The Nigerian army has had some success subduing Islamist group Boko Haram, but Christians are still being killed in Nigeria. Many of the killings are carried out by nomadic Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, a largely Muslim ethnic group that frequently targets the more settled Christian farming communities of central Nigeria. Meanwhile, 12 of Nigeria’s northern states employ Sharia (Islamic law), and Christians in these states face discrimination and restrictions in accessing community resources, such as clean water, health clinics, and higher education.
Boko Haram will leave legacy of ‘hatred’
Boko Haram’s terror tactics in north-eastern Nigeria have led to increasing mistrust between Christians and Muslims, according to . Long after Boko Haram has gone, she said, the insurgents will leave behind in some communities ‘a dense cloud of internecine hatred and suspicion’. Nwaubani visited Michika in the north-eastern state […]
Nigeria: 44 dead in Taraba after ‘Fulani attack’
Dozens are feared killed in fresh attacks on Monday 11 April, 2016, by suspected Fulani militants on several villages in the Gashak area of the Nigerian central state of Taraba. Local media report that at least 44 have been killed (though the exact number of casualties is yet to be […]
Agatu: over 10 villages still under Fulani siege
Nearly two months after the invasion of Agatu by Fulani herdsmen, more than 10 villages are still under siege by rampaging Fulani insurgents, according to Chief Elias Ekoyi Obekpa, traditional ruler of the Idoma tribe in Benue State, Nigeria. Several days of attacks in February’s final days killed hundreds of […]
Head of Nigerian Islamist group Ansaru arrested
The leader of Ansaru jihadist group, a Boko Haram splinter group, known for kidnapping foreigners and attacks against Christians, has been arrested. A military spokesman said Khalid al-Barnawi was captured in Lokoja, capital of the central Nigerian state of Kogi. “Security agents made a breakthrough on Friday in the fight […]
Girl with explosives not a Chibok victim
On 29 March, World Watch Monitor that a teenage girl, detained in Cameroon when authorities discovered she was carrying explosives, claimed she was one of the nearly 300 girls kidnapped two years ago from her school in Chibok, Nigeria. Today, the that Nigerian officials say the girl is not a Chibok […]
Girl with bomb says she is Chibok victim
Since they were kidnapped nearly two years ago from their school in Chibok, Nigeria, nothing has been heard or seen from the more than 200 girls since. Until, perhaps, 25 March, when authorities in Cameroon detained a young woman who they say was carrying explosives near the border with Nigeria. […]
Village massacres strain Nigeria further, as traditional nomads fight modernisation
The aftermath of an attack, which claimed hundreds of lives, in the central Nigerian state of Benue, Feb. 2016.World Watch Monitor In the rural village of Agatu, in north central Nigeria, someone had successfully installed a solar panel in his home before the arsonists lit their fires. It was […]
At least 15 dead in fresh attack in Benue
At least 15 people are feared killed in a fresh attack attributed to suspected Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s central Benue state. On 17 March, unidentified armed men stormed Tombo, in Buruku, killing residents, setting fire to properties and then taking over the deserted villages, an eye-witness told Nigeria’s Vanguard Media. […]
Boko Haram still holds territory
Despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory claims, Boko Haram is still holding territory in northern Nigeria, said the head of the U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM). Gen. David Rodriguez’s assertion comes almost two months after Buhari told the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, that the terrorist group was no longer […]
UPDATE: Hundreds killed in Nigeria attacks
On the night of Feb 21, at least 500 people were killed in the mainly Christian area of Agatu in the central Benue state of Nigeria. That’s according to local sources, although the figure could rise even higher – due to continuing violence and the fact that locals and relief […]