The Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram killed at least 2,053 civilians in the first six months of this year in an increasing number of attacks that may constitute crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said.
Boko Haram carried out 95 attacks that included bombings on more than 70 towns and villages in northeastern Nigeria, New York-based Human Rights Watch said today in a statement. The figures were based on analysis of media reports and field investigations, it said.
“Boko Haram is effectively waging war on the people of northeastern Nigeria at a staggering human cost,” Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in the statement. “Atrocities committed as part of a widespread attack on civilians are crimes against humanity, for which those responsible need to be held to account.”
Boko Haram has been fighting since 2009 to impose Islamic law on Africa’s biggest oil producer. In April, it kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in the northeastern state of Borno. Boko Haram detonated at least three bombs this year in the capital, Abuja, killing more than 100 people, and claimed responsibility for a June explosion in Lagos, the country’s commercial hub.
“There has been a dramatic increase during 2014 in the numbers of casualties from bomb blasts, including several apparent suicide bombings,” Human Rights Watch said.
Intensifying Attacks
President Goodluck Jonathan imposed emergency rule last year in the three northeastern states where the group is most active.
“The pace of attacks has dramatically intensified in remote villages since May 2013, when the federal government imposed a state of emergency in the northern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe,” Human Rights Watch said. The death toll in Borno state alone reached 1,446 people, it said.
Human Rights Watch did not give a comparative death toll for 2013. In May, Bath, U.K.-based risk analysis company Maplecroft said the number of people who died in “terrorist attacks” in Nigeria almost doubled to 3,058 in the 12 months to May 19 this year, from the previous 12-month period.
Jonathan canceled what was to be his first-ever meeting with parents of girls kidnapped from Chibok and five young women who escaped from the militants, his spokesman, Doyin Okupe, said in an e-mailed statement.
Yesterday he held talks with Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a Taliban gun attack two years ago to become a global advocate for girls’ education.
Police arrested a man suspected to be a senior member of Boko Haram in Bauchi state on July 12, spokesman Frank Mba said today.
Bloomberg
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Video - Bomb blast in the capital Abuja, Nigeria - At least 21 confirmed dead
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Parents of the kidnapped schoolgirls refuse to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan
Parents and schoolmates of the 219 schoolgirls held captive by Boko Haram extremists refused at the last minute Tuesday to meet with Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, who accused activists of "playing politics."
"It now appears that our fight to get the girls of Chibok back is not only a fight against a terrorist insurgency, but also against a political opposition," Jonathan said in a statement.
The mass abduction April 15, exactly three months ago, has been plagued by politics from the start. First lady Patience Jonathan charged the kidnappings never occurred and were being fabricated by her husband's enemies to damage his image.
She also had two leading activists briefly arrested, and relations between the government, security forces and the #BringBackOurGirls movement have been tense ever since.
At one point in May when the activists tried to stage a peaceful march to present their demands to Jonathan, they were blocked by soldiers and police.
On Tuesday, security agents locked the doors to the National Assembly, preventing the campaigners from attending a scheduled meeting with the Senate president, said Rotimi Olawale, a spokeswoman for the campaign.
It seems the campaigners then persuaded the parents and girls not to meet with the president, who has faced international condemnation for his slow response to mount a campaign to rescue the girls.
"My priority is not politics. My priority is the return of these girls," Jonathan's statement said. He accused the Nigerian chapter of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign of "psychological terrorism ... playing politics with the situation and the grief of the parents and the girls. They should be ashamed of their actions."
Jonathan has never met with the parents or the escaped girls, though they have been asking to meet with him for weeks. In May, he cancelled without explanation a trip to Chibok, the remote northeast town where the girls were kidnapped.
Politics probably played a part in that cancellation since Chibok is in the northeastern state of Borno, which is governed by an opposition politician very critical of Jonathan.
On Monday, Nigeria's leader promised Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai that he would meet the parents. Malala said that was the parents' wish, that they wanted the support of their president.
"I want to be clear, this government stands with complete solidarity with the girls and their parents.
We are doing everything in our power to bring back our girls," he said Tuesday after the meeting was cancelled. "As a father of girls, I stand ready to meet with the parents of our abducted children and the truly brave girls that have escaped this nightmare through the grace of God."
CTV
Related stories: Malala Yousafzai travels to Nigeria to plea for the release of kidnapped schoolgirls
Leader of protest of government inaction to rescue kidnapped schoolgirls detained
"It now appears that our fight to get the girls of Chibok back is not only a fight against a terrorist insurgency, but also against a political opposition," Jonathan said in a statement.
The mass abduction April 15, exactly three months ago, has been plagued by politics from the start. First lady Patience Jonathan charged the kidnappings never occurred and were being fabricated by her husband's enemies to damage his image.
She also had two leading activists briefly arrested, and relations between the government, security forces and the #BringBackOurGirls movement have been tense ever since.
At one point in May when the activists tried to stage a peaceful march to present their demands to Jonathan, they were blocked by soldiers and police.
On Tuesday, security agents locked the doors to the National Assembly, preventing the campaigners from attending a scheduled meeting with the Senate president, said Rotimi Olawale, a spokeswoman for the campaign.
It seems the campaigners then persuaded the parents and girls not to meet with the president, who has faced international condemnation for his slow response to mount a campaign to rescue the girls.
"My priority is not politics. My priority is the return of these girls," Jonathan's statement said. He accused the Nigerian chapter of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign of "psychological terrorism ... playing politics with the situation and the grief of the parents and the girls. They should be ashamed of their actions."
Jonathan has never met with the parents or the escaped girls, though they have been asking to meet with him for weeks. In May, he cancelled without explanation a trip to Chibok, the remote northeast town where the girls were kidnapped.
Politics probably played a part in that cancellation since Chibok is in the northeastern state of Borno, which is governed by an opposition politician very critical of Jonathan.
On Monday, Nigeria's leader promised Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai that he would meet the parents. Malala said that was the parents' wish, that they wanted the support of their president.
"I want to be clear, this government stands with complete solidarity with the girls and their parents.
We are doing everything in our power to bring back our girls," he said Tuesday after the meeting was cancelled. "As a father of girls, I stand ready to meet with the parents of our abducted children and the truly brave girls that have escaped this nightmare through the grace of God."
CTV
Related stories: Malala Yousafzai travels to Nigeria to plea for the release of kidnapped schoolgirls
Leader of protest of government inaction to rescue kidnapped schoolgirls detained
Suspect arrested in Abuja bombing that killed 71
One of the masterminds of April's Nyanya Motor Park bombing that killed 71 people has been arrested, Nigerian police said.
About 130 people were hurt when a parked vehicle exploded in the bus station that was crowded with early morning commuters.
Aminu Ogwuche was extradited to Nigeria from Sudan, where he had taken refuge, police said.
Boko Haram's leader claimed responsibility for the April 14 bombing.
The Islamist militant group -- whose name means "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language -- has bombed schools, churches and mosques; kidnapped women and children; and assassinated politicians and religious leaders.
CNN
Related story: Video - Bomb blast in Abuja kills 71
About 130 people were hurt when a parked vehicle exploded in the bus station that was crowded with early morning commuters.
Aminu Ogwuche was extradited to Nigeria from Sudan, where he had taken refuge, police said.
Boko Haram's leader claimed responsibility for the April 14 bombing.
The Islamist militant group -- whose name means "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language -- has bombed schools, churches and mosques; kidnapped women and children; and assassinated politicians and religious leaders.
CNN
Related story: Video - Bomb blast in Abuja kills 71
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Video - Sahara Reporters founder Omoyele Sowore says President Goodluck Jonathan is the worst Nigerian President
Omoyele Sowore is the publisher of New York-based Sahara Reporters, known for its hard-hitting reporting that is keeping Nigeria's government officials, individuals and corporations on their toes.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger gives opinion on why Nigeria under achieved in the 2014 FIFA World Cup
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has said lack of solidarity and poor administration, are the reasons why Nigeria and other African teams performed below par at the 2014 World Cup.The Super Eagles began their tournament with a drab goalless draw against Iran, before narrowly beating Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 in the second. Although they lost 3-2 to Argentina in their final Group F game, the African champions squeezed through to the second round, where they were eliminated by France.
Wenger argued it was never a matter of the quality of the Nigerian players, but off-field problems worked against them.
“I don’t think it’s purely down to quality. I think it comes down to organizational problems before the World Cup and during the World Cup,” Wenger told Daily Mirror.
“I think what hurts football fans both in Cameroon and Nigeria – two big footballing nations – was not that their countries did not reach the quarter-finals, it was the fact that both teams had no solidarity and they had problems that were exposed all over the world before the competition and that’s the main reason,” the Arsenal manager said in probable reference to the bonus crisis that rocked both the Super Eagles and the Indomitable Lions.
“Football is difficult enough when you are united but if you are not united at that stage then you have no chance.”
The Frenchman however singled out the Desert Warriors of Algeria for praise, despite the fact they were eliminated in the second round by eventual winners Germany.
He said: “I would still like to give some credit to Algeria. They played so well and at some points they even made Germany look average, and they were the only country who could do that. I would have liked to have seen more from the African countries.”
Daily Post
Related stories: Nigeria Super Eagles refuse to train due to unpaid FIFA World Cup 2014 appearance fees
FIFA suspends Nigeria from all international football
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