'Nigeria: the context for violence' (2006-2013)

[Stan]

A LOT has been happening in Nigeria this past week, but since nobody is interested, I'll probably stop posting.

Hey Jaja !
That would be a shame but you are certainly entitled to your own decisions. It's not a lack of interest as most of us are quite busy. I have 5 teams in Africa from Libya to Brazzaville and taking care of them is priority One.

To date, the Nigerian government seems incapable of responding to Boko Haram, and through a series of mistakes has revealed what outside observers have long suspected: certain elements of the security forces and political leaders of Muslim-majority northern Nigeria are either complicit with Boko Haram’s operations, or they are taking a rather complacent view of its success.

Thanks for a good find and read ! You and I have had some varying views on BH and this guy (7,000 miles away) manged to put all of that together. I'm of the opinion that the Nigerian security are wallowing in their slight successes and let their guard down, and, you have pointed out many times that BH has contacts at every level.

3. For all their noise and violence Boko Haram is yet to cross the River (Niger) - i.e. they haven't posed a direct threat to Southern Nigeria, yet. If they do this, they would have crossed the River. Crossing the River means that all bets are off.

As you may recall, I often wondered what keeps BH from going after all the foreigners - soft targets. It's clear their reach south is limited, but it also seems clear the foreigners are not their prime targets.

Keep posting

Regards, Stan

[davidbfpo]

The title is taken from this BBC News report from Maiduguri and the report opens with:

Jimeh Saleh from BBC Hausa returns to his home town of Maiduguri in the far north-east of Nigeria for the first time in almost a year - to find the city is a mere shell of its once lively self, following a spate of deadly attacks by the Boko Haram Islamist group.

Referring to the "people in the middle":

The soldiers are there to protect the residents of Maiduguri - but people seem united in their condemnation of the curfew and the militarisation of the streets. They accuse the soldiers of torture and other human rights violations.....After an attack, the soldiers go into neighbouring houses, and are said to indiscriminately beat up the male occupants. The army denies this is happening - nevertheless, it is a recurring cry that is hard to ignore.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17847718

[KingJaja]

Stan,

They hadn't gone after the news media in a big way - until last Thursday.

I still think they will eventually go after foreigners and Western interests and when they do so, they will go big.

What are they waiting for? They want to totally discredit the present administration (at least in the North) and to do so, they merely have to target the symbols of government and Churches to attract local sympathy.

You guys are failing to realise that for the majority of the largely illiterate Muslims in Nigeria, there is no distinction between the West and Christianity - one can substitute for another. If they can attack churches, they can easily attack Western interests.

[KingJaja]

David,

There are loads of young men from that part of Nigeria where I live in Lagos. To say that the economy of Northern Nigeria is in free-fall is an understatement.

One more year of Boko Haram and you may begin to see mass starvation.

[KingJaja]

Stan,

They are yet to cross the river, but they are getting close. They've been extremely successful and are likely to be more confident. They'll want to try something spectacular soon.

[KingJaja]

The government is losing the confidence of the Christian community in Nigeria. When confidence is lost, people tend to take matters in their own hands.

Dissatisfied with federal government's style of handling the security challenge posed by the spate of bombings and killing of innocent citizens occasioned by the insurgencies of a terrorist gang, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday pointedly told President Goodluck Jonathan to step aside if he couldn't put a stop to the mindless killings in the country.

Specifically reacting to the attacks on Christian worshippers in Kano and Borno states, CAN said, "We are telling President Goodluck Jonathan, if he has not done anything to put an end to this madness, then, he should know that there is trouble in his hand."

Meanwhile, Taraba State commissioner of police Mr. Maman Sule yesterday narrowly escaped death when a suicide bomber who laid ambush on the route to the commissioner's office thrust an improvised explosive device (IED), at his convoy.

Although the commissioner escaped unhurt, many security operatives on his entourage were not spared: 11 persons lost their lives in the attack.

But speaking with journalists in Kaduna, the spokesman of the northern CAN, Elder Sunday Oibe, also accused northern traditional rulers of the mindless killings in the region.

He said: "We are telling the emirs, traditional rulers and the political chieftains in the north that they are behind these things and they must bring the perpetrators to book"

"To us, we feel that government is just playing games and politics with the church and the church is not going to take it anymore because anybody who kills is a murderer or arsonist.

"Why is the government becoming helpless to bring these people to book? Is the government telling us that a particular tribe or religion is superior to every other person in this country?

"We are feeling serious pains and disappointment at the entire system called Nigeria. It is highly condemnable in the strongest term because these are innocent students who were sent to school by their parents to acquire education.

"They went to worship their God only for some people to come and sniff lives out of them. It is highly condemnable, it is not just condemnable, but we will not sit down and fold our arms to accept this madness any more.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201205010487.html

Very troubling. They are accusing Northern Muslim traditional rulers of complicity.

[KingJaja]

Chilling, bears the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDqv6srmoI4

The translation (mainly deals with local issues).

Video has a background music in Hausa language, saying,” Nigerians, our name is not Boko Haram, we are Muslims, Ahlis sunnah”. The lyrics also said, “We attacked Thisday because we will never forget or forgive anyone who abused our prophet.”

First written message says the video is from ‘Public awareness department which presents; ‘Reasons for attacking Thisday Newspaper’

The Video also shows coverage of the suicide attack at Thisday office in Abuja.

It also shows a man wielding a rifle and reciting some prayer verses. Shots of the late leader of the sect Muhammad Yusuf, delivering a sermon, and in other clips, preaching, was shown.

Full transcription

This is a message from the public awareness department of the Jamatu Ahlis sunnah lil daawati wal jihad, a group engaged in jihad in Nigeria.

We wish to explain about the attack we carried out on Thisday Newspapers. Some of the reasons why we decided to attack some Media Houses, especially Thisday, is because the paper was used in dishonouring our prophet, Mohammad (SAW) during a beauty pageant in Kaduna in November 2002.

At that time, some people who called themselves leaders of Muslims came out to say they have forgiven those who committed the offence.

http://africanspotlight.com/2012/05/...medium=twitter

[Stan]

The government is losing the confidence of the Christian community in Nigeria. When confidence is lost, people tend to take matters in their own hands.

Jaja,
Wouldn't that be a good thing when the people have had enough ? Not to compare Zaire and Nigeria (again), but once the Zairois had had enough, only then did things begin to dramatically change. Goodluck Jonathan is no uneducated dictator, but is he listening to his people ? BH has no need in crossing into the south if they garner public support.