Boko Haram members burn their university certificates – Shehu Sani
Shehu Sani is a Nigerian civil rights activist, playwright and author. He is president of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria and has negotiated with Boko Haram in the past.Shehu Sani in this write up speaks on the abducted girls and the insurgents.
Until the abduction of more than 200 girls at the Government Girls Secondary School in rural Chibok, Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgency received scant attention in the global media, which gave it brief airtime when the insurgents exploded their bombs or torched a school.
However, the mass abduction has brought the world’s attention to the callous and unceasing violence that has become routine in northern Nigeria over the last three years.
The area has suffered more than three decades of religious violence between Muslims and Christians.
But since Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf was killed in a 2009 security crackdown — along with hundreds of his followers — the militant Islamist group has stepped up its attacks.
Boko Haram militants have killed clerics, bombed churches and mosques and assassinated politicians and government officials.
When the militants attack churches, their aim is to start a sectarian war that will engulf the country; when they attack mosques, their aim is to exterminate Muslims they consider collaborators.
In the last three years, the Nigerian Government has opted for the use of force to exterminate the insurgents, rather than diminish the activities of the group — and it has become more daring and audacious in its attacks.
Despite the allocation of 25% of the annual budget to defense and security, the government has been unable to crush and contain the insurgency. The group has taken on and demoralized the rank and file of the Nigerian army and police.
