Boko Haram - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

‘Nigeria insurgency has killed almost 350 000’

NORTHEAST Nigeria's conflict with Islamist insurgencies had killed nearly 350,000 people as of the end of 2020, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The toll, given by the U.N. agency in a new study on the war and its impact on livelihoods, is 10 times higher than previous estimates of about 35,000 based only on those killed in fighting in Nigeria since the conflict's start 12 years ago. "The full human cost of the war is much greater," the UNDP said in a report, released with Nigeria's Ministry of Finance. "Already, many more have died from the indirect…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Boko Haram leader’s death confirmed

NEWS

A senior cleric with Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram confirmed the death of its leader and urged fighters to stay loyal in its fight against rival Islamic State militants, according to a video seen by Reuters. Bakura Sahalaba, a cleric with the Lake Chad branch of Boko Haram, urged its men to fight on in the video, which appeared on social media after the rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) said Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had died. Three Boko Haram researchers verified its authenticity. ISWAP had said Shekau, one of the world's most notorious extremists, had died around…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Ten Nigerian captives freed by militants

NEWS

LANRE OLA TEN people who had been held captive by Islamist militants were freed this week in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, three security sources and two close associates of those released told Reuters. The people, including aid workers, had been taken by Boko Haram over the past year, the sources said. They were released at around noon (1100 GMT) on Monday and were taken to a hospital in Borno state capital Maiduguri. The sources said the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a rival militant group to Boko Haram, had released the hostages after finding them in a Boko Haram…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria’s Boko Haram leader is dead – claim

NEWS

THE Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) militant group said in an audio recording heard by Reuters on Sunday that Abubakar Shekau, leader of rival Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram, was dead. Shekau died around May 18 after detonating an explosive device when he was pursued by ISWAP fighters following a battle, a person purporting to be ISWAP leader Abu Musab al-Barnawi said on the audio recording. "Abubakar Shekau, God has judged him by sending him to heaven," he can be heard saying. Two people familiar with al-Barnawi told Reuters the voice on the recording was that of the…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Abubakar Shekau: battle for supremacy among Islamist groups bodes ill for the Sahel

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE Nigerian military says it is investigating claims that the Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is dead. His death has not been independently confirmed. It is also not the first time a claim like this has been made. The reports have nevertheless raised questions about who has the upper hand in the region – Boko Haram or the breakaway Islamic State West Africa Province. Adejuwon Soyinka, The Conversation’s West Africa regional editor, asked Folahanmi Aina, an expert on Boko Haram and security in the Lake Chad Basin region, to analyse the security situation. FOLAHANMI AINA, Doctoral Candidate in Leadership Studies,…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Boko Haram claim shooting down of Nigerian Air Force jet

NEWS

ISLAMIST insurgency Boko Haram claimed the shooting down of a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet in a video seen by Reuters on yesterday, two days after the aeroplane went missing in the country's northeast. Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the video. The loss of Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha Jet 475 dealt a blow to Nigeria's efforts to combat jihadist insurgencies in the northeast, where airpower has been crucial in attempts to stem the spread of Boko Haram and its more powerful offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province. Soldiers have for years relied on jet bombardments to…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Disasters interrupt schooling regularly in parts of Africa: here’s a solution

EDUCATION

SCHOOLS are among the worst institutional casualties of complex disasters. This has been the obvious case with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Boko Haram insurgency and other violent conflicts in Africa, which have caused the suspension and destruction of schools. MARGEE ENSIGN, President, Dickinson College JACOB UDO-UDO JACOB, Visiting International Scholar in International Studies & Political Science, Dickinson College Countless schools have been damaged, closed or destroyed. Untold millions of students have been forced to suspend or to abandon their education because of violence or the pandemic. These disruptions have further blighted the already precarious educational foundation of the continent.…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

The longshot bid to end rampant banditry in Nigeria’s northwest

HUMAN RIGHTS

OBI ANYADIKE THE scale of Boko Haram's insurgency in northeastern Nigeria has long been clear. But it took the abduction last month of more than 340 schoolboys for many people – even within Nigeria – to appreciate just how bad the insecurity has become in the country’s neglected northwest. The abductors pulled up on motorbikes at the all-boys secondary school in Kankara, in Katsina State, spent an hour rounding up the students who didn’t manage to bolt, and then marched them into Rugu forest in neighbouring Zamfara State. In a video message, the kidnappers said they were Boko Haram, a claim endorsed by…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria must rethink responses to women displaced by Boko Haram

HUMAN RIGHTS

PEOPLE'S experiences of conflict and violence are shaped in part by sex and gender. Women and girls are especially vulnerable to the threat of sexual violence, owing to cultural practices of gender inequality. Gender norms also have an impact on the roles that both sexes play in conflict contexts. TITILOPE F AJAYI, Researcher, University of Ghana In Nigeria, women and girls make up at least 79% of approximately 2.5 million people displaced across the country’s northeast as a result of the 11-year conflict between the armed group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. This population is dispersed in camps and…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Four police officers killed, one missing, after bandit attack in northwest Nigeria

NEWS

FOUR police officers were killed and one was missing after armed bandits attacked their convoy in northwest Nigeria on Friday, the Nigerian police said. Around 100 armed men attacked 16 police officers on the Birnin Gwari-Funtua highway as they returned to their headquarters in Kano state, a federal police spokesman said in a statement issued on Sunday. Armed groups of men, commonly called bandits, roam throughout northwest Nigeria, committing armed robberies, kidnappings, cattle theft and even murder. In recent months Nigerians have criticized the government for a lack of security. In December, officials said bandits kidnapped more than 300 schoolboys…