Category: Boko Haram

Nigerian police bust Boko haram sleeper cell

9/12/2015

A sleeper cell of Boko haram extremists has been destroyed in Abuja. The capital city of Nigeria had been infiltrated with the extremist followers in order to uncover soft targets and set them up for attack.

The Boko haram group reject western culture and western trappings such as education. They are particularly violent and have been blamed for the deaths of at least 17 000 people over the past six years. Over two million people have been displaced because of their terrorist tactics.

This is the same group that captured and kidnapped school girls who were writing exams. Many of the girls were married off and other sold as slaves. Many of the more than 200 girls from Chibok are still missing more than a year later.

Since the election of President Muhmmadu Buhari, there has been more effective action against the fanatics, but violence continues to dog the region. This weekend suicide bombers on an island in Lake Chad blew themselves up taking 30 people with them. Two hundred people were injured in the attack.

A former military man, Buhari has initiated sweeping reforms which now include supplying the military with bullets and footwear. While much money had been earmarked for the military under the former regime, little was actually spent on equipping the troops.

In spite of the stepped up military actions, the extremists continue their mayhem. On the weekend a group of them invaded a small town near Chibok and all but destroyed it. They looted and burned most of the town. Operating with seeming impunity, they struck the village twice. Two days earlier they rustled 200 head of cattle from the community.

The terrorist group is seeking to establish a caliphate that would enforce their philosophy. They have made friends with the terrorist of the Islamic State.

IS accepted a pledge of allegiance from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in March, giving the group its first foothold in sub-Saharan Africa in its efforts to create a global caliphate. BBC

Sources:
Al Arabiya
All Africa
The Gulf Today
BBC

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Nigeria funds for military missing

18/11/2015

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Bombs in in the Nigerian city of Yola take 32 lives and injure scores more. Boko Haram blamed.

Money that was earmarked to fight Boko Haram in Nigeria appears to have been stolen. A former advisor to Pres. Goodluck Jonathan has been arrested under suspicion that he stole more than USD$2 billion that should have gone to support the Nigerian military in their action against the terrorist group. A further USD$142.6 million has gone missing.

Sambo Dasuki, formerly the security chief for the former president is expressing his innocence of any wrong doing, but signs point to a massive theft of Nigerian resources.

Since the election of President Muhammadu Buhari this year, there has been a campaign to fight corruption within the country.

The Boko Haram terrorist group has gained power, especially in the northern part of Nigeria. Many people have been killed and property destroyed. A well-publicized kidnapping of 276 school girls in 2014 caught the world’s attention but the girls remained missing except for a heartbreaking video showing the children reciting verses from the Koran.

Former Pres. Jonathan announced periodically that breakthroughs were being made in gaining the girls’ freedom but little action was seen. Reports of soldiers fleeing towns that they were tasked to defend made me wonder if they were cowardly. News has been trickling out that the soldiers were issued with scant ammunition and other weapons and had no tools to fight the well-armed terrorists.

Money for the purchase of helicopters, fighter jets, bombs and ammunition is missing. Recent video footage taken surreptitiously by an enlisted man shows the soldiers training in bare or sandaled feet, no uniforms and no weapons.

Thousands of needless Nigerian deaths would have been avoided" if the money had been properly spent, Femi Adesina, an adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, said in a statement on Tuesday. Al Jazeera

Nigeria should be a wealthy country. It has been a major supplier of petroleum from the fields at the mouth of the Niger River Delta. Instead, those living in the Delta area are coping with the loss of livelihood from the widespread pollution. Endemic corruption by those in power has diverted billions of dollars into private hands. The sums are staggering. As much as $150 billion may have been stolen in the past decade.

[Who or what is Boko Haram? Boko Haram is a militant extremist group that opposes any political or social activity that may be viewed as Western. This is why women or girls in the process of being educated are sometimes a target. The Islamist group or sect, Boko Haram, was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 but he was killed by authorities in 2009. The group reformed and in the last few years have escalated violence once again.]

Sources:
Al Jazeera
The Telegraph

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Nigeria finds and frees 275 Boko Haram captives

5/5/2015

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Wanton destruction by Boko Haram

The Nigerian army has located and rescued 275 people from the clutches of Boko Haram this week. The army located them in the Sambisa Forest in the north of the country. Of the women and children rescued, only 61 were older than 18 years.

There were some fatalities when the army moved in to rescue the prisoners. A woman and a child were killed by a vehicle and one woman died when she stepped on a land mine when she walked to freedom.

More were killed by their captors who stoned several to death when they refused to run away from their rescuers.

The survivors have told harrowing tales of their treatment at the hands of these men. One woman said at least one died every day. Beatings were common. Starvation was a constant companion. Babies were killed for being sired by a non-believer. One married woman witnessed her husband and two children murdered.

Since 2014 the Boko Haram terrorists have kidnapped about 2000 young women. Their whereabouts is often unknown. None of those rescued this past week were the missing Chibok schoolgirls abducted a year ago.

The girls and women serve as domestic servants, sex slaves, “wives” and a money source as they are sold as slaves.

Those rescued have reported that the terrorists are feeling the army’s pressure. They are running short of supplies. The women reported that some of the fighters no longer have guns or ammunition. Some of the women have reported that as the religious fanatics were attempting to sell some for as little as US$10.

The captives bore the brunt of the dwindling food supplies with many malnourished.

Keeping the pressure on the Boko Haram, a governor in neighbouring Niger has ordered the islands in Lake Chad evacuated so that the Niger military can conduct a detailed search to pry out any that may be hiding there. One hundred forty-five were killed there on a recent sweep.

Sources:
Christian Science Monitor
Star Telegram News
CBC News

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Nigerian police bust Boko haram sleeper cell

Nigeria funds for military missing

Nigeria finds and frees 275 Boko Haram captives

Barbara McPherson

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