Nigeria may be winning on the economic front (rated #1 in Africa ahead of SAfrica) but it is surely losing the hearts and minds of its own citizens. (Step 1) The Boko Haram terrorists recently kidnapped 129 girls from a boarding school (presumably imparting western education which BH hates). (Step 2) The govt is unable to do anything about it except make a piss poor announcement that most girls have escaped. (Step 3) Some 14 lucky girls do manage to escape, 115 more are still trapped in the forest. (Step 4) The terrified, poor (in all sense of the term) parents are now scouring the forests and have contracted the services of a vigilante group.
If all this does not suggest end of times, what does? Where is the outrage?? Apparently according to the (white) liberals (of the Guardian) the outrage should be directed at the Nigerian state for not having spread the (oil) wealth around (which is fine in our opinion), however, equally they suggest that Boko Harams' approach "makes sense" and the goal of enforcing Sharia is "not an unreasonable position."
It is beyond us to work out a therapy for this specific condition (liberalitis) but we humbly suggest that Simon Allison talks to the dad who is on record saying that he is willing to die so that his daughter may live. It may help focus the mind.
The attack on the school was also particularly symbolic. The name Boko Haram loosely translates as ‘Western education is forbidden’, and the group encourages parents to send their children to Islamic schools instead. The attack on the school in Borno is a punishment and a warning to those who disobey.
This approach makes sense, in a strange, twisted way: it is at schools that children are inculcated with the theoretical values of the state – in Nigeria’s case, a commitment to secular, liberal democracy – and it is these values against which Boko Haram fights, wanting to replace them with a strict commitment to Islamic Sharia law.
This is not an unreasonable position. The Nigerian state has, by and large, failed its population. It may be awash in oil wealth, but none of that trickles down into the population which has yet to see much in the way of material benefits from an independent Nigeria. Who wouldn’t be looking for an alternative?
.....
The parents of some of the girls abducted from a school in north-east Nigeria have headed into the forest in a desperate search for their daughters.
More than 100 schoolgirls were taken by suspected Islamist militants on Monday night. The military said on Wednesday that most of the girls had escaped.
However, local officials and parents said more than 100 were still missing.
It is thought Islamist militant group Boko Haram took the girls to forested areas near the Cameroonian border.
The attack on the school in Chibok, a remote part of Borno state, happened late on Monday. Gunmen reportedly stormed the school and ordered the students onto lorries.
On Thursday, Asabe Kwambura, principal of the school where the girls were abducted, told journalists that the report from the military was "not true" and that only 14 of the 129 kidnapped girls had escaped.
Parents of the girls have told the BBC that more than 100 girls are still missing. The girls are believed to be being held in the Sambisa forest in north-east Nigeria.
One father told the BBC he was willing to die in the forest in the attempt to free his daughter.
.....
Link (1): http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/17/boko-haram-will-keep-killing-and-nigerias-leaders-are-powerless
Link (2): http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27069675
......
regards
If all this does not suggest end of times, what does? Where is the outrage?? Apparently according to the (white) liberals (of the Guardian) the outrage should be directed at the Nigerian state for not having spread the (oil) wealth around (which is fine in our opinion), however, equally they suggest that Boko Harams' approach "makes sense" and the goal of enforcing Sharia is "not an unreasonable position."
It is beyond us to work out a therapy for this specific condition (liberalitis) but we humbly suggest that Simon Allison talks to the dad who is on record saying that he is willing to die so that his daughter may live. It may help focus the mind.
The attack on the school was also particularly symbolic. The name Boko Haram loosely translates as ‘Western education is forbidden’, and the group encourages parents to send their children to Islamic schools instead. The attack on the school in Borno is a punishment and a warning to those who disobey.
This approach makes sense, in a strange, twisted way: it is at schools that children are inculcated with the theoretical values of the state – in Nigeria’s case, a commitment to secular, liberal democracy – and it is these values against which Boko Haram fights, wanting to replace them with a strict commitment to Islamic Sharia law.
This is not an unreasonable position. The Nigerian state has, by and large, failed its population. It may be awash in oil wealth, but none of that trickles down into the population which has yet to see much in the way of material benefits from an independent Nigeria. Who wouldn’t be looking for an alternative?
The parents of some of the girls abducted from a school in north-east Nigeria have headed into the forest in a desperate search for their daughters.
More than 100 schoolgirls were taken by suspected Islamist militants on Monday night. The military said on Wednesday that most of the girls had escaped.
However, local officials and parents said more than 100 were still missing.
It is thought Islamist militant group Boko Haram took the girls to forested areas near the Cameroonian border.
The attack on the school in Chibok, a remote part of Borno state, happened late on Monday. Gunmen reportedly stormed the school and ordered the students onto lorries.
On Thursday, Asabe Kwambura, principal of the school where the girls were abducted, told journalists that the report from the military was "not true" and that only 14 of the 129 kidnapped girls had escaped.
Parents of the girls have told the BBC that more than 100 girls are still missing. The girls are believed to be being held in the Sambisa forest in north-east Nigeria.
A group of parents have raised
money to buy fuel and water, and have headed into the forest with a
local vigilante group to search for the girls. It is an extremely dangerous mission, the BBC's Will Ross in
Lagos reports. The well-armed Boko Haram fighters have killed hundreds
of civilians this year, slitting the throats of many of their victims,
he says.
One father told the BBC he was willing to die in the forest in the attempt to free his daughter.
.....
Link (1): http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/17/boko-haram-will-keep-killing-and-nigerias-leaders-are-powerless
Link (2): http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27069675
......
regards
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