The recent violence in northeast Nigeria, which claimed hundreds of lives in a few days late July, has been condemned by the main Muslim organization in Nigeria, Jama’atu Nasril Islam. It called the hundreds of youths who participated in the violence “misguided” in attacking agencies of the state, such as police stations. Observers of the situation in Nigeria are suggesting that Boko Haram, which means education prohibited, is using an extreme form of Islam to vent frustration and anger at the government’s inability to provide basic social services and jobs for millions of young people. Murtalal Muhibbu-Din, head of the department of religion at Lagos State University, says “the teeming unemployed youths can be easily mobilized. What they said they were fighting against, such as Western education and Western values, are just smokescreens to vent their anger on the government.” Half of Nigeria’s 140 million people are Muslims and mostly live in harmony with their Christian neighbours. AllAfrica
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 4 August 2009.
Filed under: World news
Tags: Boko Haram, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Lagos State University, Murtalal Muhibbu-Din, Muslim organization, Nigeria, religious violence, western education
August 5th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Wrong! Top govt officials behind Boko Haram, – Police allege; say sect has 1.5 million followers, – Fear of reprisal attack grips Abuja
TOP government functionaries sponsored the activities of Islamic militant leader, Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed last week, Nigerian Tribune can authoritatively reveal.
According to the Nigerian Tribune source, the leader of the Boko Haram sect “had the backing of top government functionaries who sponsored his activities.”
The source also revealed that a commissioner of police was queried and was almost sacked for daring to arrest the late sect leader in his heydays.
From Chris Agbambu, Kolawole Daniel, Dipo Laleye and Ishola Michael – 04.08.2009. Tribune.com.ng I have not provided the link because of the horrid cookies, and irresponsible use of flash and shockwave etc.
August 5th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Nigeria’s problem isn’t Islamist fundamentalism — it’s the country’s corrupt and self-serving government. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/03/the_real_tragedy_in_nigerias_violence
August 5th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Thanks for adding your voice to this: carrying news from Nigeria is rarely straightforward and the more we can make it clear that the situation is complex, the better.
August 18th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
[...] on government operations and police that resulted in scores of deaths. These were followed by later reports of clashes between government forces and Boko Haram leaders. But video footage showing two men killed in [...]