Category Archives: Nigeria

Boko Haram Leader Rejects Potential Amnesty Deal

Last week, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan tasked a high level team with looking into the possibility of granting a pardon to members of Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, which literally translates to “Western education is forbidden”, is a militant Islamist movement which based in the northeast region of Nigeria. Members strongly oppose man-made laws and westernization, and hold a desire to establish their form of Sharia Law in the country, using violence and terrorist tactics to carry out their aims, resulting in the deaths of over 3,000 people since 2009. Analysts believe that growing ties to other Islamist groups in West Africa, such as AQIM, have further mobilized Nigerian militants more towards Western targets. In February, a French family of seven was kidnapped in northern Cameroon and is still being held by suspected Boko Haram militants. Boko Haram has recently been designated a global terrorist group by the United States.

On 6 April, militants suspected of belonging to Boko Haram shot or hacked eleven people to death in the northeast Nigerian village of Madube, including at a deputy governor’s home. Six more people were wounded in the attack. The deputy governor was not harmed.

President Jonathan asked for the panel to examine amnesty following intense pressure from politicians and Nigeria’s highest Muslim spiritual figure, the Sultan of Sokoto. They believe the army’s response to the insurgency is not bringing peace. In 2009, Nigeria offered an amnesty to militants in the southern part of the country, near the oil-producing Niger Delta. The amnesty was credited with greatly reducing unrest there.

The panel, comprised of national security officials, northern leaders and others, is scheduled to report later this month. However, an audio statement believed to be from the group’s leader Abubakar Shekau, claimed that his group “not committed any wrong to deserve amnesty”.

“Surprisingly,” he said, “the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon.” The message continued with a list of what Shekau describes as the state’s atrocities against Muslims.

As if to emphasize their rejection of amnesty, Yobe State Police Commissioner confirmed that four officers were gunned down in the early hours of Thursday (11 April) in a firefight with Boko Haram. The militants intended to burn down the station, but were thwarted. Five gunmen were killed, but some rifles were lost to the attackers.

Bombings and Gun Attacks Continue in Kano; New Attacks in Ganye

This past week has seen a number of gun attacks and suicide bombings in the northern region of Nigeria, specifically in Kano and in the eastern border town of Ganye.  Police have confirmed that suspected Islamist gunmen have launched a series of gun and bomb attacks in a remote town near the border with Cameroon.  At least twenty-five people have died in the town of Ganye after gunmen attacked a prison, police station, bank and bar.  The most recent attack in Nigeria’s northern region comes just days after two suicide bombers exploded their car at a bus station in Kano.

The simultaneous attacks that occurred in Ganye have killed at least twenty-five people.
According to the police spokesman for the western Adamawa state, Mohammed Ibrahim, the gunmen carried out four simultaneous assaults in Ganye, which is located in the Adamawa state.  They opened fire on a bar, a bank, a prison and a police station.  The gunmen also set free an unspecified number of prisoners.  The police spokesman further noted that the men used explosives and assault rifles in the attack on the police station, during which a policeman was shot.  Seven people were shot in the bar, six near the bank while the others were gunned down either outside their homes or on the streets.  Troops and policemen who have been deployed to the town have recovered three unexploded bombs, a Kalashnikov rifle and some rounds of ammunition, which were left by the attackers.  Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, police are suspecting Boko Haram militants to be behind it as the raids resemble previous ones, which have been claimed by the group.  Currently, no arrests have been made.

The town of Ganye is located some 100 km (60 miles) from the state capital of Yola.  Although it is located near the border with Cameroon, it is not near the area where a French family of seven were kidnapped and taken across from Cameroon into Nigeria last month. The family – a couple, their children (all under the age of twelve) and an uncle – were kidnapped by six gunmen on three motorbikes in Sabongari, which is located 7km from the northern village of Dabanga.  Sources close to the French embassy in Cameroon had indicated that the family had earlier visited Waza national park.  While the exact border-crossing route taken by the kidnappers remains unknown, it is highly likely that the militants would have remained near the area and crossed over into Nigeria shortly after the kidnapping.  As such, while Ganye is too far south from the general area where the family was taken, it is highly likely that the militants may have crossed the border area closer to Maiduguri, which is a known Boko Haram stronghold.

Violence carried out by Islamist insurgents throughout Northern Nigeria has been on the rise in the past weeks after a brief calm.  On Saturday, three bombs exploded in the North’s main city of Kano.  According to Kano state police spokesman Magaji Majia, one
of the bombings was a suicide attack, however the incident claimed no lives apart from the bomber.  In a separate incident, a remote-controlled bomb that targeted a joint military and police checkpoint did wound a number of police officers.  A separate gun attack in the city’s Dakata district also killed one person on Saturday.  According to Kano state police spokesman, four people have been arrested in connection with the attacks.

On Monday, March 18 a bomb blast, which targeted a bus station in an area of Kano that is mostly inhabited by southern Christians, killed at least 41 people and wounded 65.  The attack occurred when two suicide bombers exploded their car into a bus station in Kano, setting off a large explosion that hit five buses.  Witnesses have described hearing multiple blasts and seeking wounded victims fleeing the area as authorities cordoned off the scene.  The bus station that was targeted in Monday’s attack primarily services passengers who are heading south to the mostly Christian regions of the country.  The bus station was previously attacked in January 2012, a blast which left a number of wounded civilians.  So far, authorities have not provided any information relating to who is behind this latest bombing.  Furthermore there has been no claims of responsibility, however this attack is similar to the hit-and-run tactics that are favored by Boko Haram militants.

With more suicide attacks and bombings occurring every week in the northern region of the country, it is becoming evident that the Nigerian government is finding it difficult to
adequately manage Boko Haram and related criminal gangs who have overtaken militancy in the oil-producing south-eastern Niger Delta region as the main threat to the stability of Africa’s oil producer.  Furthermore, while the town of Ganye is located further south, and away from the cities of Kano and Maiduguri, which have been hit by a number of attacks over the past few months, it demonstrates the capabilities of Boko Haram and similar criminal groups in carrying out hit-and-run attacks outside of the normal regions where they are known to operate.  It indicates that the militants throughout this region of Nigeria are able to freely move around to stage attacks, signifying that they may also be able to cross over the border into Cameroon in order to carry out attacks and to kidnap westerners.  It is also believed that Boko Haram may have members in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.