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The War on Terror Spectator
Persecution in Nigeria
Boko Haram’s murderous crusade against Christians.
Long a troubled nation, Nigeria now risks religious war. So far the killing essentially runs one way: Islamic extremists kill Christians. President Goodluck Jonathan has responded with good intentions and occasional arrests, including of a terrorist leader last Friday. However, if the government is unable to stop the killing the country’s future will be at risk.
Like so many other former colonies, Nigeria stumbled almost immediately after gaining independence. Blessed with oil, it has suffered through multiple corrupt and repressive governments. It now is a functioning democracy, but the political process is complicated by the need to balance the ambitions of the Muslim north and Christian south.
Maintaining political peace has been made more urgent by persistent sectarian violence. The State Department emphasizes that “The constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally enforced these protections.” Unfortunately, the lack of state persecution does not protect Nigerians against private violence.
Observed the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in its most recent report, “Since 1999, more than 14,000 Nigerians have been killed in religiously-related violence between Muslims and Christians. The government of Nigeria continues to fail to prevent and contain acts of religiously-related violence, prevent reprisal attacks, or bring those responsible for such violence to justice.” Muslim-dominated states in northern Nigeria also have applied Sharia law as part of their criminal codes and discriminated “against minority communities of Christians and Muslims.”
The greatest threat today is the group Boko Haram, which has been active for three years. The group now appears to have at least some contacts with al Qaeda affiliates and some members have been discovered in Mali. Unfortunately, the organization has been steadily expanding its reach. The State Department’s latest religious freedom report observed that “Violence, tension, and hostility between Christians and Muslims increased, particularly in the Middle Belt [divided roughly equally between Muslims and Christians], exacerbated by ‘indigene’ (native) and settler laws, discriminatory employment practices, and resource competition.”
International Christian Concern regularly puts Nigeria in its Hall of Shame and similarly reported increased attacks on Christians in 2010 in the Middle Belt. According to ICC, “The year’s worst attack occurred on March 7, as Muslims invaded villages around the [Plateau state] capital city of Jos. The mobs attacked sleeping families in their homes at 2 a.m. with machetes. More than 500 Christians were murdered that day, most of whom were women and children.” Killings of Christians continued in nearby villages throughout the year.
Since then the situation has worsened. Observed State: “Violence between Christian and Muslim communities increased in several regions arising from complex factors, including economic disparity, ethnic identity, and seasonal migration patterns. Acute communal violence in the Middle Belt heightened tensions between religious groups.” Yet, “even in areas outside the Middle Belt that did not otherwise experience violence, tensions remained between Christians and Muslims.”
The growing violence is a genie that cannot easily be returned to the bottle. Noted the Commission: “The past year saw a dramatic rise in sectarian or religiously-related violence.” Post-election riots in the north against the election of Jonathan, a Christian, killed some 800 people. “Although triggered by political issues, the post-election violence quickly became sectarian. In addition, Boko Haram, a militant group that espouses an extreme and violent interpretation of Islam, has been emboldened by the climate of impunity.”
The group, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege,” is deadly serious. No bromides about representing a “religion of peace.” Added the Commission: “Boko Haram has shifted its tactics and emphasis by targeting, killing, and bombing Christians and Christian clergy and threatening to kill all remaining Christians in the north, while continuing its attacks against government officials, as well as killing hundreds of Muslims, including Muslim religious leaders who spoke out against the group.” Also targeted have been Western-style schools in the north, which provide an education beyond memorization of the Koran.
Boko Haram does some of its killing retail, one by one. In March in the Muslim-majority city of Maiduguri, the terrorist group killed the 79-year-old mother of a local pastor. Her throat was slit with a note in Arabic placed on her chest, proclaiming that “We will get you soon.”
However, the group also murders wholesale, attacking church services. For instance, April was not a good month for Nigerian Christians. Reported the Economist: “In Kano, a city in northern Nigeria, gunmen on motorbikes killed at least 20 Christian worshippers in a university lecture theater where churches hold their weekly services. They threw small bombs into the church before shooting those trying to flee. In another attack on a church service in the northeast town of Maiduguri shooters opened fire, killing five people including the priest. Seven people were killed on Monday in a bomb targeting a police commissioner’s convoy in the eastern town of Jolingo in the usually peaceful Taraba state.”
It could have been worse. On Easter Sunday in the city of Kaduna a suicide bomber was blocked from getting into the compound of two Protestant churches. Instead, he detonated his bomb on a nearby road, which still killed 41 people. Later the same day there was a bombing in the city of Jos, which killed one person and injured others. Last Christmas 44 people were killed by a church bombing in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
No one claimed responsibility for the April murders, though they looked like the work of Boko Haram. However, warned the Economist, “it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell when Boko Haram is responsible for such violence and when other groups, inspired by their methods, are to blame.” Boko Haram has destroyed an incredible 350 churches throughout northern Nigeria over the past year. So far this year the group is estimated to have killed nearly 500 people.
Nigeria’s Catholic leaders have called on Muslim leaders to speak out and act to end the violence. Like in Pakistan many Nigerian Muslims send their children to Islamiyya, or religious, schools, which provide few practical skills. Educator Rotimi Eyitayo observed: “Those who stop going to school don’t get education, they become a menace.” In a country with too few jobs some of these ill-educated and unskilled appear open to Boko Haram’s call.
In March Boko Haram abandoned preliminary talks with the government. Unfortunately, the group has few negotiable objectives. It insists on the release of all followers from jail and has variously proposed creation of an Islamic state in the north and imposition of strict Sharia law across all of Nigeria. Last month it released a video threatening to “devour” Jonathan and “end” his government after he pledged to bring the group under control by mid-year. The group proclaimed that it would “never give up as we fight the infidels.” Apparently political objectives are secondary: Boko Haram’s members simply want to kill Christians.
About the Author
Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author and editor of several books, including The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington (Transaction).
Letter to the Editor View all comments (37) | Leave a comment
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TLP| 5.18.12 @ 6:28AM
Meanwhile, back at the White House? The Christian President from a Muslim Family, does NOTHING, as Christian Churches, and their Parishoners, are being Burned to the Ground in Egypt, and elsewhere in the land of his Father, and his Birth. (Go read his Bio, for his Book)
Not only is he doing NOTHING to help quell these Church Burnings, but he has actually sent American Christian Soldiers, to Africa, to HELP these Muslim MFers, against the only Christian Fighters on the Continent, who are Fighting Back against these Murderous Animals.
Go read your Bible. Turn to the last Book of The New Testament.
This CCKSCKR is all over this thing.
The Hell with "Where's Waldo".
Where's OSWALD, when you need him?
Cause we need him, NOW.
Jack in Wi.| 5.18.12 @ 9:09AM
Doug Bandow is a good reporter and writer. He gives a balanced report on the situation. This is a problem for Nigerians to handle themselves. We don't need to be involved.
A couple of days ago I read an essay Doug wrote about Romney and his foreign policy. He called Romney a know nothing on foreign policy. Frankly it was devastating. I wish this publication would reprint it. It is really an eye opener, that needs the widest distribution.
old white guy| 5.18.12 @ 7:42AM
coming to a neighbourhood near you.
The Big E| 5.18.12 @ 10:07AM
Islam has been at war with civilization since the day of its founding, and will be at war with civilization until the day of its eradication - or ours.
John786| 5.18.12 @ 10:09AM
Boka haram is by all accounts and evil group on par with the Christian lords resistance army of uganda. The origins of this group are complex. In part the utter improvishment of the Muslim north creates a fertile ground for the unhinged. Civil society both Muslim & Christian should rise up to isolate the extremists. The oil wealth should be used to aleviate poverty across Nigeria. To try to use these fanatical groups to attack Islam is wrong. And will not lead to good outcomes.
richard ryan| 5.18.12 @ 11:20AM
Wealth is going to make this situation better? History has shown that "stuff" only makes violence worse in Africa.
Occam's Tool| 5.18.12 @ 10:45AM
John786: Bullshit, John. It is sharia driven Islam, pure and simple. Poverty has NOTHING to do with it; the religion founded by a mass murdering thief and child rapist does.
Mike Hawk| 5.20.12 @ 8:16AM
Redistribution of wealth isn't going to remedy stoneage tribalism either. SHaria feeds that tribalism.
John786| 5.18.12 @ 11:06AM
Mr occam ( a man stuck on a single track),
You can not use the actions of extremist to malign an entire civilisation. If such a discourse was acceptable then no civilisation would remain untouched. Your obsession with the Bedouin prophet of the Arabian desert ( pbuh) in the sixth century is unhinged. By all accounts the arab/ Islamic empire was the most just in human history relatively speaking. And especially can not be compared to the wholesale barbarism inflicted by colonisation in the last few centuries. But I do not hold Christians responsible for this or the holocaust or massacres in sebrenica etc... We must find excuses to get on with each other. One day we'll be smoking cigars in Al Quds wandering what all the fuss was about. Its time to change the record.
Calvin| 5.18.12 @ 11:35AM
Unfortunately the actions of extremists are usually met with silence by the so-called moderates. The reason that this is true is the nature of the Koran. The extremists have it right and the so-called moderates are intimidated and on the wrong side of the text. When some extremists shoot up a church in Pakistan, killing innocents including children nothing is said. From the Koran this is what should happen to infidels. We know you John666. You might be able to convince a stupid progressive that you are best pals but not here. I believe there are moderates in Islam who are basically nice folks. Unfortunately they are impotent and can't be counted on to stop the extremists in Muslim countries or even in our own. I also believe that John 666 is not one of those folks.
John786| 5.18.12 @ 1:29PM
Calvin. The man who makes to many unsupported assumptions, presumptions. Violence pays no part in the Quranic doctrine. The Quranic message is one of mercy and hope. To teach humanity that the final salvation comes only with connecting oneself with the creator. There is no greater revelation than the Arabic Quran. Its beauty is blinding. violence is condemned by Muslims daily. Some are deaf or want others to believe black is white. Islam does not have a violent bone in it. That is not its nature. Its dynamic is only monotheism.
Dave Williams| 5.18.12 @ 1:51PM
Uh huh...sure...and the reason it spread across as much territory as it did so quickly in its early days was because of its calm, rational appeal. John, you are a first-class ignoramus, and a dangerous one. And even though I'm an atheist, if you and your raghead buddies want a clash of civilizations, I say BRING IT!
John786| 5.18.12 @ 3:01PM
And the Christians colonised/ converted the Americas etc.. With love and roses. Lets get real. Remember Iraq. How quickly the one eyed forget. It is in the interest of both America & Muslim world to be united together. It is the future.
REALITY| 5.18.12 @ 6:59PM
Let's get real:
Christians worship The Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Muslims worship baal.
In parlance familiar to many here:
The Creator stomps on the face of baal.
Time for you to get real.
john| 5.18.12 @ 2:15PM
This is in the koran , a rock talking" He muslim there's a jew hiding behind me, come and kill him, or wherever you find the infidel smythe his neck. There are over 100 comments in this POS book talking about killing infidels!
Ah, the religion of peace.
John786| 5.18.12 @ 2:57PM
A rock talking: reference please in the Quran.
Calvin| 5.18.12 @ 4:32PM
"I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them"
There are many other calls for violence against unbelievers in the Koran. John666 is a liar. He calls good evil and evil good. It is a curse to live around Muslims.
John786| 5.18.12 @ 5:16PM
These verses have to be contextulised. The small Muslim community faced genocide from the pagan tribes. These verses were aimed at these evil genociders. In all the wars between the Muslims & pagans no more than 100 or so people died over 22 years. The one eyed easily forget: hiroshima, Nagasaki, colonisation, Iraq, holocaust.. There is no comparison. The prophet (pubh) was the most merciful person on this earth.
Calvin| 5.18.12 @ 5:50PM
Tell that to Danny Pearl. Like most Muslims you have no problem with lying. 65 million Indians were murdered during the conquest of India. Human nature can be an ugly thing. Only the great secular dictatorships have surpassed Islam in murder.
John786| 5.18.12 @ 6:37PM
Bulshit Calvin. A Russian doll of lies. Horse manure.
REALITY| 5.18.12 @ 7:00PM
Get real.
Christians worship The Creator.
Muslims worship baal.
The truth shall set you free.
Calvin| 5.18.12 @ 7:32PM
You should face your sin. Hiding from or lying about it are evil.
Richard| 5.18.12 @ 12:23PM
It is not "violence between Christians and Muslims". It is violence from Muslims against Christians. In order to solve the problem, it is first necessary to correctly diagnose it.
Calvin| 5.18.12 @ 4:34PM
It is violence by Muslims against any that have the misfortune to live around them.
cicero| 5.18.12 @ 2:18PM
Surprise, suprise, suprise. Back about 40 years ago, there was a little dust up over in a small African country that used to be controlled by the French. It was called Biafra. There was a civil war between the north and the south. The French sold Mirage jets to the North. For those who even care, the north was dominated by the Muslim population, while the south was peopled by the Christians. The Christians were the educated class, and the teachers, beaurocrats, and merchants. When the killing began, the the Christians in the north tried to get home, only to be slaughtered. Their train cars were running with the blood of the dead by the time it reached the boarder. All of the hundreds and thousands who could not escape were butchered.
So, now it is still happenning, but this time in Nigeria. So much for the religion of peace. If the west does not soon recognize this for what it is, the untimate war, when it comes, will be brutal, and the outcome, while preordained (we have better weapons and soldiers), will not be pretty.
cicero| 5.18.12 @ 2:18PM
Surprise, suprise, suprise. Back about 40 years ago, there was a little dust up over in a small African country that used to be controlled by the French. It was called Biafra. There was a civil war between the north and the south. The French sold Mirage jets to the North. For those who even care, the north was dominated by the Muslim population, while the south was peopled by the Christians. The Christians were the educated class, and the teachers, beaurocrats, and merchants. When the killing began, the the Christians in the north tried to get home, only to be slaughtered. Their train cars were running with the blood of the dead by the time it reached the boarder. All of the hundreds and thousands who could not escape were butchered.
So, now it is still happenning, but this time in Nigeria. So much for the religion of peace. If the west does not soon recognize this for what it is, the untimate war, when it comes, will be brutal, and the outcome, while preordained (we have better weapons and soldiers), will not be pretty.
Anne Onymous| 5.18.12 @ 8:12PM
TAS contributors should learn the distinction between "jihad" and "crusade". It makes for clearer thinking and writing.
Calvin| 5.18.12 @ 9:54PM
Help us Anne. Show your stuff.
Meh| 5.18.12 @ 11:47PM
It's only Christians. I won't miss 'em.
Obie Wan| 5.19.12 @ 9:32AM
"A religious war threatens Nigeria"
This doesn't sound like much of a war to me. The Crusades may have been a war,but what's going on in Middle East and African countries today is more like a slaughter, with the muslims doing what they've always done best,murdering, and the Christians being the victims !!!
Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 5.19.12 @ 11:08AM
These Islamists are most likely from the Wahhabist/Salafist fold of the type that burned Coptic Christians in Egypt out of their homes and Churches. They are also the type leading the fight against Assad in Syria. Osama Bin Laden belonged to the Wahhabist sect. They are fanatics and intolerant of anyone else including Sunni Muslims from the Sufi school and especially all Shia Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc. If you ask me the best way to deal with Wahhabists is to dispatch them to the next world with a bullet to the head. It is branded in my mind the children that Wahhabist scumbags murdered in Beslan.
Pastor emeritus Nathan Bickel | 5.19.12 @ 7:43PM
Boko Haram and his terrorist organization are one major reason that a literal hell, exists.
As to Obama doing or encouraging anything for the Christians of Nigeria and for the country's stability, - it would be a cold day in hell and a fat chance for him to do so. Our White House occupier agitator and race card player, has proven his non-Christianity and non love:
Obama Not Christian – No More Than the Man in the Moon
http://moralmatters.org/2012/0.....e-moon-13/
Theo Prinse| 5.20.12 @ 5:49PM
Tanks for the article mr. Bandow. I am advocating to put the islamic world behind an Iron Curtain until islam is abjured. The US islam oil dependency for military reasons and the OPEC high oil price monopoly and the Russian gas price coupling has to be abjured too he he. But the Great People of the United States knows since decades of the connection of what essentially is the crony capitalist conglomerate of the arms & military complex, their scientific community and research centers, their Trade Unions, the automobile industry & Big oil, their lobbies, cronies on the Hill etc.
In 1973 the oil price and therewith the income of Gulf States like Saudi Arabia was raised in return for arms contracts in the US to compensate for the fall out of US arms systems contracts at the end of the Vietnam war.
So let's concentrate on the scientific community and their state of the art research centers inextricably connected with this conglomerate in relation to the fact that austerity in this field will actually stagnate scientific and intellectual development. So the US military complex is both crony capitalism as well as the cutting edge innovative venture capitalist in one. Next to advocating the neurological disease Islam behind an Iron Curtain .. I also advocate a research for mass scale scientific and industrial innovation like Terra forming Mars or mining all 5.000+ Near Earth Objects to compensate for the fallout of scientific research as a result of ending arms contracts from the Gulf States when the US, Europe, Japan were to end dependency from Islam oil ...
Dmitry Aleksandrovich| 5.21.12 @ 2:03AM
I was talking with a bank mortgage agent this week and he told me that the price of gas has little to do with the Middle East or anywhere else for that matter and everything to do with how much US dollars the Fed is putting into circulation. Domestic products such as bread and milk can be artificially kept low but oil is a global market commodity that is traded entirely in US dollars. Therefore the Federal Reserve prints and the price of gas goes up and eventually that could cause hyperinflation here at home as well on products we use everyday.
Dmitry Aleksandrovich| 5.21.12 @ 2:04AM
I forgot to add the news this week that in 5 years time the United States will be the largest oil producer in the world.
dipesto| 5.21.12 @ 2:20AM
I am getting disturbed by a few of the comments I have been reading in here about wanting someone to kill Obama; "We need an Oswald" and there was a comment a while back from someone who wanted Obama carried out on a caisson. I don't like the guy as potus either, but let's be careful about what we are advocating.