Islamic Terrorism or Lunatic Muslims On Rampage?

Islamic Terrorism Or Lunatic Muslims On Rampage?

If there is anything the repressive Arab regimes of the middle east and north Africa and the traditional institutions in parts of northern Nigeria share, it is the deliberate misinterpretation of Islam to hold on to power while abusing human rights and dignity. There is often a convenient convergence of culture and the clergy to perpetuate this fraud on the people. In Saudi Arabia, less than 1,000 princes and members of the royal family control a country that earns about $1 billion every day when oil prices climb above 100 dollars a barrel.

~ By Salisu Suleiman
April 29, 2011 01:18AMT

Islamic Terrorism is is defined by Wikipedia as "a term for acts of terrorism committed by extremist Muslims for the purpose of achieving varying political and/or religious ends."

The history of Islamic Terrorism is as old as the religion of Islam and trying to separate the sheep from the goats as Mr. Suleiman has attempted is not as simple as ABC, because terrorism is an instrument of violent agitation for the realization of a cause, no matter the purpose and the question of its justification is subject to the interpretation of the terrorists and their apologists.


Osama bi Laden in a 1998 photograph

The gory images of the horrors of Islamic Terrorism have been haunting the world from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, and the United States since the 1970's to date The horrors have become recurrent nightmares in our lives. The history of humankind will not be complete without the inclusion of the atrocities of the Al-Qaeda of Osama Bin Laden.

FORENSIC FORCE: ‘Arab awakening' in Arewa? by Salisu Suleiman is on the website of the 234 Next on April 29, 2011 01:18AMT. It is worth reading, because it is perhaps the most critical analysis of the political crisis plaguing Nigeria of which the most recent is the last post election violence in some northern states after the disputed results of the presidential election of April 16, 2011. The lunatic fringe of Muslim youths revolted against the victory of President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the southern state of Bayelsa, because he defeated their fellow Muslim and northern hero Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), a former military head of state.

You can also read my own report on The Causes and Consequences of the 2011 Post Election Violence in Nigeria.

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima


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Our world has a long history of election violence but what makes the April 2011 Nigeria election violence distinct is the reported horrifying death of some National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.

How many of them actually got slaughtered, severely disfigured, vanished in the bushes or yet to be found remain unknown given our fragile intelligence and forensic power but we know that a good number of service corps members died in various riots across the predominantly Muslim northern States.

As young men and women serving in Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps, a mandatory yearlong service, doing their civic work, little did they know that some of them will fall victim to deadly rioting that tailed the presidential election in particular.
As part of their calling they were helping to run polling stations but most of these corps members happened to be of the Christian and Southern stock resulting in their been murdered, set ablaze, raped and maimed.

These victims reportedly fell to the hands of angry Muslim mobs who saw themselves avenging against the Southern Christian President, Goodluck Jonathan the declared winner of the presidential vote of April 16th, 2011.

There is no doubt that the government will financially compensate many victims, and the families of the sacrificial victims or the dead, as well as give official recognition to the victims.

But what is needed now and more than ever is putting in place crisis-based psychotherapy or counseling plans.
As soon as possible, we need professional form of mental health care assessing for brief and longer-term therapy for the possibly traumatized victims, their children and families.

Please note that this is not ‘Oyibo (White people) thing’ or plan as depression and anxiety knows no boundary when it comes to race, ethnic, religion or gender.

We will all agree that many victims of this huge and sudden trauma should not be alone to bear the psychological problems of these torturous and ferocious acts. The ones that are fortunate to be alive, and their families will need practical, insightful and humane way to deal with these traumatic worries.

Immediate crisis-based programs manned by competent psychologists, counselors, and clinicians across various regional human and social services agencies should be set up for the care of victims and their families as well as relatives.

In traumatic matters as it relates to this regional violence, feelings of irritation, apprehension, indecisiveness, hopelessness and other likes are expected and the successful management of these issues are essential.

The victims will gain greatly from counseling along with getting empathy, and a focus on the special needs of these vulnerable citizens will be helpful in the long term. The overall well being of these victims needs monitoring as many of them could be struggling with the effects of culture shock as many were reportedly victims of forced confinement, fire traumatization and explosive suffering.

The front line counselors and clinicians across what could be called or set up as Crisis Drop- in- Centers should be ready for and open to tolerance as they will be seeing persons with responses of all types which could include self-blame, fatigue, uneasiness, acute stress, insecurity, gloom, confusion and loss.

The federal and State governments should be aware that these violent occurrences will cause many non-Muslim northerners living in the north to possibly remain in a state of heightened anxiety both at work, school and in the marketplace. As such, their concerns about more violence should also be followed with various forms of actions like group counseling sessions, inter-community relations counseling, and a short tem neighborhood security or policing in highly sensitive areas of the North.

~ By John Oshodi

John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D., DABPS; FACFE; is a Licensed Clinical/Forensic Psychologist; Diplomate of American Board of Psychological Specialties; Fellow of American College of Forensic Examiners (For Psy); Former Interim Associate Dean and an Assistant Professor of Psychology, Broward College - North Campus, Coconut Creek, Florida.

Boko Haram Movement And Its Deadly Impact

Boko Haram Movement And Its Deadly Impact

By Barrister Bunmi V. Osin (Email: igbala1@yahoo.co.uk)
( Tuesday, April 5, 2011 )

"Back to the crux of the matter. Why has the National Assembly members suddenly gone to sleep? Have they not heard of the over 4,000 Darul Islam sect members in Mokwa of Niger State that were dislodged and sent to their respective States?" -Barrister Bunmi V. Osin

The Nigerian nation has had more than its fair share of conflicts. From inter-ethnic, intra-ethnic and religious conflicts to land disputes etc. e.g. Shagamu (Yoruba vs Hausa in July 1999; Aguleri vs Umuleri in Anambra State in April, 2000; the Ikulu vs Baju in Zango Kataf; the ethno-religious fracas in parts of Jos, in Sept. 2001, July 2002, and Nov. 2008; acts of militancy in the Niger Delta and most recently the attacks on innocent Nigerians that started in Bauchi and sporadically spread to other States in the North where the Boko Haram adherents had pitched their tents, etc. The latest incident is one attack too many on the psyche of Nigeria as a nation, I am no prophet of doom, but are all these incidents not pointers to the American prediction of the disintegration of the nation in no distant future?
The very foundation of our existence as a nation was rocked violently by the religious bigots called 'Boko Haram' literally meaning 'western education is sin', who were desirous of ridding the nation of the 'sins of westernization' by a futile attempt, to install a parallel government based on the Islamic principles, as according to Ustaz Yusuf, all those Northern Nigeria Governors clamouring for Sharia were hypocrites as reported in the Sunday Sun Newspaper of August 2, 2009 as they do not believe in Islam and in the process over 800 innocent Nigerians were reported to have been killed and properties worth millions of naira destroyed in these senseless attacks. We commend the security agencies that battled to restore peace and order in the northern parts of the country where this incident took place despite the problems confronting by them, ranging from inadequate funds, and use of archaic weapons, against more sophisticated weaponry flaunted by the Boko Haram bigots.

During the uprisings in Jos and other parts of the State, at different times, the stories were tilted to sound as if it were acts of genocide against the Muslims, which is a far cry from the truth. In Maiduguri, Bauchi, Yobe, Kano, etc. States where the Boko Haram people struck, the reportage was presented leaving out the attacks carried out on Christian's places of worship. For instance, the selective attack on places of Christian worship and the killing of the Pastors and forceful conversion of captured Christians to embrace Islam and join their evil jihad were not reported. The Light Bearer - a newspaper published by the COCIN Church, later presented pictures of burnt places of worship, with charred remains of adherents that met their unfortunate death in the hands of these devils. Why was the media silent on that aspect? Was that a deliberate plan to suppress the truth? Truth, like murder, will always out, as they say. Acts of arson targeted at Christian properties and places of worship have been going on in the country systematically, e.g. in Zaria where 37 Churches were burnt in 1987, and several others cases in Kano, Bauchi, Jos and other places.

Back to the crux of the matter. Why has the National Assembly members suddenly gone to sleep? Have they not heard of the over 4,000 Darul Islam sect members in Mokwa of Niger State that were dislodged and sent to their respective States? If Borno State had taken the bull by the horn and evicted Boko Haram sect members based on Security Reports, would that sect have been able to wreak havoc on the citizenry as they did? For fear of Darul Islam starting a similar attack from the fringes of River Niger, the Chief Servant of Niger State did well by being proactive and directed that the people who inhabited the Mokwa enclave be evicted to wherever they came from. That has since been done, and those that came from Bauchi, Borno, Kano, and even outside the shores of Nigeria, have been deported. A similar thing was belatedly done in Borno State, where the Boko Haram people were pitched and had wreaked havoc on the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The uprisings in Plateau State did not start with Governor Jang. It will be recalled that in September, 2001, there was Muslim vs Christian fracas in Jos, and later in June/July, 2002, there were incidents of uprisings in Barakin Ladi, Shendam, Wase when various indigenous tribes versus the Hausa Fulani settlers, and the November 2008 ethnic/religious crisis over an election conducted in Jos North Local Government Area of the State. For the fact that the crisis erupted before the announcement of the election results is a pointer to the fact that crisis was brewing waiting to be ignited! Governor Jang, in order to nip the brewing crisis in the bud, as would any responsible Chief Security Officer of a State, directed that the Boko Haram(?) people be dislodged from Wase LGA, and taken to their respective States. When that was done, the National Assembly cried foul, that as Nigerians, they were entitled to live in any part of the country and even set up a Committee to investigate the matter! Their eviction caused ripples for those who do not wish peace to be restored in Plateau State as they have sworn that Plateau will know no peace till the indigenous people are subjugated and annihilated. Let us rationally cite the matter of the ASUU strike which has lingered for over three months now, and the Federal Government is reluctant to sign an agreement that would be binding on the State Governments, yet it can set up a Committee to investigate a State crisis - why the double standard? If truly that is the position, the National Assembly should rise from its slumber and set up Committees to Investigate Niger and Borno States for dislodging Darul Islam and Boko Haram members from those States forthwith.

The arrow heads at the National Assembly calling for Governor Jang's head have so far kept mum. Were those people who were relocated to their villages not Nigerians? Why the double standard for God's sake? If a smaller incident takes place in Plateau State, the whole nation, especially those who are in a hurry to actualize the American prediction put their propaganda machinery to use, so much so that they make it sound as if it was a 8th wonder of the world! Or could it be said that their silence is now due to the fact that the Director-General, Department of State Security Service in a session with the Committee on Interior, according to Newspaper reports, informed them that the intelligence reports on the Boko Haram group were forwarded to the authorities concerned but that the powers that be treated it with kid gloves and maintained that he wanted to ridicule Islam because he is a Christian? If action had been taken on the Security reports, the mind bogging questions are: Would Nigeria be faced with such wanton destruction of lives and properties? Is there a superior religion in the country? Why are the Christians playing the second fiddle in the land? Is the Constitution of Nigeria no longer supreme, where it guarantees all citizens the freedom of worship and association?

It is said that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands, but we are seeing double standards being exhibited by those that find themselves in the corridors of power by hook or crook. Take for instance, the case of the dislodgement of those miscreants in Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State, who claimed they were nomads, but the Chairman of the Local Government, who incidentally is a Muslim and also a Fulani man, reported that in view of the crisis that had rocked the State, he was weary of the people, as they came without cows nor sheep as the nomads usually do, but they arrived in truck loads, which made him suspicious of their mission, methinks they could be members of the Boko Haram.

It would be recalled that after the crisis in parts of Jos North LGA, it was alleged that mercenaries were being used for the attacks and as usual, there were denials, even when some were caught right in the township of Jos and the Okene Local Government Chairman in Kogi State quickly claimed they were Vigilante group members of the Local Government. If indeed his claim is true, what brought them to Jos at that point in time when there was crisis in the State, and who gave them permission to carry fire arms? Not only that they were armed, but also had fake Army and Police uniforms. What has scuttled the Nigeria Police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, etc. that tax payers money will be used to hire hoodlums that turn back to attack peace loving members of the nation? In a society where the rule of law is being upheld, the Okene Local Government should also joined and prosecuted along with his so-called Vigilante members to serve as a deterrent to those who fan embers of disunity in the country. Those mercenaries were not tried in Plateau State, but taken to the Federal Capital Territory only for the criminals to be freed. Is it that there was no court of competent jurisdiction to try them in Plateau State where they were arrested? The question is: who ordered their release and under what grounds? This gave them the lee way to continue their ungodly activities. One cannot but conclude that there is an evil conspiracy against Plateau State and Christians at large in northern Nigeria.

It is being rumoured that there is an Islamic agenda is being systematically implemented in the country as we recall some years back during the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida regime; Nigeria was surreptitiously smuggled into the membership of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). If no systematic Islamalization of Nigeria is being discreetly pursued, it should be clear to all reasonable people that what is good for Governor Mu'azu Babaginda is good for Modu Sherif and Governor Jang. If Jang or anyone for that matter falters, his attention should be drawn to it, but where discriminatory policies are meted out on Jang, while his contemporaries who did similar or more heinous things hold sway spells doom for the country. The people are wide awake and are seeing the injustice being done on particularly the Christians in this country and this portends great danger, if not checked, or else we are playing to the gallery to fulfil the prediction of the disintegration of the nation.

Let me conclude by saying that the enemies of Nigeria should not use religion to bring about the disintegration of the country to fruition. If Nigerians unite, no matter their religious beliefs, the country will be the better for it. Our common bond should be the nation, and not ethnic or religious affiliations. The situation as it is now in Jos where Christians occupy a particular section of the city and Muslims on the other side creates room for suspicion among the citizens. Jos is a cosmopolitan city habited by Christians, Moslems, Freethinkers and even the Atheists. With mutual suspicion which has made every kith and kin moving towards one side of the city lends credence to the fact that all is not yet well in Jos Township and it will certainly be a hard nut to crack given our recent experiences in the land for cohabitation to take place. I pray that God gives our leaders a foresight to tackle the situation and Nigerians the tolerance to live peacefully with each other in whatever area of their choice. My strong belief is that religion should serve as a means of uniting the people, no matter the differences in beliefs.

This write-up essentially serves as a call-up to all clergies both Muslims and Christians to rise to their callings by ensuring that sound doctrines are taught to their adherents so that the likes of Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf of Gaidam LGA Borno State, killer Pastor King of Lagos will not rise to teach some fallacies and hoodwink the people ultimately leading to loss of lives and destruction of properties. I could remember Pastor Sunday I. Peters, Pastor Timi Emmanuel who have been displaced for risk of assassination by members of Boko Haram because of their standing for the truth. All Nigerians of goodwill should condemn in the strongest terms, these senseless attacks on the citizenry. These are the lessons of Boko Haram which Nigerians have learnt in the hard way. The freedom of religion enshrined in the Nigerian constitution should not be abused, as none of the Holy books have been rewritten to now contain new and strange teachings of how to get to heaven other than those already known, tested and believed by their adherents. May the souls of those innocent people that were killed in these senseless attacks rest in peace, amen.

Barrister Bunmi V. Osin
Bauchi
Email: igbala1@yahoo.co.uk

Dear Karl Maier, This House Has Not Yet Fallen

It's not easy to state who started it or how many died. But the horror for those affected is clear.
~ Craig S. Keener


Dear Karl Maier,

This house has not yet fallen, but it is shaking.

Our house is full of strange bed fellows of lunatic fringe elements of the black sheep of a dysfunctional family.

One is turbaned and goes round the bend bowing to the crescent moon and star suffering from a very contagious Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of his mad cows. The other one has gone loco from sniffing too much hydro carbons in his littoral states at the bottom of the river Niger.

Imagine living in the house of nightmares, cast between the devil and the deep blue sea and caught in the snares of the sirens.

Our house is like a home full of Wole Soyinka’s "Madmen and Specialists", swimming in the whirlpool of the vicious circle of the same ethno-religious conflicts that precipitated us into the catastrophic internecine civil war of the late 1960s. The same ethno-religious crises are recurring now with incessant attacks by homegrown terrorists plunging Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja into chaos with carcasses of burnt-out vehicles and razed houses, mosques and churches and the charred remains of corpses littering the streets with acrid smells attacking our nostrils and leaving us ill from the nausea.

Religious fanatics of the lunatic fringe on rampage have murdered hundreds of innocent compatriots in reprisal attacks.

Brothers of that lunatic Farouk Abudul Mutallab the al Qaeda "Underwear Bomber who failed in his satanic attempt to blow up the Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25, 2009, have unleashed their terrors on us as they sighted the moon on Christmas Eve of 2010 at about 7.15 pm in Jos and Maiduguri, and struck again on the New Year’s Eve in Abuja.
These terrorist bombings have now confirmed our worst fears as Sunday Dare concluded that the final script of the terrorists is unfolding now.

The Maitatsine uprising in Kano in 1980 whilst I was a high school pupil in Lagos could be called the genesis of what is now known as the Boko Haram uprising.
The first ethno-religious crisis began in Jos on September 7, 2001, but the ethno-religious indigene/settler dichotomy is deep-rooted in the history of Jos as explained in “Sliding towards Armageddon: Revisiting Ethno-Religious Crises in Nigeria” by Gwamna Dogara Je’adayibe, Ph.D. and Amango Kudu A., Ph.D.

You should also read “The Truth About the Religious Violence in Jos, Nigeria” by Craig S. Keener published in Christianity Today and posted on
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/januaryweb-only/13-42.0.html

How and when it started is good to know, but in the present state of emergency as our house is on fire, who started it, what started it or when it started is not the most urgent thing, but to put out the fire by all means possible and at all costs to save our home from being destroyed by these conscienceless elements of the lunatic fringe on rampage. This is the responsibility of our government.

Our President was more concerned about his egocentric presidential election campaign and forgot to put his house in order until his kinsmen bombed the Eagle Square venue of our 50th Independence Anniversary in the Federal Capital city of Abuja. That was the first time such a catastrophe would happen to us since our freedom from the colonial British Empire on October 1, 1960. But he failed to correct the terrible mistakes of his security agencies and intensified his presidential election campaign gimmicks until the turbaned lunatics of the Boko Haram sect set off their deadly bombs in Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja over the holidays.

The devastating terrorist bombings have rocked the foundation of our house and put us all at risk, because it may collapse if we fail to get rid of these lunatics in our house.

We do not have enough specialists to handle these madmen. Our elites are disillusioned and as the madmen are raising dust in the north and blowing embers in the south our children are in fear and trembling in the premonition of another civil war.

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
~ << Psalm 11:3 >>

The righteous should not give up!
The righteous can do a lot to salvage it, no matter the collateral damage that has been done.

Karl Maier, our house is a house of wonders.
Our children are still full of dreams as they are going on with life with tall ambitions and many of them with their heads in the clouds reaching out for the stars. As the lunatics were exploding deadly bombs of destruction in the north, our ignorant children were exploding firecrackers of celebration in the south.
No Karl, it is not funny. It is the irony of life.

You cannot live in denial of the agonies of the ironies of life in a hostile universe.

Yes, we have our dreams and those who have dreams, also have their nightmares.
This is the burden of humankind.

We all must experience the checkered fortunes of the vicissitudes of life.
You have come across what the Chinese said about our fate on earth.
悲歡離合 .Joys and sorrows, partings and reunions are daily occurrences in the vicious circle of life. Both our joys or sorrows do not last forever, and life goes on.

Our worst enemies are not even these terrorists, but the corrupt looters in the corridors of power and their accomplices, the political contractors and their cronies and hypocritical beneficiaries. These kleptomaniacs are the anathemas of our nation. They have done worse things to us than all the bomb blasts and ethno-religious riots since 1960 to date.

Do you know the casualties of road accidents on the nightmarish roads they have failed to repair after their embezzlement of the revenue allocations of the ministry of works?

Can you count the millions of lives lost since these kleptomaniacs rigged their way into the corridors of power?

Pensioners have collapsed while waiting for the arrears of their unpaid gratuities.
Patients have died from bad health care and when doctors went on strike, because of bad conditions of service.

Have you forgotten the 60 students of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja and others who perished in the ill-fated Sosoliso plane that crashed at the Port Harcourt airport , because.fire service had no water to put out the fire?!

Thousands of students have been driven to crime and prostitution in frustration and desperation caused by collapse of our educational system.

We have lost count of their casualties of corruption.
Corruption is the systemic destruction of our nation by these devils posing and posturing as humans in our midst and they are breeding their kind daily.

We have to take out the lot of them to end the systemic rot plaguing our nation.

No matter how shaken we are by these horrors of terrorism, even if all other things fall apart, we shall remain one nation under the sun and like the Leaning Tower of Pisa that has survived many upheavals over the centuries, we shall remain standing and towering over the enemies of our progress and as long as God helps us to bear the pillars thereof, our nation will never fall.

So, as they sing in Croatia,"Još Hrvatska ni propala", we shall sing in our dialects that our house has not yet fallen and will never fall.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, from the new book “Nigeria: This House has not fallen” to be released this summer. It is a revived version of the The Nigerian Fools Who Think They Can Fool God..

Northern Nigeria: Background to Conflict

Northern Nigeria. Photo Credit: The Will

Dec 20, 2010 22:01 ET



Northern Nigeria: Background to Conflict


DAKAR, December 20, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Nigeria's far north is not the hot bed of Islamic extremists some in the West fear, but it needs reinforced community-level peacebuilding, a more subtle security response, and improved management of public resources lest lingering tensions lead to new violence.


Northern Nigeria: Background to Conflict,* the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the region's conflict risks. Violence has flared up there periodically for more than 30 years. Mainly in the form of urban riots, it has seen Muslims pitted against Christians, confrontations between different Islamic sects, and rejectionist sects against the state. The relative calm that much of northern Nigeria had enjoyed for several years was broken by the emergence in 2009 of Boko Haram, a radical group that appears to have some links to al-Qaeda.



Nigeria's northern emirs gave Prince Charles a royal welcome on his tour of the West African country this week. Here he arrives at the palace of the Emir of Kano (4th from right). Photo Credit: The BBC News

In the build-up to the 2011 national elections, the worst-case scenario is that local violence will polarize the rest of the country. This must be avoided through actions at the local, regional and national level.

“While some in the West panic at what they see as growing Islamic radicalism in the region, the roots of the problem are more complex and lie in Nigeria's history and contemporary politics”, says Titi Ajayi, Crisis Group's West Africa Fellow.
Many common factors fuel conflicts across Nigeria: in particular, the political manipulation of religion and ethnicity and disputes between supposed local groups and “settlers” over distribution of public resources. The failure of the state to assure public order, contribute to dispute settlement and implement post-conflict peacebuilding measures also plays a role, as does economic decline and unemployment. As elsewhere in the country, the far north – the twelve states that apply Sharia (Islamic law) – suffers from a potent mix of economic malaise and contentious, community-based distribution of public resources.

But there is also a specifically northern element. A thread of rejectionist thinking runs through northern Nigerian history, according to which collaboration with secular authorities is illegitimate. While calls for an “Islamic state” in Nigeria should not be taken too seriously, despite media hyperbole, they do demonstrate that many in the far north express political and social dissatisfaction through greater adherence to Islam and increasingly look to the religious canon for solutions to multiple problems in their lives.

On the positive side, much local conflict prevention and resolution does occur, and the region has historically shown much capacity for peaceful co-existence between its ethnic and religious communities. Generally speaking, for a vast region beset with social and economic problems, the absence of widespread conflict is as notable as the pockets of violence.

The starting point for addressing the conflicts must be a better understanding of the historical, cultural and other contexts in which they take place. The region has experienced recurrent violence, particularly since the early 1980s. These are the product of several complex and inter-locking factors, including a volatile mix of historical grievances, political manipulation and ethnic and religious rivalries.
“Northern Nigeria is little understood by those in the south, still less by the international community, where too often, it is viewed as part of bigger rivalries in a putative West-Islam divide”, says EJ Hogendoorn, Crisis Group's Acting Africa Program Director. “Still, the overall situation needs to be taken seriously. If it were to deteriorate significantly, especially along Christian-Muslim lines, it could have grave repercussions for national cohesion in the build-up to national elections in 2011”.



Source: International Crisis Group

Releases displayed in EST time
Dec 20, 2010
22:01	Northern Nigeria: Background to Conflict
Dec 18, 2010
00:54	Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and IOM Strengthen Cooperation
Dec 16, 2010
10:04	Strativity Group Announces 2011 Customer Experience Management Next Generation Certification Program
02:46	Le Président de la Commission de l'Union Africaine participe à Alger à une conférence internationale célébrant le 50ème anniversaire de la Résolution 1514 de l'Assemblée Générale de l'ONU
02:44	The Chairperson of the AU Commission concludes visit to Algeria where he participated in the International Conference on the 50th Anniversary of UNGA Resolution 1514

Releases displayed in EST time
Dec 20, 2010
22:01	Northern Nigeria: Background to Conflict
Dec 18, 2010
00:54	Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and IOM Strengthen Cooperation
Dec 16, 2010
10:04	Strativity Group Announces 2011 Customer Experience Management Next Generation Certification Program
02:46	Le Président de la Commission de l'Union Africaine participe à Alger à une conférence internationale célébrant le 50ème anniversaire de la Résolution 1514 de l'Assemblée Générale de l'ONU
02:44	The Chairperson of the AU Commission concludes visit to Algeria where he participated in the International Conference on the 50th Anniversary of UNGA Resolution 1514

Nigeria Today: Kidnapped Journalists Released, Religious Violence Continues in Jos

Nigerian police arrest four over kidnap of journalists‎- AFP

LAGOS — Nigerian police have arrested four suspects in connection with the kidnapping of four journalists freed after being held for a week in the country's ...Nigerian Police Arrest Four Suspects in Kidnapping‎

Nigeria: Seven Killed in Fresh Jos Attack‎AllAfrica.com - Gonji Palang
... bows and arrows as well as amulets with which they unleashed terror on the unsuspecting residents The pastor of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), ...

Muslim attack on Christian village in Nigeria kills 8: army‎ - AFP

Nigerian machete-wielding attackers kill 8 people‎ - BBC News

Priest's family killed in Nigerian violence‎ - ABC Online

An Open Letter to Nigerian Christians and Muslims on the Violence in Nigeria

The Nigerian Armed Forces failed to prevent recurrent violent sectarian attacks in Nigeria.

An Open Letter to Nigerian Christians and Muslims on the Violence in Nigeria

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Dear Christians and Muslims in Nigeria,

As much as many people have tried to dismiss the sectarian motives and implications of the political crisis plaguing Nigeria, the facts have shown that religion has become a political weapon in Nigeria and the worst hit have been innocent Christians in the northern states and middle belt of Nigeria.

Most of the accused have been identified as the Hausa Fulanis in Nigeria.
Please, see the full page public announcement of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) with the title “For how long will this continue”, published on page 26 of The Punch newspaper of Friday March 19, 2010.
This was not the first time that the PFN would raise such an alarm in the news media because of the recurrent violence in Plateau state and unprovoked incessant Attacks on Christians lives and properties in northern states. We have all seen before our very eyes that the Nigerian government has failed woefully to stop these sectarian attacks and should be held responsible for the loss of thousands of lives and properties over the years.

The political jobbers and political contractors in power cannot save us; therefore we must save ourselves before it is too late.

We have a Muslim receptionist named Aisha and she respects me as much as I respect her and I often remind her of Jumat every Friday and tell her to pray for me. And God knows that I can do anything to protect her even though I am a bona fide Christian.
Most of the security guards in Lagos are Muslim Hausas and I ask that if we can rely on them for our security, then why should we not make those in the middle belt and northern states of Nigeria reason with us?

These horrifying and terrifying sectarian clashes and attacks were uncommon during the regime of Gen. Yakubu Gowon who is from the middle belt of Nigeria.
Nigeria was at peace after the civil war until the coup of July 29, 1975 led by the late General Murtala Ramat Mohammed (November 8, 1938–February 13, 1976). That unfortunate coup was the beginning of the nightmares of Nigerians and since then Nigerians have never enjoyed peaceful co-existence till date.

The horrible and terrible evils of the past will continue to haunt us, but the most important thing is for us to face the truth.
We are either our best friends or worst enemies.
We either learn to live and work together in peace or break up in pieces.
The choice is ours and not that of any political party or government.
Except we are accursed fools, then we can continue to fool ourselves by preaching lies and practicing terrorism and making false allegation and accusations like devils. Because only accursed devils continue to do evils in rebellion against love and peace.
No pastor or prophet has sent us to attack and kill innocent people.

Our destinies are not in the stars, but in our own hands.


In conclusion, may I share the following letter from my good friend Rev. David Smith of Australia, because the message will help us in Nigeria.

Hi Michael,

I'm sorry it's been so long since I touched base.

I'm afraid I've just been flat out of late, As you probably know, I've been spending a lot of timetrying to support my mate, the local Islamic Sheikh. We've had very positive media coverage in Australia,with two interviews on ABC TV and feature articles inall the major Australian newspapers, and we've startedto get the attention of the international media too.

The further I go with this the more mysterious it gets.I currently have three Middle-Eastern men who want tomeet with me privately to show me previously-undiscosed doc.uments relevant to this case.

I'm being advised by all my mates (including Sheikh) to watch my back. But I don't want to sacrifice the chanceto uncover the truth about where the accusations against my mate really originated from.

Anyway, I've been tracking all updates in the media on http://www.savethesheikh.com.

Check in there to take a look at the latest TV segments, links to articles, etc.

I'll also be confirming on that site the details of our'Save the Sheikh BBQ', scheduled for Palm Sunday arvo (March 28th) and a Prayer Vigil that we intend to hold here on Easter Saturday - praying for justice for the Sheikh and for relationships between Christians, Muslims and people of all faiths and cultures in our community.

And of course I'm doing my best to put all this together in a new ezine for you. I really had hoped to have it in your virtual hands by today, but keep an eye on your inbox and hopefully I'll have something for you in the next couple of days. :-)

And keep my in your prayers. As you can probably guess, standing up for a Muslim cleric is not the most popularthing I've ever done. I'm losing track of the number ofnasty emails and phone calls I've received (all fromChristian people) but no one has threatened to take my life or hurt my family as yet, so I must be thankful. :-)

God willing, I'll be in contact in the next day or twowith that new ezine! Until then, may the Lord bless and strengthen you for the work to which you have been called.

Yours in the Good Fight,
Dave

dave@fatherdave.org
www.fatherdave.org

Nigeria: Fears of Reprisal Attacks Loom in Northern Nigeria

Nigeria: Fears of Reprisal Attacks Loom in Northern Nigeria

The fears of reprisal attacks are rife in northern Nigeria after the gruesome religious mayhem in Jos and other parts of Plateau state left hundreds dead, with scores of corpses dumped in wells and toilet pits. Intolerant religious fanatics are using cell phones and other means of private communication to instigate members of their sects to mobilize for reprisal attacks to avenge the deaths of those they lost. The law enforcement agencies have been alerted and warning everyone in the middle belt and northern states to beware of Islamists who are already planning to launch widespread attacks on non-Muslims.

Unidentified men armed with guns and other weapons were arrested and detained Saturday night in Kaduna by the Nigeria Air Force.
Police officers of the Operation Yaki in Kaduna state are patrolling towns and villages to ensure the security of lives and properties.

Many indigenes of Abia, Bayelsa, Edo and other Southern states are already leaving the northern states for the safe havens of their hometowns. Some private schools in Borno and Yobe states turned back pupils, because they cannot guarantee their safety in the tensed atmosphere of insecurity.

Nigeria / Use Restraint in Curbing Jos Violence / Investigate Killings and End Discriminatory Policies

20 Jan 2010 13:53 Africa/Lagos

Nigeria / Use Restraint in Curbing Jos Violence / Investigate Killings and End Discriminatory Policies


ABUJA, January 20, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Nigeria should ensure that its security forces use restraint and comply with international standards on the use of force in responding to the latest deadly outbreak of inter-communal violence in the city of Jos, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should also investigate and prosecute those responsible for the killing of at least 200 people during the violence, the latest of several deadly outbreaks in Nigeria, and address the underlying causes.

This latest violence comes just over a year after Christian and Muslim clashes and the excessive use of force by the security forces responding to the conflict left more than 700 dead in Jos, the capital of Plateau State in central Nigeria.

“This is not the first outbreak of deadly violence in Jos, but the government has shockingly failed to hold anyone accountable,” said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Enough is enough. Nigeria's leaders need to tackle the vicious cycle of violence bred by this impunity.”


Clashes between Christian and Muslim mobs reignited in Jos on Sunday morning, January 17, 2010. There are conflicting reports of what triggered the violence. Civil society leaders report that it began with an argument over the rebuilding of a Muslim home destroyed in the November 2008 violence in a predominately Christian neighborhood. The Plateau State police commissioner, Greg Anyating, said the trigger was an attack by Muslim youth on Christian worshippers in the Nassarawa Gwom district of Jos, an allegation that Muslim leaders deny.

According to credible reports from civil society leaders, and national and international media, the violence was carried out by sectarian mobs armed with guns, bows and arrows, and machetes. Roving gangs are reported to have burned and looted houses, cars, and shops, as well as several churches and mosques. There are also several credible reports that the military and police used excessive force in responding to the violence.

Muslim leaders reported that 80 of the dead were taken to the central mosque in Jos on Tuesday for burial, in addition to 71 buried during the first two days of clashes. One Christian official reported that by Monday, 50 Christians had died in the violence and another 15 were killed on Tuesday. The three days of clashes have forced at least 5,000 people from their homes. On Monday the state government deployed additional military and anti-riot police units to the streets of Jos and on Tuesday morning imposed a 24-hour curfew in the city. Witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that gunshots could still be heard around the city in the late afternoon, and smoke was seen billowing from the worst-affected neighborhoods.

Nigeria is deeply divided along ethnic and religious lines. More than 13,500 people have died in religious or ethnic clashes since the end of military rule in 1999. In Plateau State, an unprecedented outbreak of violence in Jos claimed as many as 1,000 lives in September 2001; more than 700 people died in May 2004 in inter-communal clashes in the town of Yelwa in the southern part of the state; and at least 700 people were killed in the violence in Jos on November 28 and 29, 2008.

Human Rights Watch documented 133 cases of unlawful killings by members of the security forces in responding to the 2008 violence. Police officers and soldiers gunned down residents in their homes, chased down and killed unarmed men trying to flee to safety, and lined up victims on the ground and summarily executed them. The government has failed to hold anyone accountable for these crimes.

President Umaru Yar'Adua set up a panel to investigate, but the panel only began hearings in December 2009. The Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang, also formed a commission of inquiry, which held hearings but did not investigate alleged abuses by security forces. The commission's report, submitted to the state governor in October 2009, has not been made public.

Human Rights Watch called on the Nigerian security forces to abide by the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials in carrying out their duties. State security forces are required to apply nonviolent means as far as possible before resorting to the use of force, and where lawful use of force is unavoidable, restraint is to be used at all times to minimize damage and injury and to respect and preserve human life. Any order authorizing indiscriminate use of violence by security forces, such as “shoot-on-sight” orders, would violate these principles.

The government should also take concrete steps to end the discriminatory policies that treat certain groups as second-class citizens and that lie at the root of much of the inter-communal violence in Nigeria. Government policies that discriminate against “non-indigenes” – people who cannot trace their ancestry to those said to be the original inhabitants of an area – underlie many of these conflicts. Non-indigenes are openly denied the right to compete for government jobs and academic scholarships. In Jos, members of the largely Muslim Hausa ethnic group are classified as non-indigenes though many have resided there for several generations.


Human Rights Watch has called on the federal government to pass legislation prohibiting government discrimination against non-indigenes in all matters that are not purely cultural or related to traditional leadership institutions.

“Nigeria needs to act now to end discriminatory policies and hold accountable those who commit these terrible acts of violence,” Dufka said.


Source: Human Right Watch (HRW)



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Over 100 Killed as Religious Riots Rage On in Northern Nigeria

Over 100 people have been killed in fresh bloody religious riots raging in Plateau state, as of Tuesday.

Local and foreign journalists in Nigeria have failed to report the facts on the reoccurrence of religious riots in Jos. Many reports said that the violence started after an argument over the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the 2008 clashes, but eyewitness accounts confirmed that fringe elements in the Muslim community attacked the St. Michael's Anglican Church in downtown Jos Sunday morning. The church was set ablaze with worshippers trapped inside. The aggrieved Christians rose up in self defence. The indigenous Berom have gone on rampage in retaliation.

The police have declared a 24-hour curfew after a dusk to dawn curfew on Monday failed to stem the spread of the clashes as gangs of irate Muslims mobilized at midnight before resuming attacks on Christians in the early hours of Tuesday. Churches, mosques and homes have been torched and thousands of residents and visitors are fleeing to police and military barracks for saftey.


(Additional reports by Mainasara)

The Fort Hood Tragedy

6 Nov 2009 21:12 Africa/Lagos

Secondary PTSD a Possible Factor for Fort Hood Shooter

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- "Our hearts go out to the families of the soldiers and civilians who were killed or wounded by the senseless violence that took place at Fort Hood today," said National Veterans Foundation President and Founder Shad Meshad.


Shad Meshad has 38 years of experience treating sufferers of PTSD. In his practice, he has seen counselors who treat people with traumatic stress develop Compassion Fatigue, or Secondary Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and with it the psychological symptoms of someone who has been through combat.


Said Meshad, "We do not have all the information on Nidal Malik Hasan and his motives. But if he was treating soldiers with post-traumatic stress who were returning from combat in Iraq, and then faced deployment to the very place all this trauma was being experienced by his patients, it might have been enough, combined with other stressors, to cause the kind of psychotic break that could explain such horrific violence."


Meshad is one of the nation's leading experts on PTSD and Compassion Fatigue. He provides training to DOD and VA staff, on caring for their counselors who develop secondary traumatic stress.


"Being around someone with PTSD is like being around second-hand smoke," Meshad said. "It adversely affects your health. We have to be concerned about caregivers for soldiers returning from combat, and their families. I have been talking about a potential backlash of violence for years. You cannot expect to send our soldiers into extended, multiple combat deployments, and that not affect them or the people they are connected to, back at home. All signs indicate that the incidence of violent crimes, suicide, domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse by Veterans from the current wars are on the rise."


See http://www.nvf.org/blog/item/50 for the story a recent, groundbreaking court decision for Veterans with PTSD, in which Meshad was involved as a defense consultant.


Shad Meshad has been working with Veterans since 1971. He was a Medical Service Officer during the Vietnam War, where he counseled soldiers who suffered from psychological and emotional problems resulting from their experiences in combat, including what would later become known as PTSD. The NVF is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to bettering the lives of veterans and their families.


Source: National Veterans Foundation

CONTACT: Shad Meshad, President and Founder of National Veterans
Foundation, 1-888-777-4443, shad@nvf.org


Web Site: http://www.nvf.org/

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Ajayi Crowther Bicentennial Celebrations

Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c. 1809 - 31 December 1891}, the first Black Anglican bishop, was a Yoruba, one of the oldest and most advanced tribes in the region that comprises today's Nigeria. As a teenager, Ajayi, or Adjai, became something of an entrepreneur, raising poultry and produce. His fledgling enterprise was cut short when, in 1822, he - along with other members of his family - were abducted by Muslims, taken to the coast, sold to Portuguese slave traders, and put aboard the misnamed Esperanza Feliz, bound for America. The third day out, a British ship captured the Esperanza and freed its human cargo. Ajayi was then taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone and placed in a missionary school. As he later wrote, "about the third year of my liberation from the slavery of man, I was convinced of another worse slavery, that of sin and Satan. It pleased the Lord to open my heart." Baptized in Africa on December 11, 1825, he was given the name of an English clergyman, Samuel Crowther, one of the first members of the Church Missionary Society,.

It then pleased the Lord to send Crowther to England, specifically to Islington, where he studied at St Mary's Parochial School, then located on Liverpool Road. Returning to Sierra Leone in 1827, he enrolled as the first student at the newly established Fourah Bay College. So rapid was his progress that he soon became an assistant teacher, then a schoolmaster. In Church Missionary Society reports of the time, he was frequently described as a faithful and efficient promoter of missionary efforts. Crowther was particularly concerned about the effect of trafficking in whiskey and the slave trade, which - though formerly abolished in 1838 - continued in the interior of the continent. He returned to Islington in 1842, where he trained at the Church Missionary Society's college (see illustration #50). The next year, he was ordained at St Mary's, then returned to Africa.

In 1851, Crowther returned to England for a meeting with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to discuss the slave situation. His eloquence resulted in a British expedition to the Niger, which Crowther joined, and which helped mark the end of the African slave trade. Among other accomplishments, Crowther was proficient in languages, which aided him immensely in his Evangelical work. He was the chief translator of the Bible into the Yoruba language, and composed both a Yoruba grammar and dictionary.

In 1864, he was called once again to England, this time for a singular honor - to be ordained a bishop of the Anglican Church. His promoters, anxious that he obtain a university degree before being consecrated, cited his several publications as proof of his knowledge. With almost universal consent, he received his degree. Then, on June 29, 1864, in Canterbury Cathedral, he was consecrated Bishop of the Niger. Among those in attendance was the former captain of the British ship that had rescued him from bondage forty-two years earlier.

Upon his return to Nigeria, Crowther continued his work with humility and devotion. Old ways still remained, however, and his work - as had been the case with Philip Quaque before him - was often met with frustration and defeat. Still, he carried on, until his death at Lagos on January 9, 1892. He had fought the good fight for some sixty years. Among all men associated with St Mary's, Samuel Ajayi Crowther deserves to be remembered.

See the "Ajayi Crowther Bicentennial Celebrations"