What is it about Nigerian politics? The political uncertainty about the true nature of militant Islamist terrorist groups in Africa, east and west, is coming to a close. Boko Haram is exceedingly harmful to Nigeria's interests and the authorities in Abuja are not coping well with the tortuous process of bringing the militant Islamist terrorists to book. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan met with top security chiefs in the country and urged them to do anything to free the 276 girls held captive by Boko Haram terrorists. The schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen from the Chibok Government Girls' Secondary School in Nigeria's Borno state last Tuesday and the Nigerian authorities are seemingly incapable of investigating and spitting our credible answers for the kidnapping of the girls by Boko Haram. The kidnapped schoolgirls are believed to be held in the depths of the Sambisa forest. The leader of Boko Haram Abu Bakar Shekau declared that the girls are now considered slaves and they would be sold. “I abducted your girls. I will sell them as slaves in the market, by the name of Allah,” Shekau said in a video publicised and widely viewed on Internet. The eerily disgusting audacity of Shekau might sound like an oxymoron nowadays, but that is the unfortunate reality of militant Islamist terrorism in contemporary Nigeria. In Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency commenced in 2009. They are funded by foreign benefactors, and the Nigerian authorities are not sure who these backers are. Boko Haram insurgents were driven out of Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern Nigerian state of Bornu. They promptly pronounced the predominantly Muslim inhabitants of cities such as Maiduguri to be infidels. The fear of Boko Haram has forced many parents to bar their children, especially girls from attending school. Neither President Jonathan, nor his wife, Patience are seen as playing an active or constructive part in galvanising Nigerians to free the kidnapped schoolgirls. Indeed. The Nigerian first lady was criticised by human rights activists in Nigeria and abroad for openly stating in a televised interview that she doubted the entire kidnapping business. For his part, President Jonathan appealed to the United States for assistance and US Secretary of State visiting Angola obliged. “Let me be clear. The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime,” US Secretary of State John Kerry stated categorically. The United States, too, has taken a keen interest in the tragic incident. “The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice,” Kerry was reported as saying in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, where he is participating in an African Union meeting of continental foreign ministers. “We will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and hold the perpetrators to justice. That is our responsibility and the world's responsibility,” Kerry added in the Angolan capital Luanda. If the Nigerian security forces seem inadequately prepared to deal with the increasingly menacing threat of Boko Haram, human rights groups in Nigeria and abroad are rallying to defend the defenceless. “We need to sustain the message and the pressure on political and military authorities to do everything in their power to ensure these girls are freed,” Nigerian protest organiser Hadiza Bala Usman was quoted as saying. “We believe there is little or no effort for now on the part of the military and government to rescue these abducted girls,” she extrapolated. Boko Haram literally means “Western education is sinful,” but that is no excuse to abduct innocent schoolgirls and sell them as slaves in the marketplace in this day and age. Boko Haram has created an atmosphere of unbearable political murkiness. The terrorist activities of Boko Haram are set to unleash the potential of destroying the tremendous opportunities of the Nigerian economy, Africa's largest. A second troubling point has to do with the fact that Boko Haram has made its mark on contemporary Nigerian politics.
