Nigeria's army failed to protect Baga's civilians despite warnings that militants were going to attack, rights group Amnesty International has said.
Some reports say as many as 2,000 people died in Boko Haram's raids on the north-eastern town this month, but the government puts the toll at 150.
Amnesty quotes an unnamed senior army source as saying the Islamist militants told residents about the offensive.
But the defence spokesman told the BBC there had been continuous patrols.
"It is not true to say nothing was done," Maj Gen Chris Olukolade said in response to Amnesty International's allegations.
Boko Haram launched a full-scale insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009 to create an Islamic state.
But since the government declared a state of emergency 20 months ago in three north-eastern states to deal with it, Boko Haram has strengthened and now controls several towns, where it has declared a caliphate.
According to evidence gathered by Amnesty International, commanders at the military base in Baga, in the far north-east of Nigeria, regularly informed military headquarters in November and December 2014 of the threat of a Boko Haram attack and repeatedly requested reinforcements.
There were also warnings that the town of Monguno, about 140km (85 miles) north of Maiduguri city which was captured by Boko Haram on Sunday, would be attacked.
"Everyone was aware," a Monguno resident told Amnesty.
"Boko Haram came on Wednesday last week [21 January] and asked the villagers [in nearby Ngurno] to leave because they are coming to attack the barracks. The villagers told the soldiers."
Amnesty International's Africa director Netsanet Belay said the attacks were an "urgent wake-up call for the Nigerian leadership, the African Union and the international community".
Maj Gen Olukolade said in operational areas surveillance would have been continuous to ward off attacks.
Earlier this month, Chadian soldiers deployed to Cameroon's border with Nigeria to help secure the porous border.
African Union heads of state are going to include the conflict in north-eastern Nigeria on the agenda of their summit, due to begin on Friday.
BBC
Related stories: Boko Haram attacks the same town it kidnapped the schoolgirls from
Video - President Goodluck Jonathan visits Boko Haram hit North Eastern Nigeria
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Jumia is biggest e-commerce website in Nigeria
Alexa an Amazon.com company, the global pioneer in the world of analytical insight, ranks Jumia.com.ng as the biggest e-commerce website in Nigeria, still ranking as the most visited local content website in the Nigeria. Looking at the exploits of Jumia over the past year, it is not hard to see why this widely trusted shopping website is visited by several millions month on month.While this is a big deal for any brand, the company however hasn’t rested on its laurels of providing quality retail services to its customers, always consistently and aggressively fighting to get the best deals for its customers. It still eludes many as to how this giant in 3 years has become one of the most influential brands in Nigerian business circles.
Jumia.com.ng is building organized retail in Nigeria and empowering Nigerians with great deals. Currently running its Fashion Super Clearance Sale with 80% off fashion products. The guys at Jumia with their knack for giving customers an exciting retail experience are also launching a Valentine’s campaign, with a special something on February 4th where Nigerians can log on to jumia.com.ng to ‘Vote for Love’.
On the eccentric shopping campaigns at amazing deals the retailer is known for; “Retail is a lifestyle. It’s what you see, what stirs your senses, what you feel, what makes you who you are…Retail is a day to day of each and every one of us, and as such a personal experience that should be close to home”, Dr. Jonathan Doerr, MD Marketing, Jumia Nigeria.
From becoming the first African retailer to bring home an award in the coveted World Retail Awards, pioneering and building organized retail in Nigeria, empowering Nigerians with quality retail information and the widest array of products anywhere in the country, Jumia.com.ng keeps blazing the trail and breaking new frontiers.
Information Nigeria
Related stories: Nigeria's answer to amazon.com
How Nigerian students created Nigeria's biggest online-job search site Jobberman
Video - Entrepreneur Adeyoin Oshinbanjo talks about her successful venture Mile 12 Marketonline
Jumia.com.ng is building organized retail in Nigeria and empowering Nigerians with great deals. Currently running its Fashion Super Clearance Sale with 80% off fashion products. The guys at Jumia with their knack for giving customers an exciting retail experience are also launching a Valentine’s campaign, with a special something on February 4th where Nigerians can log on to jumia.com.ng to ‘Vote for Love’.
On the eccentric shopping campaigns at amazing deals the retailer is known for; “Retail is a lifestyle. It’s what you see, what stirs your senses, what you feel, what makes you who you are…Retail is a day to day of each and every one of us, and as such a personal experience that should be close to home”, Dr. Jonathan Doerr, MD Marketing, Jumia Nigeria.
From becoming the first African retailer to bring home an award in the coveted World Retail Awards, pioneering and building organized retail in Nigeria, empowering Nigerians with quality retail information and the widest array of products anywhere in the country, Jumia.com.ng keeps blazing the trail and breaking new frontiers.
Information Nigeria
Related stories: Nigeria's answer to amazon.com
How Nigerian students created Nigeria's biggest online-job search site Jobberman
Video - Entrepreneur Adeyoin Oshinbanjo talks about her successful venture Mile 12 Marketonline
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Video - Entrepreneur Adeyoin Oshinbanjo talks about her successful venture Mile 12 Marketonline
A visit to Nigeria's Mile 12 market in Lagos can be a harrowing experience owing to congestion and general disorder. It is a lot worse if you are unfamiliar with it. But as any good entrepreneur will tell you, chaos is not always a bad thing and many times presents good business opportunities. And that is exactly what a young Nigerian woman has done as Deji Badmus now tells us.
6 Nigerians make Forbes list of youngest power women in Africa
Displaced victims of Boko Haram attacks have no voting documents
When the Boko Haram fighters swept into her town, Salamatu Billi fled for her life, running so fast that she didn’t even think about her identification documents.
Today, after five months of homelessness, she has learned that she cannot cast a ballot in Nigeria’s crucial election next month, the most closely contested in the country’s history. Having already lost her life’s possessions when Boko Haram captured her town in northeastern Nigeria, she has now also lost the right to vote.
“I’m worried that my people’s voices won’t be heard,” Ms. Billi said in an interview on Monday. “Many us won’t be able to vote.”
More than a million Nigerian refugees and displaced people are in a similar dilemma, facing the danger of disenfranchisement as one more indignity after losing everything else to Boko Haram.
Millions of other citizens are unlikely to get their voting cards in time to participate in the Feb. 14 election, for a range of bureaucratic reasons. It’s emerging as one of the fiercest controversies of the campaign, threatening to damage the legitimacy of the winning candidate and heighten the risk of postelection violence.
Many displaced people, such as Ms. Billi, cannot get voting cards because they lack documents, missed the chance to be registered when they fled, or are too frightened to return to their home state, where they must vote under election rules. As much as 20 per cent of Nigerian territory is under Boko Haram’s control, and voting will be virtually impossible there.
There are widespread suspicions that Nigeria’s ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party, will use the voting-card problems and the Boko Haram crisis to seek a substantial delay in the election. The government’s national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, last week called for a delay in the election, claiming that 30 million voter cards have not been distributed to eligible voters.
Nigeria’s election commission has denied the charge, saying that only 13 million cards were uncollected as of last week, and many of those will still be distributed before the election.
But the claim of 30 million disenfranchised voters is still circulating, promoted by those who want to postpone the election. Anonymous brochures have begun appearing in the capital, Abuja, demanding a 60-day delay in the election. “Please support this call to save our nation from imminent disaster,” the brochures say.
Similar slogans appear on T-shirts and caps in Abuja, but those who wear the items are vague on who distributed them or paid for them. The shirts read: “30 million Nigerians cannot be disenfranchised.”
Mike Omeri, an official Nigerian government spokesman, said it wouldn’t be fair to hold the election if half of the 68 million registered voters cannot vote. A postponement of perhaps six weeks could be a fair alternative, he said in an interview on Monday.
John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, visited Nigeria on Sunday and urged that the election be held on time. President Goodluck Jonathan pointedly declined to say whether the election would be held on time, saying only that the May 29 date for the new president to take power is “sacrosanct.”
A spokesman for the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, accused the government of looking for a pretext to postpone the elections and extend its rule with an “interim” government. “We have the momentum, the government are the laggards, so they want delays,” said the spokesman, Garba Shehu. “The government wants to cling to power.”
But regardless of whether the election is delayed, the reality is that millions of Nigerians have been effectively disenfranchised because of the Boko Haram rebellion. The disenfranchised voters are just one of the election flashpoints, sparking fears of widespread violence in Africa’s most populous nation and biggest economy. At least 800 people were killed in rioting after the past election, in 2011, and next month’s vote is expected to be much closer and more contentious.
It’s being described as the first contest between two relatively equal parties, and the first in which the opposition has a realistic chance of winning. Tensions will be high, compounded by religious and regional stresses. Mr. Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria, is running against Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the north, with many northerners claiming Mr. Jonathan violated a tradition of rotating the presidency between the north and south.
A recent Gallup opinion poll found that only 13 per cent of Nigerians are confident in the honesty of the elections next month, compared to 51 per cent during the past election.
“In 2015, risks of violence are particularly high,” the International Crisis Group said in a recent report. “The country is heading toward a very volatile and vicious electoral contest. If this violent trend continues, and particularly if the vote is close, marred, or followed by widespread violence, it would deepen Nigeria’s already grave security and governance crises.”
Written by GEOFFREY YORK
Globe and Mail
Related story: Displaced Nigerians from Boko Haram violence might not be able to vote in Presidential elections in 2015
Today, after five months of homelessness, she has learned that she cannot cast a ballot in Nigeria’s crucial election next month, the most closely contested in the country’s history. Having already lost her life’s possessions when Boko Haram captured her town in northeastern Nigeria, she has now also lost the right to vote.
“I’m worried that my people’s voices won’t be heard,” Ms. Billi said in an interview on Monday. “Many us won’t be able to vote.”
More than a million Nigerian refugees and displaced people are in a similar dilemma, facing the danger of disenfranchisement as one more indignity after losing everything else to Boko Haram.
Millions of other citizens are unlikely to get their voting cards in time to participate in the Feb. 14 election, for a range of bureaucratic reasons. It’s emerging as one of the fiercest controversies of the campaign, threatening to damage the legitimacy of the winning candidate and heighten the risk of postelection violence.
Many displaced people, such as Ms. Billi, cannot get voting cards because they lack documents, missed the chance to be registered when they fled, or are too frightened to return to their home state, where they must vote under election rules. As much as 20 per cent of Nigerian territory is under Boko Haram’s control, and voting will be virtually impossible there.
There are widespread suspicions that Nigeria’s ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party, will use the voting-card problems and the Boko Haram crisis to seek a substantial delay in the election. The government’s national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, last week called for a delay in the election, claiming that 30 million voter cards have not been distributed to eligible voters.
Nigeria’s election commission has denied the charge, saying that only 13 million cards were uncollected as of last week, and many of those will still be distributed before the election.
But the claim of 30 million disenfranchised voters is still circulating, promoted by those who want to postpone the election. Anonymous brochures have begun appearing in the capital, Abuja, demanding a 60-day delay in the election. “Please support this call to save our nation from imminent disaster,” the brochures say.
Similar slogans appear on T-shirts and caps in Abuja, but those who wear the items are vague on who distributed them or paid for them. The shirts read: “30 million Nigerians cannot be disenfranchised.”
Mike Omeri, an official Nigerian government spokesman, said it wouldn’t be fair to hold the election if half of the 68 million registered voters cannot vote. A postponement of perhaps six weeks could be a fair alternative, he said in an interview on Monday.
John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, visited Nigeria on Sunday and urged that the election be held on time. President Goodluck Jonathan pointedly declined to say whether the election would be held on time, saying only that the May 29 date for the new president to take power is “sacrosanct.”
A spokesman for the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, accused the government of looking for a pretext to postpone the elections and extend its rule with an “interim” government. “We have the momentum, the government are the laggards, so they want delays,” said the spokesman, Garba Shehu. “The government wants to cling to power.”
But regardless of whether the election is delayed, the reality is that millions of Nigerians have been effectively disenfranchised because of the Boko Haram rebellion. The disenfranchised voters are just one of the election flashpoints, sparking fears of widespread violence in Africa’s most populous nation and biggest economy. At least 800 people were killed in rioting after the past election, in 2011, and next month’s vote is expected to be much closer and more contentious.
It’s being described as the first contest between two relatively equal parties, and the first in which the opposition has a realistic chance of winning. Tensions will be high, compounded by religious and regional stresses. Mr. Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria, is running against Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the north, with many northerners claiming Mr. Jonathan violated a tradition of rotating the presidency between the north and south.
A recent Gallup opinion poll found that only 13 per cent of Nigerians are confident in the honesty of the elections next month, compared to 51 per cent during the past election.
“In 2015, risks of violence are particularly high,” the International Crisis Group said in a recent report. “The country is heading toward a very volatile and vicious electoral contest. If this violent trend continues, and particularly if the vote is close, marred, or followed by widespread violence, it would deepen Nigeria’s already grave security and governance crises.”
Written by GEOFFREY YORK
Globe and Mail
Related story: Displaced Nigerians from Boko Haram violence might not be able to vote in Presidential elections in 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
U.S. Vice President meets with President Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria
The U.S. government has advised Nigerian politicians to work towards ensuring a peaceful and violence-free February general elections.The U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, gave the advice at a news conference on Sunday in Lagos at the end of a closed-door meeting he held with President Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammad Buhari, the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, respectively.
“The U.S. government strongly believes in Nigeria having credible, free and fair elections next month,” Mr. Kerry said.
He said that the international community and the U.S. government were keenly interested in the conduct of next month’s election.
Mr. Kerry said that he was impressed with the outcome of his meeting with the two major presidential contenders in the forthcoming elections.
He, however, said that the U.S. government would not hesitate to deny American visa to any political office seeker involved in political violence in Nigeria.
“We want to say that any Nigerian who promotes any form of violence during the elections remains ineligible for U.S. visa,” Mr. Kerry said.
Mr. Kerry said that President Obama specifically sent him to meet with the two candidates with a view to having a violence-free election.
On security, the secretary of state also restated his government’s commitment to continue to support Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram sect.
“The U.S. will continue to work with the Nigerian military in putting an end to the continuous killings of innocent Nigerians and attack on communities.
“The U.S strongly condemns these attacks which have escalated in the last few weeks and it is gradually spreading to neighbouring countries.”
Mr. Kerry also refuted allegation that the U.S. would in future discriminate against Nigerians and other West Africans suspected to have contacted the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD.
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