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As much of the world remains focused on Islamic State and its horrific attacks in Paris, another radical band of extremists has, by one account, captured the infamous title of the world’s deadliest terrorist group: Boko Haram. Boko Haram, the militant group that has tortured Nigeria and its neighbours for years, was responsible for 6,664 deaths last year, more than any other terrorist group in the world, including Islamic State itself, which killed 6,073 people in 2014, according to a report released on Wednesday tracking terrorist attacks globally.
Locals view photographs of wanted Boko Haram suspects on a notice posted by the Nigerian military in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria
The death toll in Nigeria mounted on Wednesday, with a bombing in Kano state in northern Nigeria, not even a full day after Boko Haram was suspected in an explosion that killed and injured dozens in another nearby region. In Kano, authorities said two female suicide bombers detonated vests at a cellphone market at about 4pm local time, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens. Witnesses and Red Cross officials said as many as 50 or 60 people died, though the number could not be independently confirmed. Officials accused Boko Haram in the attacks.
Stay vigilant
In a statement on Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari called for Nigerians to stay vigilant, saying that even his recently intensified military operation against Boko Haram could not prevent every attack. “President Buhari reassures Nigerians that his administration is very much determined to wipe out Boko Haram in Nigeria and bring all perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity to justice,” the release said.
Mr Buhari, who took office in May, ran on a platform of eliminating Boko Haram, which he has pledged to do by the end of December, as well as cutting back on corruption that has dogged the nation. This week, Mr Buhari accused the previous administration’s national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, of pocketing more than $2 billion (€1.87 billion) that had been allocated for warplanes, helicopters and other military hardware to fight Boko Haram. Mr Dasuki has denied the allegations.
Bomb-making materials
Only 15 of the abducted Chibok girls were visible in the newly released video this week. It reinforces the belief of many analysts that the girls have been scattered across Boko Haram’s territory in northern Nigeria and perhaps even in neighbouring countries. Under heavy pressure from the Nigerian military, the Islamist radicals of Boko Haram are believed to have fragmented into isolated cells and groups, each of which may hold a few of the Chibok schoolgirls. This has vastly complicated the precarious process of rescuing them or negotiating their release. After losing much of its territory to the Nigerian army, Boko Haram has been unable to replenish its supplies as swiftly as before. Driven by hunger, its fighters have raided villages and farms for food. This is one probable explanation for the growing reports of ransom negotiations between Boko Haram representatives and the Nigerian authorities.
But the ransom demands are reported to be high – probably in the millions of dollars – and the Nigerian government is reluctant to hand over huge sums of money for an uncertain gamble, especially if the Boko Haram negotiators are divided and their control of the girls is unclear. Previous negotiations and ransom demands have led nowhere, adding to the government’s skepticism. This, in turn, has fuelled tensions between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian activist movement known as Bring Back Our Girls, which holds daily vigils for the girls. Before his election last year, Mr. Buhari had promised to do everything possible to free the girls. When he was sworn into office last May, he repeated the pledge. “This government will do all it can to rescue them alive,” he said in his inauguration speech. “We cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage.”
It was a stirring declaration. But a few months later, in December, he announced that Boko Haram had been “technically” defeated, even as he admitted that the government had no idea where the kidnapped girls were located. He met the Chibok parents in January, but his remarks to them were terse and scripted, the parents said. On Thursday, when the Chibok activists tried to march on Mr. Buhari’s presidential villa in Abuja, his officials were unwilling to let them reach even the villa gates. Police formed a barricade and turned them back, several hundred metres from the gates, leaving them stranded on the edge of a busy thoroughfare. In a statement on Thursday to mark the second anniversary of the Chibok kidnapping, Mr. Buhari said he understood the “torment, frustration and anxiety” of the parents. He said he shared their pain. But he also asked the parents to “exercise patience” as his officials explore “all possible options” for the safe return of the girls.
The activists from Bring Back Our Girls said they were “puzzled” by Mr. Buhari’s repeated claim that the government lacks “credible intelligence” on the location of the girls. They said the government is failing to collect key evidence and intelligence from other civilians who have been rescued from Boko Haram over the past year. “We are extremely dissatisfied with the unprofessional manner in which our rescued compatriots are treated,” they told a press conference on Thursday. “The incredible wealth of information that victims of terrorists can offer our security forces is being lost in the current undefined and ineffective approach.” A report on Friday in Daily Trust, a Nigerian newspaper that specializes in northern news, gave a further glimpse of the obstacles to the rescue efforts. The Chibok schoolgirls “are being held by different Boko Haram commanders, who are also making conflicting demands,” the newspaper said.
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