Category: Nigeria

Nigeria funds for military missing

18/11/2015

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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Goodluck Jonathon loses Nigerian elections

31/3/2015

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Muhammadu Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari has been elected president in Africa’s largest economy. Former president Goodluck Jonathan has conceded the election. This is a first for Nigeria as it has been wracked with military coups and questionable election practises in the past.

Buhari hasn’t occupied the presidential office yet. The fact that Jonathan has phoned to congratulate Buhari is a stunning victory for the democratic process. In 2011 when Buhari challenged Jonathan and lost, post-election violence claimed 800 lives. Today there was no reported violence.

This was Buhari’s third attempt for the presidency.

The change comes about as Nigeria is facing numerous domestic crises. In the North, the terrorist group called Boko Haram has kidnapped and killed people seemingly without any opposition from the military. In the delta area where oil is being pumped, the people have become impoverished as their environment has been severely degraded by pollution.

On paper the economy is healthy with over $1 trillion per year in exports. Nigeria is the biggest economy as well as the most populated country in Africa. In reality, much of the wealth centers in Lagos. Much of the oil wealth is believed to have been siphoned off due to corruption in government.

The military was once the largest and best equipped on the continent, but corruption here has played its part in ensuring an erosion of equipment and weapons. The new president is a former military man with perhaps more sympathy for the plight of the government soldiers.

Today, All Africa is reporting the liberation of a town in N. Nigeria where women, children and elderly people were locked up in poor conditions by the Boko Haram terrorists. This may be a turning point in the fortunes of Boko Haram. In a joint operation with Chad and Niger, the Nigerian military have retaken a border town that had been held by the terrorists since November 2013.

Sources:

Al Jazeera

All Africa

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Nigeria funds for military missing

Nigeria finds and frees 275 Boko Haram captives

Goodluck Jonathon loses Nigerian elections

Barbara McPherson

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