Nigeria, Corrupt To The Core
"You, Sanusi, I am talking to you, it is too late for you the Emir of Kano and the Emir of bank."
"Vigilantes and hunters you have gone astray, you should repent and put hands together and work for God, even you Sanusi if you repent we can work together."
"Don't you see that I am furious."
Abubakar Shekau, chief, Boko Haram
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| Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau speaks in this still image taken from a video. Source: AP |
"[During the raid in Gumsuri, Boko Haram] abducted a lot of able-bodied young men and women, including children."
"Our people had been resisting Boko Haram but this time they overpowered our men."
Mamadou Bukar, leader of regional militia group, Maiduguri, Borno state
Pres. Goodluck Jonathan and Emir Sanusi in a handshake
/October 2014
The Emir of Kano, the man holding the second most powerful Muslim rank in Nigeria, Muhammad Sanusi II, urged his followers to defend themselves against the dreaded Islamist Boko Haram marauders. The 53-year-old Mr. Sanusi had been the country's central bank governor. Oil-rich Nigeria with its huge population and territory represents Africa's largest economy.
President Goodluck Jonathan dismissed him from his position when Mr. Sanusi claimed that $20-billion in state oil revenue was missing. He had been appointed to the post when the previous central bank governor, who had been in the post for over half a century, died. Evidently in that half century the now-deceased Ado Bayero saw no evidence of corruption to be reported, unlike his successor.
Emir Sanusi made his direction to his followers to protect themselves by countering the depredations of Boko Haram in the wake of yet another of the terrorist group's raids that killed 31 people in the remote northeastern village of Gumsuri in Borno state last Friday, when another 191 people were abducted. A mass kidnapping that almost matches in scope that of the 200 schoolgirls taken from Chibok, located nearby.
In the video threatening the Emir, the man claiming to be Shekau, flanked by masked gunmen and trucks mounted with machine guns and with the typical Islamist jihadi black flags with Arabic slogans, fired an AK-47 rifle, in an evident display to show he meant business. Africa's largest oil producer has lost over 13,000 of its people, killed by Boko Haram, since 2009.
In the video, Shekau described civilian militias fighting back against Boko Harm as having deviated from Islamic principles. The militias are known as 'vigilantes' and 'hunters', and have succeeded in recapturing territory and towns captured by the Islamists. Other news out of Nigeria describe Goodluck Jonathan's administration's disinterest in seriously countering Boko Haram to protect the country's civilian population.
A verdict was brought down in a military court sentencing 54 Nigerian soldiers to death by firing squad, accused of "conspiring to commit mutiny" against commanders of a special division created to fight the Boko Haram terrorists. Their conspiracy consisted of their refusal to fight unless they were provided by the government with the methods by which they would be enabled to fight; they had no guns to protect themselves, much less the populace.
Evidently, funding provided for the purpose of acquiring rifles had been expropriated by corrupt commanders, and the government chose to turn a blind eye to the situation. This is not the the first time such a verdict has been reached in a military court. Soldiers tasked with battling the Islamists, finding themselves unarmed for the purpose, have decided to take to protests.
The morale of security forces contributing to desertion and mutinies is entirely attributable to the impossibility of the task put before them, in view of a lack of maintained equipment and resources. Twelve soldiers who had mounted a mutiny in Borno, which has become a Boko Haram stronghold, were sentenced to death when they demanded weapons.
Labels: Conflict, Islamists, Military, Nigeria
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, December 20, 2014
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