Boko Haram: Nigeria Raises N60 Billion to Assist Terror Victims

The federal government on Thursday realised over N60 billion as individuals and groups donated to the Victims of Terror Support Fund launched in Abuja.

The fund is expected to be used for the rehabilitation of victims of terror attacks across the nation.
Over 13,000 people have been killed in attacks by the Boko Haram sect while hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and thousands of property destroyed.

Spread of Boko Haram Threatens Heart of Nigerian Economy

LAGOS, Nigeria—To understand why Africa's top economy is faltering after five years of Islamist attacks, take a look at Tochukwu Odidigwe's car-parts dealership.

In June, an explosion tore through a traffic jam near his storefront near the port of Lagos, the country's commercial hub. The deadly blast left his street covered in ash and his customers scared to come back. "They are afraid they may be killed," said Mr. Odidigwe.

United States Committed To Stemming Boko Haram Threat —Consul General

THE United States Consul General to Nigeria, Mr Jeffery Hawkins, has, again, noted the threat Boko Haram poses to Nigeria and the African continent as a whole and restated the efforts of the United States to curb the activities of the
dreaded Islamist sect.

Hawkins made this known in Lagos, on Wednesday, at a media platform monitored by the Nigerian Tribune, where he also noted that the President Barak Obama-led US government remained keen in helping Nigeria to rescue the abducted Chibok girls.

He, however, noted that “the US government’s interest in assisting Nigeria with Boko Haram predates the abduction of Chibok girls,” adding that the US had an extensive engagement with the Nigerian government on security.

He further noted that the security engagement had been extended in terms of intelligence that would assist Nigeria in tackling the insecurity posed by Boko Haram in the North-East.
He also pointed out that the engagement was not limited to intelligence, revealing that “we are working with the security forces on professionalising them and in dealing with human rights issues.”

Hawkins, however, declined to speak on the intelligence sharing operation but was quick to note that “we are truly interested in providing the Nigerian government with the information they
can use to appropriately respond to the Boko Haram threat.”

Tribune

Chibok Girls: Controversy Brews Over 100million Naira Presidential Gift To Parents

A new controversy is brewing in Chibok village, in Borno State with parents of the abducted girls alleging that they have been shortchanged by Chibok community leaders who received 100 million naira cash gift from the Presidency, on their behalf.

Although a presidential aide denied any such gift to Chibok parents, through their leaders, one parent, Mr Abdu Halidu, told the BBC that he got only N200, 000 from the money.

Now the parents of the missing girls are saying that the amount shared to them is unacceptable.

According to Mr Halidu “I got only N200, 000 out of the said N100 million. Some of us got N300,000 and some less than that. Our leaders in Abuja are using the girls to enrich themselves and this is unacceptable.”

Over 200 schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen who stormed the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, North-East Nigeria in the dead of the night of April 15, ordering all the girls out of their hostels into four lorries.

On July 22, a special presidential meeting was held with the parents of the Chibok girls in the Presidential Villa which afforded the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, the opportunity to empathize with the girls and their parents.

The President, after assuring the Chibok community of his Government’s determination to ensure that the abducted schoolgirls that are still in captivity are brought out alive, reassured them that everything would be done to make things easier for them especially the ones that have already escaped and the ones yet to be rescued.

President Jonathan also assured them that their education would not be allowed to suffer. The statement released by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, after the meeting made no mention of a cash gift to the parents.

Community Leaders Deny

Meanwhile, the leadership of Kibaku community an umbrella body for the Chibok community has denied claims that money exchanged hands after the community’s meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan.

National Publicity Secretary of  the community,  Mr Allen Manase, said that they also heard from the media that monies were given to the families of the abducted girls and such a story cannot be confirmed because they do not have any knowledge of the said exchange.

He went on to say that even if monies were to exchange hands it should have been given to the leadership of the community to ensure that it gets to all affected persons.

He urged the Federal Government to instead concentrate on rescuing the girls and returning them to their families and then it can decide to help in rehabilitating them.

Channels TV

Abubakar Shekau’s Growing 'Caliphate': Boko Haram Control More Than Half of Borno State

Boko Haram insurgents are daily becoming more daring in their attacks, moving into strategic towns and villages, killing, maiming and sacking residents in northeast Borno State.

The militant group has widened its tentacles and is now in control of more than half of the entire communities in the state.

“The more we thought the security situation would become better, the more the attacks on communities,” says Abba Kakami, Borno State chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).

Kakami’s view only captures the feelings of Borno residents and others in the two North-east states of Adamawa and Yobe where Boko Haram exert more presence. “Each day is like traveling on a long lonely road in apprehension with a faulty vehicle that could break down anytime,” a resident of Maiduguri who did not want his name in print told Sunday Sun, adding that residents had been living in perpetual fear.

“About a year ago, our hope was brightened when young men with sticks arrested Boko Haram militants. We thought the end has come but it is clear now we haven’t seen the end,” he added. The residents lamented that their initial optimism was gradually waning especially as Boko Haram had found safe havens in southern part of Borno and neighbouring Bauchi state to launch more attacks.

Strategic attacks/movement

Boko Haram insurgents have been very strategic in their operations since 2010 when full scale insurgency was launched in Borno, its birthplace. While in Maiduguri, its initial operational base, the sect expanded its base and camps to Marte, a border community in northern Borno, hilly Gwoza area, southeast of the state, Mubi area in north of Adamawa and Gujba, eastern part of Yobe where it occasionally attacked communities. By late 2011, it began full scale attacks in northern Borno, sacked almost all the communities and by early 2013, it took on the central part of the state, starting from Alao near Maiduguri, Borno State capital. It moved gradually to Konduga, Kawuri, Bama, Pulka junction, to Gwoza. The insurgents burnt down almost all the towns and villages around the area and subsequently moved to the southern part of the state. Residents believed the hilly and good vegetation of the Savannah southern part of Borno provides a fertile ground for Boko Haram activities including establishment of camps and operational base. It stepped up its attacks on communities and educational institutions in Borno and Yobe late 2013 and early 2014, leading to the massacre of over 40 students of College of Agriculture Gujba, Yobe State, over 60 students of Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, St Joseph Seminary School, Shuwa, Adamawa State and then, the April 14 abduction of over 200 Chibok schoolgirls, which attracted international outrage. Gujba and Gulani in Yobe and Mubi as well as Madagali in northern Adamawa share border with southern part of Borno where Sambisa Forest, a major Boko Haram camp and Chibok are also situated.

Boko Haram’s new-found haven

Until now, residents of Borno believed the Christian dominated southern part of the state was insulated from Boko Haram attacks but with the kidnap of the schoolgirls in April and subsequent attacks with less restriction from military forces, it became obvious that the terrorists have found a new haven in the friendly southern area. A security source told Sunday Sun that the insurgents shifted their activities to the southern part because of persistent pressure on them and killing of their fighters by Nigerian military troops. “We didn’t give them breathing space. We smoked them out and rooted their camps in Marte. So they decided to move to southern Borno where they can get cover with the vegetation there,” the source explained. He also disclosed that all the nine local governments areas in that axis are easily linked from Sambisa. “I think it was a clear operational strategy by the terrorists. They simply established their camp at Sambisa, a very large area, to continue their terror in the area having been chased out of the northern and central parts. From this point too, they can easily move to Adamawa by the north and Yobe-Bauchi axis by the east,” he stated.

He, however, admitted that the attention of the military “was actually on Sambisa and communities  around the general area,” adding that they “did not consider possible attacks” in places like Chibok, Hawul or Askira-Uba “because of the understanding that their children are not easily recruited into the sect due to their level of education.” That purported wrong assessment of the Boko Haram activities, gave the sect opportunity to plan and execute attacks on communities in the area.

Boko Haram’s newly captured areas

A recent daring attack on a newly established military base in Damboa, also in southern Borno, about 85 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital by Boko Haram, presumably gave away the control of the muddy town to the insurgents. Just last week, the insurgents sacked the town, burnt down almost all the houses and killed over 25 people. The northeast zonal office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said 15, 204 people have been displaced. Damboa, mostly peopled by peasant farmers and traders, has a population of about 231, 573, according to 2006 Nigeria census. Fleeing residents of the area said two-third of the total 6, 219 km2 landmass that made up Damboa Local Government, have been taken over by Boko Haram with unverified claims of the sect hoisting its flags in the area. Other communities in the local government taken over by the insurgents include Kimba, Madaragrau, Chikwar Kir, Mandafuma, Bomburatai and Sabon Kwatta.

In Hawul local government area, most communities around the Kwajafa district have been largely deserted after incessant attacks.

Chairman of Hawul Local Government Area, Dr Andrew Malgwi told Sunday Sun on phone that the residents of Gaggirang village are now taking refuge on a road around the area after the insurgents took over their homes last Sunday.

“The attackers burnt a woman in her house, shot many and set the whole village ablaze after carting away their food items and livestocks,” he disclosed.

Boko Haram have also sacked half of communities at Askira-Uba, another major local government area, in the southern part of the state. The insurgents killed over 40 people in Dille recently after previous attacks on five villages while Biu, headquarters of Biu Local Government Area, about 100 kilometres to Damboa, remains the only major town still standing in the area, although it has equally witnessed deadly attacks in the past.

The insurgents have ravaged Gwoza Local Government Area, about 135 kilometres from Maiduguri as all the autonomous communities behind the hill are deserted. These communities, which are located along the Cameroon borders include Attagara, Aghapalawa and Aganjara. Over 2,000 residents of the area are now in two camps in Maiduguri at present.

Only Shani, Bayo and some parts of Kwaya Kusar local government areas out of the nine council areas in the southern Borno are enjoying relative peace.

More than half of the communities in Konduga, Bama, Dikwa and Mafa local government areas in the central district have been destroyed.

So how large is the area destroyed and/or taken over by the insurgents? A lecturer at the University of Maiduguri who preferred anonymity, said Boko Haram have destroyed more than half of the communities in the state. “Geographically, Boko Haram’s presence can be seen and felt in almost all part of the state though with more control of the southern and central districts, which translate to more than half of the state.” He also said there are isolated communities in some instances, which are not attacked by the insurgents because they offer some gifts to Boko Haram to pacify them. He declined to mention the villages. “Mentioning them could be counter-productive because the insurgents may go back there to attack them again for leaking what ought to be an agreement between them but of truth, such accord for protection actually happens in some villages,” he stated.

Military Efforts

Many residents said they believed the military was capable of tackling Boko Haram insurgency but expressed concern over what they described as unwillingness of the authority to nip the terror act in the bud. “The Nigeria military is capable of handling the situation but it appears there is conspiracy on the part of the leaders not to do so,” Abdullah Ahmed, a social crusader said. There is military presence in most of the major towns in Borno but residents said they often said they have not received instruction from their superiors when alerted to Boko Haram attacks in nearby communities. “We found this very awkward because it looks like an excuse not to act and that is why Boko Haram often attack people and communities for hours without resistance from any troops. It happened at Dille in Askira Uba at Chibok Local Government Area and lately in Damboa,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters has stepped up actions against the Boko Haram, while assuring that it would not allow any group to annex any part of Nigeria.

The Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade said the military had ordered troops to up the ante against the sect in Damboa and other vulnerable areas.

He said: “We have put in place necessary machinery, including the patrol of vulnerable areas, to check the insurgents. Activities are being stepped up to curtail the menace.”

Olukolade, however, declined to explain the military activities, saying: “I won’t go into details on the actions we have taken. I cannot disclose military plans.

“We will not say when troops will take charge of Damboa to avoid a repeat of the last ambush of these committed and loyal soldiers. But we are firming up deployment of troops to Damboa and other places.

“We are ready for the insurgents but we will prefer to keep our strategies to ourselves because of the nature of the battle ahead.”

The Sun

Nigeria, Cameroon, Others Deploy 2,800 Troops Against Boko Haram

Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger have agreed to quickly form a new force that would comprise 2,800 soldiers to fight against Boko Haram insurgents.
The defence ministers of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger said they would contribute 700 troops each to
the force.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Niger’s Defence Minister, Karidio Mahamadou,
said they were determined to “eradicate this curse”.
Boko Haram’s insurgency is focused on Nigeria, but has carried out some cross-border raids.
The bridge which serves as a key transport link between north-eastern Nigeria and Cameroon in Gamboru Gala was blown off by men of the deadly sect.

According to residents, cars and lorries loaded with goods were stranded on the highway.
The regional defence ministers met in Niger’s capital, Niamey, on Wednesday, to hold further discussions on the growing threat posed by Boko Haram.
While the meeting was ongoing, the Islamist group unleashed terror on Kaduna, killing 70 people.

A former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) who was caught in the violent attacks narrowly
escaped death.
Efforts to step up regional co-operation gained momentum after Boko Haram caused an international outcry by abducting more than 200 girls from a boarding school in north-eastern Nigeria.

The girls are said to be held in the vast Sambisa forest, along Nigeria’s border with Cameroon.

Channels TV

Nigeria Ranks High in Global "Terrorism" Casualty Rate - Maplecroft Report

Nigeria has the world’s highest casualty rate from "terrorism'' with an average of 24 deaths per attack out of 146 recorded in the year through June, according to
risk consultancy Maplecroft.

The global average is two deaths per attack, the Bath, U.K.-based group said in a report released today titled
the Maplecroft Terrorism and Security Dashboard.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, recorded 3,477 deaths in those attacks as violence by the Boko Haram
Haram Islamist militants grew in scale and sophistication, it said.
“The increased capacity of Boko Haram is likely to lead to a further loss of investor confidence,” Maplecroft
said in the report. The latest figures represent a doubling of the 1,735 deaths recorded in the previous year through June 2013, it said.

Boko Haram, whose name means “western education is
a sin,” is waging a five-year-old violent campaign that has killed thousands, to impose Shariah, or Islamic law,
in Africa ’s most populous country of about 170 million people. Nigeria, the continent’s biggest oil producer, is
roughly split between a mainly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.

The group drew global outrage with its April 14 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from their dormitories in the northeastern town of Chibok. Though the U.S.,
France and the U.K. joined the search for the girls, most of them are yet to be rescued.
The militant group claimed three bomb attacks this year in Abuja, the capital, that killed at least 120 people.

Maplecroft ranks Nigeria fifth in its list of “extreme risk”.countries topped by Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Somalia. While more people have died in those countries due to more frequent attacks, the average death toll per attack has been lower than Nigeria’s,
according to Maplecroft.

Bloomberg

President Jonathan Meets Parents of Abducted Chibok Girls' for First Time

President Goodluck Jonathan has met for the first time with many parents of 219 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and dozens of classmates who managed
to escape from their Islamic extremist captors.

Tuesday's meeting came after some parents had refused to meet Nigeria's leader last week. For months, they have been asking to see the president
and he finally acceded to a request from Pakistani girls' education activist Malala Yousafzai, who had met the parents.
Jonathan blamed activists of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign for politicising the abductions and influencing the parents. The parents said they needed time to decide who would attend.

Chibok community spokesman Lawan Abana said there were 177 people in the delegation meeting Jonathan and an AP reporter counted 51 of the 57 girls who escaped in the early days after the abduction on 15 April.
At least 11 of the parents have died since then –seven in a village attack this month and four of heart attacks and other illnesses that the Chibok
community blames on the trauma.

Jonathan was accompanied by the education and finance ministers, and his national security adviser.
Jonathan and his team walked to a stage above the waiting parents and girls, and journalists were asked to leave. Also present was governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state, from where the girls were abducted. Shettima has accused Jonathan of not doing enough to save the girls and has angered the government with his charges that Boko Haram fighters are better armed and more motivated than Nigeria's military.
Some of the parents and community leaders of the Chibok town from which the girls were kidnapped have made public statements urging Jonathan to negotiate with the girls' captors. Boko Haram is demanding a swap for detained fighters in exchange for the girls. So far, Jonathan has refused.

Courtesy:
The Guardian

Boko Haram kills 2,053 Civilians in Six Months - Human Rights Watch

The Islamist insurgency Boko Haram in Nigeria killed no fewer 2,053 civilians in an estimated 95 attacks during the first half of 2014.
The figures are based on detailed analyses of media reports as well as field investigations. The killings and
other abuses were part of widespread attacks on civilians in over 70 towns and villages in northeastern Nigeria, in the federal capital, Abuja, and elsewhere that are apparent crimes against humanity.

There has been a dramatic increase during 2014 in the numbers of casualties from bomb blasts, including several apparent suicide bombings.
Since January, at least 432 people have been reported killed in 14 blasts in crowded marketplaces, a brothel, a
technical college, and, on two occasions, places where people were watching soccer matches.
Three of these attacks were in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital; two in Kano; two in Jos, the Plateau state capital; and three in Abuja, the federal capital.
The Abuja attacks may demonstrate a southward trend of Boko Haram operations, Human Rights Watch said.
“Boko Haram is effectively waging war on the people of northeastern Nigeria at a staggering human cost,” said Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Atrocities committed as part of a widespread attack on civilians are crimes against humanity, for which those responsible need to be held to account.”

The bulk of the attacks and casualties credibly reported and investigated by Human Rights Watch took place in
Borno State, the birthplace of Boko Haram, where 1,446 people died. Attacks killed 151 in Adamawa state and 143 civilians in Yobe state.

Human Rights Watch compiled the figures by analyzing credible local and international media reports, and the
findings of human rights groups, as well as interviewing witnesses and victims of numerous attacks. The media reports generally quoted villagers, hospital and morgue workers, police and military officials, and local leaders who had observed, registered, counted or buried the dead. In the vast majority of cases, Boko Haram forces appeared to deliberately target civilians.
Since 2009, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal- Jihad, Nigeria’s Islamist insurgency popularly known as Boko Haram, has waged a violent campaign against the government to impose its authority under Sharia (Islamic) law. Widespread poverty, corruption, security force abuses, and longstanding impunity for a range of crimes have created a fertile ground in Nigeria for militant armed groups like Boko Haram.
The pace of attacks has dramatically intensified in remote villages since May 2013, when the federal government imposed a state of emergency in the northern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe.

In many of the attacks Boko Haram gunmen fired on civilians, such as people gathered in busy marketplaces, places of worship, and residential neighborhoods. In three villages in Gwoza Local Government Area, Borno State, in early June, Boko Haram fighters impersonated military personnel to round up hundreds of villagers, then opened fire on them, media reports said. Two local chiefs from Attagara, one of the villages, told journalists they had buried 110 people killed in the attack.
On May 6, Boko Haram fighters allegedly killed 336 villagers in the twin towns of Gamboru-Ngala during an attack in which they used two armored personnel carriers they had stolen from the Nigerian military several months earlier. Residents reported that the villages had been burned to the ground.
Boko Haram’s kidnapping of 276 girls from a school in Chibok in April was not its only attack on schools in the
northeast. In February, Boko Haram militants locked the doors to a boys’ dormitory of the Federal Government
College of Buni Yadi, a secondary school near Damaturu, Yobe State and set the building on fire, killing 59.

Boko Haram forces have abducted and otherwise abused hundreds of women and girls during the attacks.
Human Rights Watch will release a report in coming weeks on abuses by Boko Haram against girls and women, based on interviews with victims and witnesses in June. The report will also examine the deficiencies in the Nigerian government’s response to these abuses.
The killings and other abuses by Boko Haram appear to rise to the level of crimes against humanity. The Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which Nigeria is a party, defines crimes against humanity as
various criminal offenses, including murder, torture and rape that are “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” Such crimes can be committed by a government or a non-state group. They must be widespread or systematic, but need not be both. “Widespread” refers to the scale of the acts or number of victims. A “systematic” attack indicates “a pattern or methodical plan.”

Since 2009, and increasingly since mid-2013, Boko Haram has carried out several hundred attacks against
civilians and civilian structures in schools, marketplaces, and places of worship in villages, towns and even cities.
The nature and frequency of the attacks indicate the actions of an organized movement. This is evidenced by the presence of convoys of trucks, motorbikes, and occasionally armored personnel carriers with well-armed gunmen; the fashion in which gunmen were seen deploying in and around the target or setting up checkpoints; and the planning required to infiltrate the
cities in which attacks took place.
Human Rights Watch and other national and international human rights groups have also documented abuses by the Nigerian Security Forces since 2009 as they responded to the attacks by Boko Haram.
These include excessive use of force, burning homes, physical abuse, and extrajudicial killings of those suspected of supporting Boko Haram.

Amnesty International found that following a March 14 Boko Haram attack on Giwa Barracks that led to the escape of hundreds of detainees, the security forces executed hundreds of the unarmed recaptured detainees.
Security forces have rounded up hundreds of men and boys suspected of supporting Boko Haram, detained
them in inhuman conditions and physically abused or killed them. Many others have been forcibly disappeared. The Nigerian government should account for the “disappeared” and ensure that all law enforcement operations are conducted in full accordance with international human rights standards.
“No matter how egregious the violence, Nigerian security forces engaged in operations against Boko Haram may not operate outside the law,” Dufka said. “The Nigerian government should recognize that it needs to protect its population both from Boko Haram and from abusive members of its own military and police.”

Courtesy:
The Nation

Chibok Girls, Parents Shun Meeting with Jonathan, Okupe Claims Chibok Girls Issue is a 'Political Chess Game'

AN attempt by President Goodluck Jonathan to meet with the parents and some escapee girls earlier abducted from Government Secondary School (GSS), Chibok, Borno State, Tuesday failed as they shunned the meeting slated for the State House.
The meeting would have been a follow-up to the commitment the President made on Monday to the Pakistani Girl-Child Education Campaigner, Malala Yousafzani, during an audience at the State House, Abuja.

Briefing State House correspondents, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the meeting was scheduled for 4p.m yesterday following Malala’s request, which the President graciously agreed to.
“Unfortunately, the #BringBackOurGirls# leadership
prevailed on the parents of the girls not to come. What happened was that they actually avoided the meeting with Mr. President, because the foreign media and everybody were waiting for this meeting. They made it expressly clear to us that they were no longer coming,” Okupe said.

He confirmed that the President had authorized that an official letter be written to the parents formally
inviting them to meet him, and it is going to be sometime next week. He said all the rigmarole about the Chibok girls was a prelude to the 2015 general elections, regretting that the plight of the schoolgirls had become a political chess game to the local chapter of the #BringBackOurGirls# campaigners.

Courtesy:
Guardian Newspaper

Right Activist Malala Meets Families of Abducted Chibok Girls in Nigeria, Pledges to Help

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani Rights Activist who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls’ education, has pledged while on a trip to Nigeria to help free a group of school girls abducted by Islamist militants.

On Sunday, 16-year-old Malala met with parents of the more than 200 girls who were kidnapped by militant group Boko Haram from a school in the northeastern village of Chibok in April.

Boko Haram, a Taliban-inspired movement, say they are fighting to establish an Islamic state in religiously mixed Nigeria. The group, whose name means “western education is sinful”, has killed thousands and abducted hundreds since launching an uprising in 2009.

Some of the parents broke down into tears as Malala spoke at a hotel in the capital Abuja on Sunday.

“I can see those girls as my sisters … and I’m going to speak up for them until they are released,” said Malala, who celebrates her 17th birthday on Monday in Nigeria, where she is scheduled to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan.

“I’m going to participate actively in the ‘bring back our girls’ campaign to make sure that they return safely and they continue their education.”

The girls’ abduction drew unprecedented international attention to the war in Nigeria’s northeast and the growing security risk that Boko Haram poses to Nigeria, Africa’s leading energy producer.

A #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign supported by Michelle Obama and Angelina Jolie heaped pressure on authorities to act, and President Jonathan pledged to save the girls, drawing promises of Western help to do so.

But several weeks on the hostages have not yet been freed and media interest has waned.

In addition, Boko Haram, now considered as the main security threat to Nigeria, is growing bolder. Police said on Saturday they uncovered a plot to bomb the Abuja transport network using suicide bombers and devices concealed in luggage at major bus stations.

“I can feel … the circumstances under which you are suffering,” she said. “It’s quite difficult for a parent to know that their daughter is in great danger. My birthday wish this year is … bring back our girls now and alive.”

Taliban militants shot Malala for her outspoken views on women’s right to education. She survived after being airlifted to Britain for treatment and has since become a symbol of defiance against militants operating in the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

She has won the European Union’s prestigious human rights award and was one of the favorites to win the Nobel peace prize last year, although the award ended up going to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

-Reuters

Boko Haram ready to Swap 219 Chibok Girls With 70 Detainees

 Haram has demanded the release of 70 of its members in detention as a condition to free the Chibok girls, it emerged yesterday.
The sect is also asking the government to give amnesty to its members.

A lawyer close to the armed group, Hajiya Aisha Wakil,  told AlJazeera English that the sect said only when these conditions are met would it release the abducted girls.
No fewer  than 276 girls were abducted from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State on April 15.

The Boko Haram leaders deceived the girls that they were soldiers who came to protect them from attack.
There are 219 girls in their custody following the escape of 57 from their enclave.
In spite of the support from an international coalition, including the United States, Britain, France and Australia military personnel and the use of a negotiator, the girls remain in the sect’s custody.