Nigeria: Boko Haram threatens Christians

-- the battle for Nigeria heats up

By Elizabeth Kendal
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 140 
Special to ASSIST News Service

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Boko Haram -- also known as the 'Nigerian Taliban' -- was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's most north-eastern state, Borno. The group demands the complete Islamisation of all Nigeria. After their leader, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf, died in police custody on 31 July 2009, Boko Haram declared jihad on the state. In June 2010 Boko Haram formalised its ties with al-Qaeda which has long sought strategic depth in sub-Saharan Africa and a foothold in Nigeria. Since then, Boko Haram has been sending militants to Somalia for military training under al-Shabaab and escalating, intensifying and expanding its terror campaign. 

Vowing to render Nigeria 'ungovernable', Boko Haram targets anything that does not support its fundamentalist Islamist ends and jihadist means: universities, police, secular courts, Christian churches and even liberal mosques. On 16 June 2011 Boko Haram perpetrated Nigeria's first ever suicide bombing, killing eight and wounding dozens at Police Headquarters in the federal capital, Abuja. In August they followed that up with a suicide bombing at the UN headquarters in Abuja, killing 25. Throughout 2011, citizens have been fleeing Borno in large numbers to escape the gun battles, assassinations and terrorism that have become a near-constant phenomenon there. Despite all this, the Nigerian government has been reluctant to treat the threat seriously. While the federal government has been equivocating, Boko Haram's projection of strength has been winning it popular support from radicalised Muslims amongst the masses and in the military. (Background, see Religious Liberty Monitoring: The Boko Haram Threat.)

On Christmas Day 2011 Boko Haram bombed two churches: one on the outskirts of the federal capital Abuja and one in the volatile Middle-belt city of Jos. The car bomb that exploded in the car park of St Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, Niger State, just 29km from Abuja, was massive. At least 42 were killed, most incinerated by the massive fireball that consumed 17 vehicles. Dozens were seriously wounded. About the same time, a suicide bomber attacked the Yobe State Command Headquarters of the Department of State Security Services (SSS) in Damaturu, killing three. Nigeria's President, Goodluck Jonathan, was subsequently slammed for his lame response quoted in Vanguard 25 Dec 2011: 'The issue of bombing is one of the burdens we must live with,' he said. 'It will not last forever.' (Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had the same lame response to the unconstitutional implementation of Sharia law across the north.) On Friday 30 December four Muslims died in Maiduguri when a bomb planted by Boko Haram exploded outside their mosque after Friday prayers. By the next day, President Jonathan had closed Nigeria's borders with Chad and Niger Republic and declared a state of emergency in 15 hard-hit local government areas of Borno, Yobe, Plateau and Niger states, sending tanks and soldiers to patrol the streets.

Boko Haram has responded to the state of emergency by upping the ante. On Monday 2 January 2012 Boko Haram spokesman Abul Qaqa issued a statement that southern Christians living in the north -- particularly those in the north-eastern states of Borno and Yobe -- had three days to leave or face further violence. Boko Haram says it is prepared to confront the Nigerian military, which it claims is only interested in killing innocent Muslims. Many believe Boko Haram is keen to trigger a religious civil war that would attract international jihadists who themselves have a strategic interest in Nigeria.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT --

* churches and individual Christians across Nigeria will respond with radical faith: not as the world does, by putting faith in weapons, money or might, but by crying with one voice to the LORD who gives strength and wisdom and deliverance (Psalm 34). 'Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death' (Psalm 68:20 ESV). 'It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes' (Psalm 118:9 ESV).

* God will intervene in Nigeria to end the terror, expose the falsehood of Islam and deliver his people from evil. May the wicked who plot evil against the Church be snared in the work of their own hands (Psalm 9:15,16) and repent and turn to the LORD; may God be glorified (Galatians 1:23,24).

SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NIGERIA: BOKO HARAM THREATENS CHRISTIANS

Since formally linking with al-Qaeda in June 2010, the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram has intensified and expanded its jihad against the state, vowing to render Nigeria 'ungovernable'. Christians have been hit hard. On Christmas Day 2011 a massive car bomb exploded outside St Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, Niger State, just 29km from the federal capital Abuja. At least 42 were killed, most incinerated by the massive fireball that consumed 17 vehicles. A state of emergency has been declared with tanks and troops now patrolling 15 of the most hard-hit local government areas. Boko Haram responded by giving southerners and Christians three days to leave the north or face more violence. The battle for Nigeria has begun -- please pray for Christians, the Church and the nation.

---

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. This prayer bulletin was initially written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (AEA RLC). Elizabeth Kendal's blogs: Religious Liberty Monitoring and Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin

---

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Christians warned by Islamist militants in Nigeria to leave north within 3 days

By Michael Ireland
Senior International Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

NIGERIA (ANS) -- The militant Islamist group Boko Haram has issued an ultimatum giving Christians living in northern Nigeria three days to leave the area amid a rising tide of violence there.

CNN reports that Boko Haram spokesman, Abul Qaqa, also said late Sunday that Boko Haram fighters are ready to confront soldiers sent to the area under a state of emergency declared in parts of four states by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday.

"We will confront them squarely to protect our brothers," Abul Qaqa said during a telephone call with local media. He also called on Muslims living in southern Nigeria to "come back to the north because we have evidence they will be attacked."

CNN said that recent weeks have seen an escalation in clashes between Boko Haram and security forces in the north-eastern states of Borno and Yobe, as well as attacks on churches and assassinations. Nearly 30 people were killed on Christmas Day at a Catholic church near the federal capital, Abuja -- a sign that Boko Haram is prepared to strike beyond its heartland.

Human rights activist Shehu Sani told CNN that the latest Boko Haram threat is credible, but many Christians born and raised in the north have nowhere else to go.

"The killings will continue," he said, and Boko Haram may respond to the state of emergency by taking its campaign of violence to areas not yet affected.

Sani said the state of emergency and an enhanced presence of the security forces would not improve the situation, alleging that troops had already been involved in human rights abuses and had done little to reduce violence.

CNN explained that Nigeria has almost equal numbers of Christian and Muslims, with the south predominantly Christian. Boko Haram and other Islamic groups claim the north has been starved of resources and marginalized by the government of Jonathan, who is a Christian.

Boko Haram (which according to the group means "Western civilization is forbidden") is demanding the imposition of Islamic sharia law across Nigeria.

CNN goes on to say that Christian leaders have demanded a stronger response to the attacks from the government and the Muslim community. Ayo Oritsejafor, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, complained last week that the response of Islamic leaders had been "unacceptable and an abdication of their responsibilities."

"The Christian community is fast losing confidence in government's ability to protect our rights," Oritsejafor said.

David Cook of Rice University, who has studied the rise of Boko Haram, said that "if radical Muslim violence on a systematic level were to take hold in Nigeria ... it could eventually drive the country into a civil war."

CNN said corruption, poverty and a lack of government services have helped Boko Haram gain support, especially among young Muslims out of work. So has a perception that the Muslim north has been marginalized by a political establishment drawn largely from the Christian south.

Cook says the group has been responsible for at least 45 major attacks, which have included assassinations -- frequently using gunmen on motorbikes -- and, more recently, suicide bombings beyond its northern heartland.

Beyond the security forces and Christian targets, it has assassinated Muslim clerics who oppose the group, and even killed a prominent Boko Haram member who had attended talks to explore a truce. Boko Haram's presence in the city of Maiduguri has made it almost ungovernable, according to analysts.

Analysts say its ability to inflict mass casualties has grown fast. In August, a suicide bomber struck the U.N. building in Abuja, killing 23 people. In November, some 150 people were killed in a series of bombings and shootings in Damaturu, capital of Yobe state.

CNN also stated the commander of U.S. Africa Command, Gen. Carter Ham, has suggested Boko Haram may have developed links with other Islamic jihadist groups in the region, especially al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Sani agrees, and says Boko Haram's leaders have established sanctuaries across the desert borders in Niger and Chad, out of reach of the Nigerian security forces.

CNN added that the former U.S. ambassador in Nigeria, John Campbell, says that Boko Haram is able to finance itself "through bank robberies and is arming itself by thefts from government armories and purchases -- there is no shortage of weapons on the market."

Less than two months ago, President Jonathan described attacks by Boko Haram as a temporary setback, which would soon be a thing of the past, CNN said.

CNN said Jonathan now appears to see the group as a lethal threat that demands the full attention of the security services. But since Yusuf's death, Boko Haram has had no obvious leader or structure, and appears to act as loosely connected cells. And it is feeding on deep-seated grievances that the government seems unable to address.

According to CNN, Cook warns that "as more and more territories become ungovernable, such as Maiduguri, then Muslims more and more will want to join Boko Haram, if only because it represents the one group that can actually project power and hold out the illusion of security to the people."

---

** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter

---

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.

Nigeria: the Boko Haram Threat

-- terror campaign slated for end of July 

By Elizabeth Kendal
Religious Liberty Monitoring
Special to ASSIST News Service

Nigeria

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Boko Haram, also known as Jamaatul Alissunna lid da a wa wal jihad and the "Nigerian Taliban", was founded in Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's most north-eastern state of Borno, in 2002 by a religious teacher named Mohammed Yusuf. The name Boko Haram comes from the Hausa word boko, which means animist, Western or simply un-Islamic education and culture, and the Arabic word haram, which means forbidden. For Boko Haram, boko isfitna: i.e. something that can shake the faith of Muslims and lead to apostasy. For this reason, boko must be haram. 

THE BOKO HARAM THREAT

-- Al-Qaeda supports Boko Haram expansion
-- The Abuja bombing
-- The threat to the Church
-- Terror campaign slated for end-of-July anniversary

On Sunday 26 July 2009, conflict erupted in Maiduguri between Boko Haram militants and Nigerian security forces. By Thursday 30 July 09, Boko Haram's leader, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf was in custody. By Friday 31 July 09, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf was dead.

On 9 August 2009, Boko Haram issued a statement in which they pronounced "Mallam Yusuf" a martyr, along with "over 1000 of our [martyred] members killed by the wicked Nigerian army and police mostly of Southern Nigeria extraction". Furthermore, they declared that they had "started a Jihad in Nigeria". Declaring their intention to render the country ungovernable, they warned that Nigeria would be Islamised by force.

AL-QAEDA SUPPORTS BOKO HARAM EXPANSION

In mid June 2010, Boko Haram formalised its links with al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Furthermore, adds terrorism analyst Yossef Bodansky, AQIM is receiving aid and intelligence from Sudan and Iran "who are operating jointly in the Sahel" (Strategic Policy 8, 2010).

According to Bodansky, AQIM leader Abu Mousab Abdel Wadoud has pledged that the international jihadist movement will assist Boko Haram with weapons and training to enable al-Qaeda to gain "strategic depth" in sub-Saharan Africa and the solid foothold in Nigeria required for operations in West Africa. Bodnasky warned (Aug 2010) that the AQIM link could lead to the emergence of "spectacular terrorism" al-Qaeda-style -- such as suicide-bombings -- hitherto unknown in Nigeria.

THE ABUJA BOMBING

On Monday 13 June 2011, in response to overtures from the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, Boko Haram laid down its preconditions for dialogue. In a letter made available to newsmen in Maiduguri, Boko Haram unapologetically demanded that before any dialogue with the government could take place, Sharia Law must be implemented across Northern Nigeria where Muslims form a majority, and the security officials implicated in the 31 July 2009 death in custody of Boko Haram leader, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf, must be prosecuted.

On Tuesday 14 June, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim -- who was in Maiduguri to officially receive the donation of 10 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) and 10 Toyota Hilux vehicles donated to the police by the state government -- warned Boko Haram members that their days were numbered. He boasted that the police were now poised to wipe them out, adding, "No stone will be left unturned, until the menace of Boko Haram is unravelled."

Boko Haram responded with defiance: "Very soon, we would wage Jihad on the enemies of God and his messenger," they threatened. "We want to make it known that our Jihadists (warriors) have arrived [in] Nigeria from Somalia where they got serious training on warfare from our brethren who made the country ungovernable and forced the interim government to relocate to Kenya.

"We want to assure all security agencies that we would frustrate their efforts. By the grace of God, despite the armoured carriers that they are boasting of, they are no match with the training we acquir ed in Somalia".
While in Maiduguri, the Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Abubakar Ringim, met with a man, possibly someone offering himself as an informant. That man then joined the motor convoy that travelled back to Police Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday 16 July. Fortunately, as he tried to follow Ringim's car in through the main security perimeter, he was stopped by attendants who directed him to an adjacent car park. It was there that he detonated his explosives killing eight, wounding dozens and destroying 77 vehicles. Had he been permitted to follow the Inspector General's car into the central parking bay, many more people would have been killed.

Boko Harman wasted no time in claiming responsibility: "We are responsible for the bomb attack on the police headquarters in Abuja which was to prove a point to all who doubt our capability."

By attacking Louis Edet House, headquarters of the Nigerian Police, Boko Haram has indeed declared war on the government of Nigeria.

THREAT TO THE CHURCH

While Boko Haram has been busy assassinating police, MPs and traditional leaders; and bombing beer gardens, markets and police stations; it has also been busy terrorising Christians, killing pastors and bombing churches.

As reported in Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 088 (29 Dec 2010), on Christmas Eve, Boko Haram militants perpetrated almost simultaneous attacks on two churches in Maiduguri. Three militants armed with guns and petrol bombs attacked the Sinimari Church of Christ in Nigeria, riddling the walls with bullet holes and killing the security guard, while some 30 jihadists descended on Victory Baptist Church on the other side of the city. Shouting 'Allahu Akbar', they dragged out and executed Rev. Bulus Marwa (37) and shot dead Christopher Balami (50), Philip Luka (22), Paul Mathew (21) and Yohanna Adamu (26). Twenty-five other worshippers were wounded as the jihadists raz ed the church to the ground. 

On the night of Saturday 1 January 2011, about 10 jihadists stormed the Victory Christ Church at Gawo Mai Lamba in London Cinki area of Maiduguri and set the church on fire, destroying part of the building. Fortunately no-one was killed.

On Tuesday 7 June, Rev. David Usman and the assistant secretary of his church were shot dead in their church -- Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) in Maiduguri -- by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram. The gunmen reportedly arrived on motorcycles as the church was concluding a meeting. They shot the assistant secretary and ordered that someone phone and inform the pastor. Rev. David Usman ran to the church unaware that he was running into a trap. As he arrived, the pastor was gunned down by the waiting gunmen.

A Bomb-scare at a Maiduguri church on Sunday 26 June reveals the level of danger Christians face, confirming that security cannot be relaxed, not for a moment. The plot only failed because police, already on high alert, are m aintaining rigorous security protocols.

A security officer at Maiduguri's already twice bombed Saint Patrick Catholic Church told James Bwala (reporting from Maiduguri for the Nigerian Tribune): "The stop and search became necessary following the recovery of some explosives in the bag of a female worshiper in one of the churches in town. The lady had on the fateful day asked her mother and siblings not to go to church for no convincing reason, but luck ran out on her when the curious mother called the attention of some church officials alongside security operatives, who quickly intercepted the lady and her co-evil plotters at the car park of the church."

Major General Jack Nwaogbo, the Commander of the Joint Task Force, confirmed that on Sunday 26 June, security operatives picked up two people "who pretended to be going to church to be converted but were discovered to have a different motive". Both remain under arrest.

BOKO HARAM THREATENS END-OF-JULY ANNIVERSARY TERROR 

The Abuja suicide bombing and the bomb plots targetting the Church come in the context of Boko Haram's threat to mark the 31 July anniversary of Mohammed Yusuf's death in a "big way".

On Saturday 9 July 2011, the Saturday Tribune reported that sources close to the administration have confirmed to them that more than 100 trainee-jihadists have returned from Sudan and Somalia ready to be deployed in a massive terror campaign timed to commemorate the 26-31 July 2009 crisis, in particular the 31 July 09 death in custody of Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf. The trainee-jihadists have reportedly each received three-months training under the supervision of al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Government sources confirmed to the Saturday Tribune that the attacks are being planned for a number of states including Borno, Katsina, Kaduna and Yobe.

Sources told the Tribune, "The operations of this sect [are] getting deeper than many people know. The international dimensions are overwhelming."

According to the Tribune, there is an exodus underway out of Maiduguri, with many people selling their homes and farms for a pittance.

Concerning Boko Haram's threat for an end-of-July anniversary terror campaign, the Tribune reports: "The sect members warned all Muslims to stay away from Christians, security agents, government institutions and functions or face death, maintaining that, 'since the present Federal Government is not Islamic, every [one] of its employees is considered an infidel marked for elimination'."

The group concluded their lengthy statement on a confident note: "We are not in doubt that we are going to win this war. So far, we have an upper hand. Even if it means bringing external forces, we will fight to win. History has shown that when you are fighting in the cause of Allah, there will be a divine intervention . . ."

After asserting that their cause is "purely religious", Boko Haram warns Muslims not hinder or undermine their activities lest they find it necessary to turn on them also.

It is ironic that after declaring that all infidels are marked for elimination; and after warning Muslims that the consequence of dissent will be death, Boko Haram sect leader Muhammadu Abubakar Shekau, posted a statement to the internet in which he claimed that Boko Haram was fighting for "freedom of worship and assembly". Unsurprisingly that freedom was immediately qualified and defined as freedom "for everybody to believe in Allah. . . jettison modern democracy and embrace Islam as their religion". 

Essentially Boko Harma is pursuing an Islamic freedom -- i.e. freedom from fitna (anything that could shake the faith of a Muslim) -- a freedom that is essentially no freed om at all.

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. This article is an edited version of a posting written for her blog: Religious Liberty Monitoring .