Reconstructing a typical terrorist attack based on interviews with dozens of victims across three states in the region. It all started 11 years ago, or six, or maybe more recently — depending on what community you are from and how soon they got to you. Before that, you had not grown accustomed to the explosive …
Read more “The Anatomy Of A Terror Attack In Northwest Nigeria”
More farmers are downing tools, fearing they may become victims of terror attacks. As a result, food items are scarcer, driving prices through the roof — beyond the reach of the poor. When Esther Maiwada moved to Gusau, capital of the northwestern state of Zamfara, nine years ago, one measure of maize was sold for …
Read more “Food Prices Are Shooting Up In Northwest Nigeria, And There’s One Prime Suspect”
The government insists it is resettling the displaced people for their good, but so far it hasn’t seemed that way. For many of the returnees, almost everything that could go wrong has. When Gambo Muhammad, 72, left his hometown of Sidiya Kari in Kala Balge, Northeast Nigeria, he felt he had no other choice. Rampaging terrorists …
Read more “Death, Starvation, New Terror Recruits … Aftermath Of Borno’s IDP Resettlement”
IDPs should not have to struggle to access basic resources or fear that their rights would be violated — if only the country implemented a better part of its own policy. Since it returned to democratic rule in 1999, Nigeria has faced a steady rise in the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Ethnic fault …
Read more “Nigeria’s Intention For IDPs And How It Treats Them Are Miles Apart”
Likewise, victims of kidnapping in the country were over 5,000 last year — equally the worst rate since 2015 at least. In 2021, Nigeria recorded its worst insecurity-related death toll since 2016, an analysis of data collected by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has shown. At least 10,398 persons were killed across the country between Jan. …
Read more “Nearly 10,400 Killed In Nigeria In 2021, Worst Toll In 6 Years”
It took three to six years of agonising detention and total separation from their families for Mu’azu and Muhammad to be “cleared” as having nothing to do with the notorious terror group, Boko Haram. The people of Andara, a town in Northeast Nigeria, were worried sick when Boko Haram invaded in 2014 and started dictating how …
Read more “Guilty Until Proven Innocent: How Nigeria Further Preyed On Terror Victims”
The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s Northeast is taking a toll on victims’ mental health, and this is not receiving as much attention. Saraya’s life took a turn for the worse when her partner was killed in 2014. She had been happily married to Awaza for three years, and they both lived quietly in Taradan, …
Read more “Her Husband’s Death ‘At The Hands Of Nigerian Soldiers’ Drove Her Crazy — Literally”
The police command in Plateau State, North-central Nigeria, has also debunked the misleading claim. About four pictures went viral on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29, with the claim that they depicted an attack in Jos, North-central Nigeria, involving between 230 and 250 Igbo passengers. But the images are not recent and were shot in unrelated circumstances. …
Read more “Igbo Passengers Attacked In Jos? No, Pictures From Zimbabwe, Southern Nigeria”
For a region already grappling with high numbers of out-of-school children, the emergence of terror gangs is making schools less conducive for learning and parents less able to afford the costs of educating their children. At first, the staff and students at Sultan Muhammad Tambari Arabic Secondary School in Illela, Sokoto State, were disappointed when …
Read more “Education Suffers Silently But Heavily As Terror Sweeps Through Northwest Nigeria”
At a quarter to 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 3, this reporter set out on a journey to Maradi in Niger Republic. The take-off point was the border town of Sabon Birni, Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria. The destination was a refugee camp that housed tens of thousands of people from Nigeria who had become displaced due …
Read more “From Niger Republic To Sokoto … A Night Journey Through ‘Bandit’ Areas”