A Nigerian judge ruled on Monday that the detained leader of a banned Nigerian Shi’ite Muslim group could seek medical treatment abroad, after a series of protests calling for his release turned violent last month.
Nigeria banned the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) in July after a week of protests in which the group said at least 20 of its members were killed in police crackdowns. Police gave no death toll.
The group’s leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky, has been held since 2015 when government forces killed around 350 people in a storming of its compound and a nearby mosque. He has not been released despite a court order to that effect, and the IMN said his detention is illegal.
The judge in a court in the northwestern city of Kaduna granted Zakzaky and his wife leave to seek medical treatment in India under supervision of state officials.
Zakzaky’s lawyers have said that while in detention, Zakzaky lost an eye to advanced glaucoma and risks losing the other, while shrapnel lodged in his body since the 2015 storming of the IMN compound was causing lead poisoning.
The government says IMN incites violence, and a court has given the authorities permission to label it a terrorist organization. IMN denies it is violent, and says Zakzaky should be released in line with a December 2016 court order.
IMN is the largest Shi’ite organization in a country where around half of the population is Muslim, overwhelmingly Sunni.
Nigeria considers some Islamist movements to be a security threat after a decade combating the insurgency by Sunni Muslim militant group Boko Haram in which 30,000 people have been killed. The death of Boko Haram’s leader in custody was one of the events that set that group on a violent path. (Reporting by Garba Muhammad; Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Alexis Akwagyiram and Raissa Kasolowsky)
National Post
Related story: Video - Why has Nigeria banned Shia Muslim group
Monday, August 5, 2019
Friday, August 2, 2019
Clash between army and jihadists leaves dozens dead
Fierce clashes between a regional force and IS-affiliated fighters in northeast Nigeria left 25 soldiers and at least 40 jihadists dead, two military sources and a militia leader said Thursday.
Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group launched a dawn attack on Monday against a base near the town of Baga on Lake Chad, setting off fierce gun battles that killed 20 Nigerian and five Chadian troops, the sources said.
"The terrorists killed 20 Nigerian troops and five Chadian soldiers in the intense fight in which soldiers killed 47 of the terrorists," a military officer told AFP.
The head of a local anti-jihadist militia confirmed the military death toll and put ISWAP losses at "more than 40".
In a statement on Monday, the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) said 10 jihadists and a soldier were killed at the base while five troops were injured.
The MNJTF is a five-nation anti-military force headquartered in the Chadian capital N'djamena, comprising troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin set up to fight jihadists in the Lake Chad region.
The military is known to downplay its losses in the fight against the jihadists.
The sources said that the jihadist raid on the base was repelled and the fleeing fighters were then met by a convoy of special forces bringing supplies from the regional capital Maiduguri.
"They ran into special forces who had been alerted by the troops in the base and more of the terrorists were killed in a brief encounter," a second military officer said.
ISWAP on Wednesday claimed that it had killed 15 soldiers in clashes near Baga.
The MNJTF base located four miles from Baga has been repeatedly attacked since 2014.
In December last year, ISWAP seized Baga and the base in an offensive that left several soldiers and militia fighters dead.
Although the MNJTF base was reclaimed weeks later, Baga and a separate naval base on Lake Chad remain under ISWAP control, according to locals and security sources.
The decade-long jihadist campaign of violence has killed some 27,000 people, displaced more than two million, and spilt into neighbouring countries.
ISWAP broke away from the main Boko Haram jihadist group in 2016 due to ideological differences.
AFP
Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group launched a dawn attack on Monday against a base near the town of Baga on Lake Chad, setting off fierce gun battles that killed 20 Nigerian and five Chadian troops, the sources said.
"The terrorists killed 20 Nigerian troops and five Chadian soldiers in the intense fight in which soldiers killed 47 of the terrorists," a military officer told AFP.
The head of a local anti-jihadist militia confirmed the military death toll and put ISWAP losses at "more than 40".
In a statement on Monday, the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) said 10 jihadists and a soldier were killed at the base while five troops were injured.
The MNJTF is a five-nation anti-military force headquartered in the Chadian capital N'djamena, comprising troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin set up to fight jihadists in the Lake Chad region.
The military is known to downplay its losses in the fight against the jihadists.
The sources said that the jihadist raid on the base was repelled and the fleeing fighters were then met by a convoy of special forces bringing supplies from the regional capital Maiduguri.
"They ran into special forces who had been alerted by the troops in the base and more of the terrorists were killed in a brief encounter," a second military officer said.
ISWAP on Wednesday claimed that it had killed 15 soldiers in clashes near Baga.
The MNJTF base located four miles from Baga has been repeatedly attacked since 2014.
In December last year, ISWAP seized Baga and the base in an offensive that left several soldiers and militia fighters dead.
Although the MNJTF base was reclaimed weeks later, Baga and a separate naval base on Lake Chad remain under ISWAP control, according to locals and security sources.
The decade-long jihadist campaign of violence has killed some 27,000 people, displaced more than two million, and spilt into neighbouring countries.
ISWAP broke away from the main Boko Haram jihadist group in 2016 due to ideological differences.
AFP
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Video - Nigerians seizing opportunity of waste recycling to cash in
With a population exceeding 180 million, Nigeria is one of the largest producers of solid waste in Africa, generating more than 32 million tons annually. To fix this, some Nigerian are now challenging this narrative by using recycling as means of survival. They are cashing in by exchanging trash for money.
Fuel tanker explosion in Nigeria kills 1
One person was confirmed killed following an early Wednesday explosion from a fuel tanker in Nigeria's northeastern state of Gombe, according to a Red Cross official.
The explosion, which occurred on a highway linking Gombe to the neighboring northeastern state of Bauchi, also razed at least five lockup shops.
Abass Mohammed, an official of the Nigerian Red Cross Society in Gombe, said the tanker which erupted in fire near the village of Tumfure, had a head-on collision with a truck.
Mohammed said the tanker was trying to avoid a stationary vehicle ahead when it ran into a truck coming in the opposite direction.
The severity of the fire had caused serious damage to the nearby shops. The victim, a motorcycle rider, burned beyond recognition, he added.
Xinhua
The explosion, which occurred on a highway linking Gombe to the neighboring northeastern state of Bauchi, also razed at least five lockup shops.
Abass Mohammed, an official of the Nigerian Red Cross Society in Gombe, said the tanker which erupted in fire near the village of Tumfure, had a head-on collision with a truck.
Mohammed said the tanker was trying to avoid a stationary vehicle ahead when it ran into a truck coming in the opposite direction.
The severity of the fire had caused serious damage to the nearby shops. The victim, a motorcycle rider, burned beyond recognition, he added.
Xinhua
Polio on the brink of elimination in Nigeria thanks to the effort of mothers
Amina Anas wanted more information before getting her baby boy vaccinated against polio.
Anas, who lives in a village in northern Nigeria, spoke to other women in the community about her concerns. Ultimately, Aisha Shuaibu Mohammad, a UNICEF-trained volunteer, was able to convince her.
Mohammad is one of hundreds of Nigerian women who have spearheaded the country’s fight against polio by becoming vaccinators.
The women are close to being able to declare victory: Aug. 21 will mark three years since Nigeria's last case of polio, said Dr. Anis Siddique, UNICEF's chief of communication for development who led the polio team. In the northern state of Kano, where Anas lives, there hasn't been a case in five years, Siddique said.
Siddique is cautiously optimistic that the country will receive World Health Organization certification for polio eradication in October — a country must go three years without a case, and the WHO routinely waits two months after the three-year mark to make an official declaration, he said.
This won't be the first time Nigeria has been declared polio-free. In 2015, the WHO declared that polio had been eliminated, but a 2016 outbreak wiped out the designation.
Efforts on the ground
To eliminate polio, women — mostly young mothers — have gone door-to-door, slipping drops of polio vaccine under the tongues of as many as 30 million Nigerian children. The volunteers work with UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and have received clinical training to properly administer the vaccine.
In Nigeria, the vast majority of vaccinators are women. That’s crucial to ensuring that vaccines reach every child, because men — with the exception of husbands and close male family members — are prevented from entering households. This rule is strictly enforced in the northern and middle belt regions of Nigeria, where Islam predominates.
Mohammad, the UNICEF-trained volunteer, admitted that it's impossible to convince every woman to vaccinate her children, but said that she sees successful cases every day.
“Once we talk to the women like Amina, they usually open up. We not only give vaccines ... we discuss their fears about the medicine, proper hygiene and sanitation, and even prenatal care,” Mohammad told NBC News.
She said that with the help of volunteer community members, "we send reminders every Monday to all new mothers in the community that there will be a vaccine clinic the following day. We are here every Tuesday.”
As in the United States, there’s some skepticism surrounding vaccines in Nigeria. But the similarities end there: Some anti-vaccination myths in Nigeria are put forth by the violent militant group Boko Haram, and volunteers may be the target of violence. In 2013, two Kano vaccination teams were murdered.
But Michael Galway, deputy director of the Polio Foundation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that opposition to vaccines is no longer as a big a challenge as it once was. Now, only 1 percent of people are not getting vaccinated because they refuse the vaccination, Galway said.
More challenging is simply reaching people. Large nomadic populations live along Nigeria's borders. Last year, the WHO renewed efforts to vaccinate children regularly crossing into and out of the country by supporting the government in an initiative to improve vaccination efforts in the northwest region of the country.
Preventing polio
Alasan Isa, the village head of a small rural community in Minjibir, Nigeria, said that seeing the devastating effects of polio has led him to encourage women to become volunteers and vaccinators.
“I have seen how even one case of polio can devastate a community. I don't ever want to see polio again ... a child with paralytic polio cannot move and often they cannot work in the future. It's not a way to live,” Isa said.
In many parts of Nigeria, the polio vaccine is given orally, as drops under the tongue. This form of the vaccine is easy to administer — unlike an injection, it can be given by anyone. However, because the oral vaccine uses a live version of the virus, it carries the very small risk that the virus can mutate and cause disease, the WHO says. These cases only occur in areas where overall vaccination rates are very low, leaving people susceptible to the virus.
Siddique, of UNICEF, stressed that the benefits of getting vaccinated far outweigh the small risk.
When outbreaks of so-called vaccine-derived polio do occur, they are kept under control and generally do not cause paralysis, Galway noted. What's more, these cases should not take away from the milestone that may soon be reached.
“Providing these vaccines is part of our long-standing commitment to child survival,” Galway said. “It takes meticulous state level programs to interrupt transmission. In 2017, we almost reached a polio-free level in Nigeria, but we fell short. This time, I hope we can declare that Africa is certified as free of polio.”
By Shamard Charles, M.D.
NBC
Anas, who lives in a village in northern Nigeria, spoke to other women in the community about her concerns. Ultimately, Aisha Shuaibu Mohammad, a UNICEF-trained volunteer, was able to convince her.
Mohammad is one of hundreds of Nigerian women who have spearheaded the country’s fight against polio by becoming vaccinators.
The women are close to being able to declare victory: Aug. 21 will mark three years since Nigeria's last case of polio, said Dr. Anis Siddique, UNICEF's chief of communication for development who led the polio team. In the northern state of Kano, where Anas lives, there hasn't been a case in five years, Siddique said.
Siddique is cautiously optimistic that the country will receive World Health Organization certification for polio eradication in October — a country must go three years without a case, and the WHO routinely waits two months after the three-year mark to make an official declaration, he said.
This won't be the first time Nigeria has been declared polio-free. In 2015, the WHO declared that polio had been eliminated, but a 2016 outbreak wiped out the designation.
Efforts on the ground
To eliminate polio, women — mostly young mothers — have gone door-to-door, slipping drops of polio vaccine under the tongues of as many as 30 million Nigerian children. The volunteers work with UNICEF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and have received clinical training to properly administer the vaccine.
In Nigeria, the vast majority of vaccinators are women. That’s crucial to ensuring that vaccines reach every child, because men — with the exception of husbands and close male family members — are prevented from entering households. This rule is strictly enforced in the northern and middle belt regions of Nigeria, where Islam predominates.
Mohammad, the UNICEF-trained volunteer, admitted that it's impossible to convince every woman to vaccinate her children, but said that she sees successful cases every day.
“Once we talk to the women like Amina, they usually open up. We not only give vaccines ... we discuss their fears about the medicine, proper hygiene and sanitation, and even prenatal care,” Mohammad told NBC News.
She said that with the help of volunteer community members, "we send reminders every Monday to all new mothers in the community that there will be a vaccine clinic the following day. We are here every Tuesday.”
As in the United States, there’s some skepticism surrounding vaccines in Nigeria. But the similarities end there: Some anti-vaccination myths in Nigeria are put forth by the violent militant group Boko Haram, and volunteers may be the target of violence. In 2013, two Kano vaccination teams were murdered.
But Michael Galway, deputy director of the Polio Foundation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that opposition to vaccines is no longer as a big a challenge as it once was. Now, only 1 percent of people are not getting vaccinated because they refuse the vaccination, Galway said.
More challenging is simply reaching people. Large nomadic populations live along Nigeria's borders. Last year, the WHO renewed efforts to vaccinate children regularly crossing into and out of the country by supporting the government in an initiative to improve vaccination efforts in the northwest region of the country.
Preventing polio
Alasan Isa, the village head of a small rural community in Minjibir, Nigeria, said that seeing the devastating effects of polio has led him to encourage women to become volunteers and vaccinators.
“I have seen how even one case of polio can devastate a community. I don't ever want to see polio again ... a child with paralytic polio cannot move and often they cannot work in the future. It's not a way to live,” Isa said.
In many parts of Nigeria, the polio vaccine is given orally, as drops under the tongue. This form of the vaccine is easy to administer — unlike an injection, it can be given by anyone. However, because the oral vaccine uses a live version of the virus, it carries the very small risk that the virus can mutate and cause disease, the WHO says. These cases only occur in areas where overall vaccination rates are very low, leaving people susceptible to the virus.
Siddique, of UNICEF, stressed that the benefits of getting vaccinated far outweigh the small risk.
When outbreaks of so-called vaccine-derived polio do occur, they are kept under control and generally do not cause paralysis, Galway noted. What's more, these cases should not take away from the milestone that may soon be reached.
“Providing these vaccines is part of our long-standing commitment to child survival,” Galway said. “It takes meticulous state level programs to interrupt transmission. In 2017, we almost reached a polio-free level in Nigeria, but we fell short. This time, I hope we can declare that Africa is certified as free of polio.”
By Shamard Charles, M.D.
NBC
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