Boko Haram

Activities of Boko Haram.

Boko Haram’s attacks in 2011 started on Friday, January 28, with the assassination of Borno State governorship candidate of All Nigeria’s Peoples Party (ANPP), Modu Gobi. He was killed alongside his brother, four police officers and a 12-year-old boy. They also killed the Gomari Islamic cleric, Ahmed Ibrahim Abdullahi on March 13 at his mosque. On April 1, they attacked a police station in Bauchi. The attack, however, came in less than 24 hours to the National Assembly elections.A polling centre in Maiduguri was bombed on April 9. The Maiduguri office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was bombed and several people shot on April 15.On April 20, a Muslim cleric was killed and several police officers ambushed in Maiduguri.The Islamic sect freed 14 prison inmates during a jailbreak in Yola, Adamawa State. The Democracy Day celebrated on May 29 witnessed a serious stain with the killing of about 15 people in northern Nigeria.The sect also bombed the Police Headquarters in Abuja on June 6, killing many in the process.On June 26, members of the sect killed 25 people at a drinking joint in Maiduguri, when they threw explosives into the place and zoomed off on a motorbike.In a bombing incident in Maiduguri on June 27, three Customs officials were wounded and two girls killed.The sect killed about 20 persons on July 3 in another bombing in a drinking joint in Maiduguri.A church, All Christian Fellowship, was bombed in Suleja, Niger State.Another prominent Muslim cleric, Liman Bana, was shot dead on August 12 while returning from mosque after his prayers at the main mosque, Ngala.On August 26, the headquarters of United Nations in Abuja was bombed by the sect’s suicide bomber, and about 21 people died, while many others sustained serious injuries. On September, former President Olusegun Obasanjo met with the family of the slain founder and leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, to discuss how to make peace. Less than 72 hours after, Yusuf’s brother-in-law, Babakura Fugu who hosted Obasanjo during the visit, was killed by a suspected faction that was not comfortable with the negotiation. Another politician, Modu Binbute, was shot dead outside his home in Maiduguri on October 26.A journalist with Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Zakariya Isa, was killed by Boko Haram. He was accused of being a government informant.It is on record that a total number of 67 people lost their lives in a series of Boko Haram’s attacks in Bornu and Yobe States on November 5. Police headquarters and government offices were also burnt.Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members killed three Air force officers and injured other in Kano. People, numbering 15, stormed the Nigerian Air Force Comprehensive Secondary, Kwa along Kano-Katsina road where a heavy exchange of gunfire ensued at about 8.30pm. They attacked the officers on guard in an attempt to gain entry into the premises to massacre JSS1 students in the hostel. The Commandant of 339 Base Services Group (BSG), Nigeria Air Force, Kano, Air Commodore Sani Ahmed confirmed the story.Anti-Terrorism experts under the aegis of Global Counter Terrorism Forum met on November 17 to discuss ways of preventing the financing of armed militant groups, focussing on North Africa’s Sahel Desert region. Boko Haram, which has claimed the responsibility for series of bombings in Nigeria, was one of the issues the group discussed. Coordinator of European Union Strategy in Sahel, Manuel Lopez said Al Qaeda’s North Africa branch known as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Meghreb (AQIM) and Boko Haram had a shared-agenda and operational tactics. Experts from 30 countries participated in the two-day forum which was co-sponsored by Turkey and United States. It was chaired by Canada and Algeria and Coordinated by an Ambassador at large for United States Department, Daniel Benjamin. On Monday night, November 21, some residents of Maiduguri were feared dead in a clash between Boko Haram and Joint Task Force (JTF). The incident, which took place at Bulumkutu market and Gomari area capital city, started when the JTF vehicle distributing refreshmentd to soldiers attached to worship centres and other strategic locations was ambushed by members of Boko Haram and a gun battle that lasted for about three hours ensued. Three JTF Soldiers were killed and members of Boko Haram abandoned their Volkswagen car that conveyed them to the area when they were overpowered by the soldiers and JTF men. Also two churches, Holy Trinity and EYN hurriedly closed with members attending evening prayers scampering for safety. Traders also closed their shops. Members of Boko Haram attacked and bombed St Patrick’s Catholic Church in November.The embattled Borno South Senator, Mohammed Ali Ndume currently in Kuje prisons was granted bail for N25million and two sureties in the like sum, by the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja on December 1, after one month in detention. This depends on how soon he would fulfil the stiffer bail conditions reeled out by Justice Gabriel Kolawole after refusing objection raised by Prosecution Counsel and Director of Public prosecution (DPP), Mrs Olufemi Fakunle against his bail application.Former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff curtailed the activities of Boko Haram when he outlawed the group. The group started 14 years before Sheriff became governor but he insisted that they should stop their militant approach to issues.An Abuja Chief Magistrate Court on November 22 convicted the spokesman of Boko Haram, Ali Sada Konduga who pleaded guilty to the charge preferred against him by SSS. He was docked before Chief Magistrate Oyebola Oyewumi. Konduga, in his confessional statements to the SSS, named Ndume and the late Ambassador Saidu Pindar, former Nigeria’s envoy to Sao Tome and Principe as some of the financial backers of the group. Konduga said that Pindar sometime in July 2011 was on his way to deliver the sum of N5million as part-payment of a total donation of N10million he pledged in support to the activities of the sect when had a car crash and died.On November 24, a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mohammed Ndume was named as a co-sponsor of the dreaded Boko Haram. He was arraigned before Abuja Magistrate Court where he was being tried for felony. Ndume was fingered by Umar Konduga, who claimed to be the spokesman of the Islamic fundamentalist group. Konduga alleged that apart from rendering financial support, Ndume was the composer of all the anonymous test messages Boko Haram members were sending to certain authorities in the country. While he (Konduga) pleaded guilty and was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison, Ndume is still standing trial. Sometime in November, suspected members of Boko Haram struck, killing a top Borno protocol officer, Kala Boro and a herbalist, Garba Abdullahi in Maiduguri. In Yobe, they also launched an attack on Geidam, hometown of Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Geidam, bombing a police station, a bank, INEC office, local government secretariat and five churches. They invaded the place on the requests of some Islamists in the area to come and assist them in the Islamic Jihad in their own interest. The attack lasted from 6 to 9pm.Three policemen were killed sometime in December in a fresh clash with Boko Haram at Darmamunawa quarters in Kano municipality, four members of the sect also died, while 14 were arrested with explosives. Three posh cars were recovered during the incident. On December 17, Joint Task Force discovered bomb factory in Borno and arrested three members of Boko Haram.On Sunday, December 25 at about 8am, thee sect bombed St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla near Suleja in Niger State. At least 35 people were killed while hundreds were injured. The three suicide bombers were accosted by policemen on duty and they claimed that they were on their way to worship at the church. They incidentally succeeded in bombing the church while worshippers were trooping out of the church at the end of the early morning mass.