Boko Haram

The Takfiri Boko Haram militants have killed 44 people, including a legislator, and prevented hundreds of eligible voters from turning up at polling stations and casting their ballots in Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary elections for fear of reprisal. The Boko Haram extremists stormed the town of Miringa in the northeastern state of Borno before dawn on Saturday, setting houses ablaze and shooting indiscriminately the residents as they tried to escape the thick smoke covering the area. Twenty-five people died in the attack. “They had sent messages earlier warning us not to encourage democracy by participating in today's election,” said Mallam Garba Buratai, a Miringa resident who witnessed the act of violence. Later in the day, another 14 people were killed in attacks against the towns of Biri and Dukku in Gombe State. A legislator from the violence-wracked northeastern Nigerian state, identified as Umaru Ali, was among the dead. Moreover, two voters were shot dead when yelling Boko Haram militants opened fire at polling stations in the twin Gombe towns of Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani. 

The terrorists also invaded four towns in the northeastern state of Yobe, and fired shots into the air to scare people from voting, according to police. Also on Saturday, three people, including a soldier, were fatally shot in Nigeria’s southern state of Rivers. Two car bomb explosions also ripped through polling stations in the southeast, but there were no reports of casualties. Meanwhile, Nigerian authorities have extended the elections until Sunday, on account that ballot papers arrived late or imported card readers failed to recognize the fingerprints of the voters.

The front-runners for Nigeria’s presidential election are incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and the former military chief, Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan is seeking a second four-year term, while Buhari, who has lost the last three elections, has a realistic chance of winning.  This is while 739 candidates are also vying for a place in Nigeria’s 109-seat Senate and 1,780 seeking election to the 360-seat National Assembly during Saturday’s parliamentary elections. All this comes at a time when Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” and controls parts of northeastern Nigeria, has vowed to disrupt the polls by violent attacks. The Takfiris have claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of their activities in 2009, which have so far left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

29.Mar.2015

Hits: 553

Write comment (0 Comments)

Nigerians are preparing to go to the ballots shortly to elect the West African nation’s president and parliament amid security threats from the Boko Haram Takfiri militant group.  Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced its preparedness for Saturday’s presidential and parliamentary polls, and has already distributed ballot boxes as well as other related material at polling stations across the country.  Nigerian authorities have beefed up security as part of efforts to impose strict measures during and after the voting time, and have ordered land and sea borders sealed off. Both local and foreign observers will be monitoring Nigeria's polls. Past elections have been marred by violence and allegations of vote-rigging.  Since campaigning began in mid-November last year, both the ruling and opposition camps have reported violent attacks, which have killed a number of their supporters. 

Meantime, Ibrahim Zikirullah, a member of the Transition Monitoring Group, has told Press TV that the governing People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which has dominated Nigeria’s politics since 1999, would do everything possible not to let the leadership slip from its fingers, as it faces tough election challenge from the opposition.  The front-runners for Nigeria’s presidential election are incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and former military chief Muhammadu Buhari. Jonathan is seeking a second four-year term, while Buhari, who has lost the last three elections, has a realistic chance of winning. 

This is while 739 candidates are also vying for a place in Nigeria's 109-seat Senate and 1,780 seeking election to the 360-seat National Assembly during Saturday’s parliamentary elections. All this comes at a time when Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” and controls parts of northeastern Nigeria, has vowed to disrupt the polls by violent attacks.  The Takfiris have claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of their activities in 2009, which have so far left over 13,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced. 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

28.Mar.2015

Hits: 455

Write comment (0 Comments)

The Chadian president has lamented the lack of cooperation with the Nigerian authorities in the fight against the Nigerian Islamist sect, Boko Haram. In an interview with the newspaper Le Point, Chadian President Idriss Deby complained that Abuja has so far offered little cooperation in dealing with the Islamic militants, wondering over the absence of the Nigerian military at key points.

"We would have liked to have at least a Nigerian regiment fighting alongside the Chadian army”. Idriss Deby observed. The Chadian leader noted that Chad joined the anti-Boko Haram coalition following a specific request from the Nigerian government, “but for reasons unknown to us, so far we have not been able to work together. Some cities, we had to take them twice. We are forced to give up and Boko Haram returns, we must return ... This has a human and material cost, "he said. N'Djamena had deployed thousands of soldiers to fight in Nigeria. The republic of Chad is a chartered member in the anti-Boko Haram coalition.

 

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

27.Mar.2015

Hits: 1357

Write comment (0 Comments)

Around 100 bodies have been found near a town in Nigeria recently freed from Boko Haram Takfiri terrorists, says a Chadian army spokesman. Colonel Azem Bermandoa Agouna told AFP on Friday that soldiers discovered the bodies under a bridge on the edge of the town of Damasak, liberated by forces from Chad and Niger on March 9. Agouna, who said he himself visited the scene, stated that there were “about 100 bodies spread around under the bridge just outside the town", adding, "This is the work of Boko Haram."

The colonel said some of the victims had been beheaded and some others shot. "There are heads here and bodies there, the mass grave has become like a termite mound." Damasak fell to Boko Haram on November 24, when the terrorists killed around 50 people and forced another 3,000 to escape. The town was retaken one day after Chad and Niger launched "Operation Mai Dounama,” a vast air and ground offensive in an effort to destroy the Takfiri group’s bases near the two countries.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

21.Mar.2015

Hits: 633

Write comment (0 Comments)

A top UN official says the rise in militancy in northeastern Nigeria has caused a tremendous amount of suffering, misery and hardship in the region. UN Assistant Secretary General Robert Piper said the problems range from food shortages to family units torn apart by relentless attacks by the militants, namely the Boko Haram group. A recent survey of displaced children around Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern Borno State, showed over 35 percent of the children were acutely malnourished, said the official, describing the figure as "very, very high."

The impact of Boko Haram fighting and violence has caused the humanitarian situation in the area to deteriorate rapidly, particularly over the past year. Reports say millions of farmers have practically lost access to their farms, causing a surging food crisis in the country. At the same time, the dire food situation has led to a huge rise in acute malnutrition, in some cases causing irreparable damage to children’s health and even death.

Boko Haram militants are the terrorist group in control of some parts of northeastern Nigeria. The Takfiri group has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks and abductions (most notably of school girls) since the beginning of its criminal activities in 2009. The extremist group’s reign of terror has left over 13,000 people dead and at least 1.5 million displaced. The group has also declared allegiance to the ISIL Takfiri militants which is currently wreaking havoc in areas under terrorists control in Iraq and Syria.

Nigerian troops with the help of military forces from neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, have started a joint operation targeting the militant group. They say they have made major progress against the terrorists in past weeks and have recaptured many towns held by the terrorists, bringing closer the end of the militants’ deadly campaign in the region.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

21.Mar.2015

Hits: 633

Write comment (0 Comments)

The Takfiri Boko Haram militants have attacked a town in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno near the border with Cameroon, killing nearly a dozen people. The killings took place after hundreds of Boko Haram terrorists stormed the town of Gamboru, located some 700 kilometers (434 miles) north of the capital, Abuja, following the withdrawal of about 2,500 Chadian troops from the Nigerian territory last week. “Boko Haram gunmen returned on motorcycles to Gamboru yesterday (Wednesday)... and shot dead eight people,” Mudi Dankaka, a local of the nearby Cameroonian town of Fotokol, said. He added that three more people were killed on Thursday. Another Fotokol resident, Umar Ari, said Nigerian forces have not been spotted in Gamboru, leaving the area exposed and with no security presence since the Chadian troops’ pullback. Boko Haram Takfiris had earlier massacred dozens of women in Bama – a city of about 200,000 people located just 75 kilometers (45 miles) northwest of Borno state’s capital, Maiduguri.

 

Nigeria’s states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe have been the scene of six years of Boko Haram violence, which has claimed over 13,000 lives and displaced a further 1.5 million people since 2009. In May 2013, all the three states were put on a state of emergency while troops and civilian forces pushed the militants out of the urban centers into remote rural areas. In November 2014, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan tried to extend the state of emergency for a third time but the country’s parliament blocked the move. On 7 March, Abubakar Shekau – the leader of the feared Nigerian terrorist group, Boko Haram, opened a new page in the history of the group when he announced his allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed ‘caliph’ and leader of the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL). Al-Baghdadi’s acceptance of Shekau’s bay’ah, or pledge of allegiance, has formalised the alliance between two of the world’s most ruthless terrorist organisations. Boko Haram joins a growing number of extremist groups in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia that have since the beginning of 2014 voluntarily given up their independence by proclaiming the supreme authority of ISIS. Shekau, however, is known for his uncompromising views, raising questions as to how he would respond to orders from al-Baghdadi. The practice of giving bay’ah has become common among African terrorist groups and is often mistaken to be a sign of weakness or imminent demise. Many factors – including strategic, organisational, leadership and ideological reasons – may account for a group’s decision to pledge loyalty to another.

Details

Ngwa Bertrand

20.Mar.2015

Hits: 472

Write comment (0 Comments)