko-haram-befuerchten
\n[Please note, the below press release has been
\ntranslated from German to English and as such, may
\ncontain small translation errors]
\nFP\u00d6 MEP Obermayr: Fears of further rise of Islamist
\nBoko Haram group ahead of elections in Nigeria
\nHeading: EU election observers must closely
\nscrutinise links between political parties and terrorist
\ngroups
\nVienna (OTS) \u2013 In Nigeria modern oil technology
\nmeets medieval religious practices. The
\nfundamentalist Boko Haram group is currently
\ncausing Nigeria to descend into an Islamist swamp.
\nPeople of different beliefs, such as Christians and
\nmoderate Muslims, are being brutally terrorised and
\npersecuted.
\nSub-line: EU subsidies for Boko Haram go-
\nbetweens?
\n\u201cUnfortunately, in many cases a lot of Europe\u2019s
\npolitical decision-makers are negligent when it
\ncomes to contacts and financial aid for associations
\nand political parties which in reality act as
\ncamouflage organisations and as a result often open
\nthe doors to European institutions for radical
\nIslamist groups,\u201d is the criticism voiced by Austrian
\nFreedom Party MEP Franz Obermayr, who has
\nalready called on the Commission for greater
\ntransparency on this issue in a parliamentary
\nsurvey.
\nIn Nigeria\u2019s case, a large proportion of the subsidies
\nfrom Brussels are used in the north of the country.
\nThe federal states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in
\nthe extreme north-east of the country are precisely
\nthe areas in which Boko Haram\u2019s campaign of terror
\nis largely tolerated by the authorities. The
\naforementioned sub-republics are governed by the
\nAll Progressive Congress (APC), which is now also
\nstanding for the presidency in the upcoming 2015
\nelections.
\n\u201cThe leaders of this party have repeatedly been
\nlinked with radical Islam and their terrorist groups,\u201d
\nwarns Obermayr. Wikileaks for example published a
\nmemo from the US Embassy to the effect that the
\nformer Vice-President and APC member Atiku
\nAbubakar received money from Al-Qaeda to
\ndestabilise the south of the country.
\nAnother important figure in the APC, Femi Fani-
\nKayode, reportedly turned his back on the party in
\nJuly, saying that he no longer wished to belong to a
\nparty that follows a clear Islamist agenda and
\nsympathises with the Boko Haram terrorist group.
\nThe party is also working to spread its
\nfundamentalist philosophy through victory in the
\nforthcoming elections.
\n\u201cAnd lastly even the most senior man in the APC,
\nformer Nigerian head of state and presidential
\ncandidate, Mohammadu Buhari, was quoted in the
\nBritish newspaper The Guardian back in 2001 calling
\nfor sharia law to be introduced throughout Nigeria,
\nincluding the Christian-dominated south,\u201d Obermayr
\nwent on, referring to the manifestly close links
\nbetween the APC and Islamist terrorism in the
\nregion.
\nSub-line: EU election observers must clarify the
\nclose relationship between official parties and
\nterrorist groups in Nigeria and take appropriate
\nsteps.
\nObermayr again: \u201cDuring its history Europe too had
\nto learn the painful lesson that a semblance of
\ndemocratic legitimacy did not prevent brutal and
\ninhuman regimes from gaining power. Against the
\nbackdrop of the upcoming elections, all evidence of
\nlinks between Boko Haram and political parties in
\nNigeria must be carefully scrutinised, documented
\nand then reported to the European Parliament and
\nthe general public. Future cooperation with Nigeria
\nshould depend on these reports.\u201d
\nAccording to Obermayr, it goes without saying that
\ndevelopment aid should also be suspended
\nimmediately if suspicions are confirmed in the
\nabove-mentioned regions.
\nFor additional information contact:
\nFreiheitlicher Parlamentsklub
\nTel.: 01\/40 110 \u2013 7012
\nmailto: press-parlamentsklub@fpoe.at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A senior member of the European Parliament in Brussels, Franz Obermayr MEP, has accused the Opposition All Progressive\u2019s Congress (APC) of channeling European Parliament financial aid to Boko Haram in the North East of Nigeria and called on the European Commission to investigate alleged concerns over the party\u2019s financial and political allegiance with the terror […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,34],"class_list":["post-1920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-apc","tag-boko-haram"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/boko-haram1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-uY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1922,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1920\/revisions\/1922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}