Banditry continued
Leviticus was the secretary of the local language Bible translation committee. When bandits came to his village, people hid in the bush. Sadly, Leviticus and his son were killed, while his wife and daughter survived the attack.
The term bandits is a bit ambiguous, so this description from a very informative 2020 BBC news article may help understand what is happening in some areas.
….. "They were about 200 on motorbikes, each bike rider carried a passenger and they all carried AK-47 guns," Bashir Kadisau, an eyewitness, told the BBC.
He said he climbed to the top of a tree when he saw the large number of motorcycle riders coming into Kadisau village, and saw the attackers loot shops, steal cattle and grain, and shoot people who were fleeing.
This graph shows the dramatic increase in violence in the Northwest from 2017 till 2020. Taken from this article which also states
"The reasons behind the instability in the region are complex.
The motorcycle bandits terrorising northern Nigeria
A report published earlier this year by the International Crisis Group said "violence is rooted in competition over resources between predominantly Fulani herders and mostly Hausa farmers. It has escalated amid a boom in organised crime, including cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom and village raids".
It's also reported that jihadist groups are looking to take advantage of the worsening security situation.
"Over the past year there have been lots of pledges of loyalty to Boko Haram leader Shekau from north-west Nigeria - and Shekau has acknowledged that," said Mr Zenn.
Boko Haram also has a splinter group that operates in the north-west, known as Ansaru. The al-Qaeda-affiliated group has largely been dormant and has claimed a sparse number of attacks since it was formed in 2012."
OK, so the violence spreading in the NW is complicated. We have Boko Haram + Motorcycle Bandits + Jihadist Groups + splinter groups like Ansaru + Organized Crime + Herder vs Farmer Violence + Cattle Rustling + Kidnapping for Ransom + Village Raids + more...
And let me end here by sharing one more article which explains how our tax dollars are involved in fighting terrorism in West Africa, although not very effectively.
"The obsessive focus on counterterrorism in the midst of this complex cascade of crises is yet another reason, according to some experts, why U.S. and European efforts in the Sahel have yielded dismal results. “Another aspect central to the general failure of Western-led initiatives in the region is the relative neglect of the political dimensions of conflict,” said Héni Nsaibia, a senior researcher with the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a nonprofit that collects and analyzes data about armed violence around the globe. Focusing on Western concepts of counterterrorism and embracing a strictly military model has been a major mistake, he explained. Ignoring drivers of militancy, such as poverty and lack of social mobility, and failing to alleviate the conditions that foster insurgencies, like widespread human rights abuses by security forces, have caused irreparable harm.
It is essential, Ibirogba told VICE World News, to replace the counterterrorism security model with one rooted in holistic peacebuilding measures. “What is needed is a human security approach that addresses the multidimensional root causes of issues,” she said. “One that focuses on investing in African nations’s infrastructures, health care systems, mental health services, social welfare programs, businesses and more, rather than investing in their militaries and police forces who are guilty of gross human rights violations.”
Lastly, this bit of news about the Nigeria space program shows how Nigeria’s satellites can’t track terrorists… Nigeria’s satellite system was intended to be a crucial part of its counterterrorism strategy. Yet despite being one of the most funded space projects on the continent, the country has very little to show for its huge investment, according to an analysis by Muhammed Akinyemi in HumAngle.
May God have mercy on Nigeria! Let's all join in prayer for peace and justice
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