Articles - "Boko Haram"
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Loladeville blog is a one-stop site for entertainment, sports, fashion and other interesting news.

Right now more and more people, hostages, are being rescued from the clutches of the Boko Haram sect. Many of them who were abducted as girls are returning as mothers having had children with their abductors.


Unfortunately many of the returning women are being ostracized by their own families and communities for having kids with their kidnappers. People can’t understand why they had relationships with their captors. Rejected by their own many of these women have expressed their desires to return to their ‘Boko Haram ‘husbands’ and people can’t understand why they would want to go back to such a dreadful place to live with equally dreadful people.


The answer is very simple and it’s called ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ or capture bonding where people held against their will, in time, start to bond emotionally with their captors.


When people have been in captivity for long periods of time the hostile relationship between captive and captor begins to break down and they begin to have feelings for each other. Sometimes hostages feel empathy for their captors and begin to feel sorry for them and think like them. Notable cases are the Stockholm bank robbery of 1973 where hostages began to feel sorry for the bank robber who had captured them and Patty Hearst who was kidnapped by the SLA in 1974 and later joined them on bank robberies and helped them make propaganda announcements.
It’s not just hostages who suffer from ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. People in abusive relationships, mostly women and children, are known to suffer from it too. After being abused for so long they begin to reason with their abusers, seeing things from their point of view until they start to blame themselves for their abusers often violent actions towards them.

Women kidnapped by the Boko Haram would initially be scared of their kidnappers but as time goes by (-and some of them have been gone for a long time) they will become friendly with their captors. Its human nature to seek out a friend. From time to time when we’re going through a rough patch in life we all need a friend or a shoulder to cry upon – and that shoulder could belong to anyone, even a Boko haram murderer.


To integrate them back into society we have to understand they’ve been away for a long time and would have become friendly with who we regard to be the enemy – even having offspring with them – because to them, over time, they became close – something that was beyond their control.
The people coming back from captivity will be strangers, shadows of their former selves. Their ways, mannerism and habits will all be different to what they used to be and they will have a general mistrust of the people around them. They will be scared – even of their own families and shadows – because they would have lost the ability to trust another human. They will need a lot of TLC, tender loving care, and without any doubt therapy to help re-integrate them back into society, to de-programme their confused minds and help them become themselves again. And to the authorities concerned leaving them on their own or dumping them in IDP camp doesn’t constitute help or therapy. Sadly our health authorities do not have specially trained psychiatric units standing by to provide the required therapy for people recovering from ‘Stockholm Syndrome’.


Also their families and their communities have a big role to play. Instead of shunning them because they’ve been with the Boko Haram for so long every effort must be made to help them. Remember none of them willingly went to live with the Boko Haram fighters and have kids with them. They were abducted and most likely subjected to un-imaginable abuse before their wills were broken. To help them back to their former selves will require a lot of effort from everybody around them – stigmatizing them won’t help. If for one minute they think they’ve been rescued from one hell hole to return to another they won’t think twice before indicating their desire to return to their former captors. 


Their children shouldn’t be ostracized (- or thrown away or killed as some reportedly have been!) but welcomed into the family and the community. You cannot blame a poor innocent child for its conception, something of which it has no control. And the same goes for children conceived as a result of rape or from an abusive partner – DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON THE INNOCENT CHILD! They might be created as a result of an un-holy union but every effort must be made to ensure they are given an equal chance to live a normal life.

You waited a long time for your loved ones to return from captivity, now they’re back don’t shun them or drive them away because they are slightly different. If you force them to run away you’ll never see them again.
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Such effrontery! Terrorist sect, Boko Haram has written a Thank You letter to ex President Goodluck Jonathan for allowing them to express themselves during his tenure.

The letter which was read by the deadly sect's leader, Abubakar Shekhau and signed by more than 150 members of the group was‎
read in a video posted on Al Jazeera.


"We know we weren't the easiest of people to deal with. No matter what happened, you never held it against us or made us feel bad even when we knew we were. Thank you for letting us be ourselves. Thank you and Goodluck, Jonathan." Excepts from the letter reads.



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Following their pledge of alliance to the Islamic State of Irag and Syria, deadly Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram has re-named itself Wilayat al Sudan al Gharbi, which is translated in English as the 'West African Province' of the Islamic State.

The group also released new images of its fighters but their leader Shekau is missing. This news is coming few days after the Nigerian military claimed the insurgents have run out of ammunition and are now using bow and arrows.
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Like a thief that cometh in the night to steal and to kill, the deadly terrorist group, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which in English means, "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad", otherwise known as Boko Haram, on the night of 14–15 April 2014, stormed the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok Community, Borno State, Nigeria.

Broke into the school, pretended to be guards, told the girls to get out and come with them. A large number of students, numbering about two hundred and seventy-nine (279) girls were taken away with them in trucks. Possibly into the Konduga area of the Sambisa Forest where they were known to have fortified camps.


Fifty-seven (57) of the girls managed to escape on their own on transits, left with about 219 in the hands of Boko Haram their abductor. Houses in Chibok community were also burnt down in the incident. 

The school had been closed for four weeks prior to the attack due to the deteriorating security situation in the region, but students from multiple schools had been called on to take their physics final exams. These girls were aged 13 to 18 and were in their final year of school.

Tuesday, 14th April 2015, makes it exactly a year since the abduction of these girls. Their singular offence was that they wanted to be educated and pursue their dreams.


One of the saddening part of the incident was; the president did not believe that the girls were abducted for almost 18 days after their abduction was made. Since the president got the information within 24 hours of the act, if he had reacted almost immediately, those girls would have been rescued before they got to their destination.

Rather for the president to spring into actions after receiving briefings about the abduction, he doubted it. He had rather preferred to go dancing in Kano in the name of a rally. That was the most unfortunate aspect of the whole scenario. After that, it took President Jonathan about 20 days before he publicly acknowledged that the abduction actually took place.

That was after both local and international individuals and groups, especially the #BringBackOurGirls group here in Nigeria mounted pressure on him ahead of the World Economic Forum for Africa.

The president first spoke about the abduction in a media chat held 4th May, 2015, where he blamed the parents of the school girls for not giving information about the victims and the incident.

On 17 October 2014, hopes were raised that the over 200 girls left in the hands of Boko Haram their abductor might soon be released after the Nigerian army announced a truce between Boko Haram and government forces.

The announcement coincided with the six-month anniversary of the girls' abduction and followed a month of negotiations mediated in Saudi Arabia by Chadian president, Idriss Déby.

The announcement was met with doubts, as that was not the first time the Nigerian government had claimed a breakthrough in negotiations with the Islamic militant group – it had to backtrack on a previous announcement in September after saying the girls had been released and were being held in military barracks. This was later found out to be false.

It must be on record, that if not for the relentless efforts of groups like the #BringBackOurGirls group, that kept demanding for the rescue of these girls, the government would not have said anything about their abduction, nothing would have been done about rescuing them and they would have been totally forgotten.

Fortunately, this group has been consistent; they have been humane and have shown affection to the #ChibokGirls, their family and their friends. This group keeps the memory of these girls alive and continues to hold the government responsible for failing to rescue them.

For a year now, we have demanded, we have begged, we have petitioned, we have remonstrated, we have pleaded; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored the Presidency to bring down Boko Haram under its feet and #BringBackOurGirls.

Rather, our petitions have been slighted, our remonstrances have produced humiliation and insult, our supplications have been ignored, and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne. We have since indulged in the fond of hope and faith, while we keep demanding for the rescue of our girls.

One thing is clear; we have pledged ourselves never to abandon this glorious course until our demand is meant. We shall keep demanding, for the rescue of our girls until they are finally brought back home.

These girls need to regain their freedom, they need to come back home, they deserve to live their normal lives and they have the right to pursue their dreams. The government must not allow the lives of these girls to be wasted, something has to be done and has to be done fast.

We have hoped that President Goodluck Jonathan would do all within his reach to rescue our girls, but as I write this piece nothing tangible has been done and the Chibok girls are yet to be back home.

And it`s so painful, that even as his tenure is coming to end, the Chibok girls still remain missing worst of it is that we do not have any situation report about their whereabouts and safety. However as Nigeria swears in a new President come 29th May, 2015, who will #BringBackOurGirls? President Jonathan or General Buhari?










Credit: Information Nigeria



















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For her tireless protests against Boko Haram killings and kidnappings, Tokyo-based Niwano Peace Foundation yesterday 24th February awarded a whooping sum of $170,000 prize to Nigerian anti-Boko Haram campaigner, Esther Ibanga.

Ibanga who is the founder of the Women Without Walls Initiative (WOWWI) has been very vocal in her campaigns against kidnappings in Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe states.‎

"Esther has worked extensively to foster and facilitate reconciliation between conflicting religious and tribal groups, setting up an organization that has all tribal women leaders on its membership."  The foundation said in a statement.



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3 of the Chibok Girls who escaped Boko Haram captivity months ago tell their kidnap and escape stories to BBC.


Best friends Lami and Maria (not real names) escaped by jumping from the back of a truck. Hajara was taken to a camp but later fled with another girl.




Lami:

It was Monday night. We had exams the following day. Then we started to hear shootings in the town. So we went out. We phoned our parents to tell them what was happening in the town. They told us to run away when we got the chance. We told them that the town was already surrounded so there was no way we could run.




Maria:


Lami woke me up saying: "Maria didn't you hear what's happening? Haven't you heard sounds of shooting from the town?" I said we should climb the wall and run away. She said: "No. No-one has run away. We should gather in one place and wait to see what's going to happen."
Other girls said nothing would happen to us. "We're girls. They don't do anything to girls. We should wait and see what God would do."




Lami:

We were at the school when suddenly three Boko Haram members entered.
They said: "If any of you attempt to leave we'll kill all of you." When we went out they were everywhere. They gathered us where we have our school assembly. As we were there they kept burning the school. They burnt everything.





Hajara:

They asked us to get out of the gate, saying that when we were out they would let us go back to our homes. They said whoever did not have a headscarf or shoes should go and get them. They then asked us to climb on to a lorry, on top of the food loaded in it. The lorry was so high that we couldn't easily climb on.




Maria:

They said to us: "You're only coming to school for prostitution. Boko (Western education) is haram (forbidden) so what are you doing in school?"
We kept quiet. I think there could have been about 100 Boko Haram members - they were all over the school. They outnumbered us. They took us away in their vehicles. We were sitting on oil drums in the vehicle. Our vehicle was really overloaded. We were saying to one another that we should throw away our shoes and scarves so that if our parents came they would know the road we had taken.




Hajara:

The vehicle became full before I could get on. There were about 100 of us walking. We stopped at one town and people brought us water. I saw one of those who brought us water changed his clothes and joined the Boko Haram men. They then put us in other vehicles.
They put the rest in the boots of cars. Some of the Boko Haram members were so small that if I were to grab their necks I could break them. Some couldn't even carry their guns properly.



Maria:

We were wondering where we were being taken to. When we entered the vehicle, Lami said to me: "Shouldn't we jump out of the vehicle here so that we may possibly escape? There are no other vehicles close by."



Hajara:

I thought, it's preferable to have these people shoot me as I run than have them humiliate me. They kept saying to us: "Make sure you put on your scarves. Make sure you put on your scarves. We'll shoot any girl we see without a scarf. And any girl who jumps out will die."
I was about to jump out when one girl held me back and said they'd shoot me if I did.
"What's the difference," I said. "Is it not to the same death we're going? They should shoot me here and let my corpse be collected."
I was crying and praying until we reached the camp.


L
Lami: 

There was a lot of dust on the road, they couldn't see us. When we jumped out, we started to run. We were running without shoes. We found other people. We started to run away from them thinking they were Boko Haram. But they too had run from the town.
Hajara: Boko Haram gathered us in a forest around noon. Some of the girls were tired and were lying down. But I couldn't lie down. The spirit of God was asking me to go. It was telling me: "Get up and go. Get up and go."
So I went. Another girl followed me. When we were going I saw some of them [Boko Haram members] performing ablutions. We stooped as if we were trying to pull out thorns from our shoes, as if we were just going to wee. We'd walk a little then bend down for a little while as if we were looking for something we'd lost.
After walking for a while they couldn't see us properly since it was forest. We then started to run. After we had run for a short distance, we heard them saying "catch those girls." We kept running. Whether they came after us not, we didn't know.



Hajara: 

We kept going and our shoes were ripped. We found a house, where a girl could speak Hausa. Her parents gave us a place to sleep. We reached the Chibok area in the morning. A man looking for a relative among the missing girls drove us on motorbike into town.
When I saw my elder and younger brothers, I fell to the ground crying. My mother and father were crying and all members of my family cried. Before I reached home it was as if there was a death in the house. Mats were spread. People were consoling my father and mother thinking that I had die



Lami: 

The people we met said: "Your town is far away. You can't go there now. Come here and wait until morning when we'll take you into the town to get transport back home." We stayed there till morning when they asked us to get up so that we go to the town. We couldn't walk. Our feet were full of thorns.
They said: "Let's go find a vehicle to take you home."




Maria: 

The men who helped us took us to Chibok, and I cried. It was the second time that something like that had happened to me. My dad was a pastor; Boko Haram went to our house and killed him. They also shot my mum in the stomach; they gave her 2,000 Naira ($12) to have the bullet.
Lami: My parents warmed up water and cared for my feet. I was taken to the hospital and it was two weeks before I could stand up.

‎

Maria:

I continued to live with the thought that Boko Haram members were coming to get me. I couldn't sleep.



Hajara: 

I was having nightmares every day. There was even a day when I dreamed that they gathered all of us who fled in one place, and said to us: "You girls have defied us and fled. We're now going to burn you alive."
I haven't forgotten about the other girls who are still in the hands of those people. I keep praying for them.



Lami: 

God will never make us meet these people again. And for our sisters who are still in the forest, may God help them. And may the whole world cry out for these girls to get out so that we continue with our education in school again.


Maria: 

They should pray to God to forgive them their sins. I'd also ask them to bring back the girls they have kidnapped because their parents are in distress. Some of the parents of the girls have already died. It was the thought of their girls that killed them.


Hajara: 

God will do what he wills, but I don't want to look at them because of what they have done to my life. They think they've ruined me, but God willing, they haven't ruined me. I'll continue with my education.









Credit: BBC

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Lt.-Col Adeboye Obasanjo, son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was yesterday, September 8, 2014 shot by members of Islamic sect, Boko Haram in Adamawa State. The army Engineer was shot in the leg while leading a platoon of the army that took on the insurgents at Baza near Michika.

A highly reliable source disclosed that he is being treated at a military facility and is responding to treatment.
"He was shot by Boko Haram in the battle to reclaim Michika from the insurgents. But there is no cause for alarm as he is responding to treatment," he said.
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I was fifteen years old when the civil war broke out in Nigeria. Although we were living in Ibadan in the South-west at the time, my sympathies were totally and unequivocally with the Igbos. When a people have been so brutally butchered by their countrymen as happened to the Igbos, I felt they had no choice but to insist on leaving the country. Therefore, I understood why the Biafrans went to war and what they were fighting for. But I could not, for the life of me, understand what those on the federal side were fighting for. Why would anybody fight for Nigeria?

I lost a first-cousin fighting on the federal side during the civil war. I wish I could have found out first-hand from him why he gave his life "to keep Nigeria one." Did he really believe in Nigeria? I doubt it. Why then did he join the army after the war broke out and die in the war? What about those who fought and did not die? What was in Nigeria for them? How did Nigeria justify their sacrifice of blood and gore after the war?



Fighting for Nigeria

The question is still pertinent today as we mobilize to fight the scourge of the Boko Haram. Why would anybody fight for Nigeria? What is in Nigeria for us? There is a difference between joining an army for career purposes and believing in Nigeria. There is a difference between joining the Nigerian army because you need a job and dying for Nigeria. There is a difference between going to war and getting killed and dying for Nigeria. For a man to die for Nigeria, he has to believe in Nigeria. For a man to believe in Nigeria, Nigeria has to mean something for him. Nigeria must have something to offer him.

John Kennedy said: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." That is all well and good; provided we have fulfilled the first requirement which is to identify our country. Most Nigerians have yet to do this. We are Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba and every other possible abridgement or classification but not Nigerians. We are Christians and Muslims but not yet Nigerians. Even after 54 years of Nigerian independence, and after 100 years of Nigerian amalgamation, most Nigerians still do not really consider themselves to be Nigerians.

We can acknowledge the assistance of the Americans, the British, the French and others. But the truth of the matter is that only a Nigerian can fight for Nigeria against the Boko Haram. Only a Nigerian can have the necessary commitment to endanger his life in fighting against the insurgents. However, there are few Nigerians in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, most Nigerians are Boko Haram in one fashion or the other.





Nigerian foreigners

I was upset when I read about a Nigerian who died fighting in the U.S. Army in Iraq. He not only became an American, he fought and died for America. Every year, thousands of Nigerians play the American lottery, hoping to relinquish Nigerian nationality. Every week, thousands mass at European, American and other embassies, hoping to travel out of Nigeria for good. I even met a Nigerian barber in poor Gambia and wondered what he was doing there. What was he doing in Gambia when there are better business opportunities for him in Nigeria; unless anywhere else is better than home?

The Lamido of Adamawa threatened that if things don't work out in Nigeria, he would simply pack his bags and move to Cameroon. It would appear then that the Lamido is actually a Cameroonian living in Nigeria. Most countries go to war to secure more territories for themselves. The Russians recently used the opportunity of a little crisis in Ukraine go annex the Crimea. However, Obasanjo gave away a big chunk of Nigeria's Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. It did not matter to him that the people of Bakassi are Nigerians and not Cameroonians. While we are shouting "Bring Back Our Girls" today, we forgot to ask Obasanjo to bring back our Bakassi Nigerians yesterday.






Hatred of Nigeria

So many theories have been adduced as to why the Boko Haram prevail in Nigeria. Some attribute this to the acute poverty in the Nigerian North-east. However, there are countries in the world far poorer than Nigeria, and they don't have their own versions of the Boko Haram. There are countries with greater income disparities than Nigeria, and they don't produce the Boko Haram. No matter how poor are the states of the North-east, they are not poorer than the adjoining countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. And yet, there is no Boko Haram in these poorer countries.

There is also nothing really Muslim about the Boko Haram. Other Muslim countries in Africa and beyond don't have Boko Haram. When the Boko Haram plant bombs in market-places; the bombs are not programmed to differentiate between Christians and Muslims. Recently, the Boko Haram attacked some Emirs, killing one of them. Surely, the Emirs were not Christians but Muslims.

In effect, the Boko Haram is a wonderfully Nigerian phenomenon. There is something in Nigeria that provides a fertile ground for the Boko Haram. That thing is not limited to the North-east. That thing bedevils the whole of Nigeria. That thing is lack of national identity. That thing is hatred for Nigeria and for other Nigerians. The hatred of Nigeria by Nigerians is so deep and ingrained in us North and South; East and West. We are Nigerians, but we hate Nigeria. We are Nigerians, but we see nothing good in Nigeria. We are Nigerians, but we would rather be something else. If push comes to shove, we would have no qualms picking up a gun and killing another Nigerian in the name of whatever other allegiance we hold dearer.



Battle for independence

Because there are actually very few Nigerians in Nigeria, it is difficult to fight against the Boko Haram. To fight against the Boko Haram is to fight against ourselves. Every Nigerian is either a Boko Haram or a potential Boko Haram. A Boko Haram is a Boko Haram because he does not believe in Nigeria. The rest of us are Boko Haram because we also do not believe in Nigeria. We hate Nigeria with a passion. Murtala Nyako can fight for his citizens of the North. Femi Fani-Kayode will readily call his Oduduwa Republic to arms. MASSOB will easily rally the troops for Biafra. But there is practically no one left to fight for and defend Nigeria.

Only Nigerians can fight the Boko Haram, but there are few Nigerians in Nigeria. That is why it has been difficult for us to close ranks in the face of the Boko Haram onslaught. That is why it is easy for the Boko Haram to get new local recruits in the fight against Nigeria. That is also why it is difficult to identify the Boko Haram among us. The Boko Haram and the potential Boko Haramite is anyone and everyone who hates Nigeria and does not wish Nigeria well. That means the Boko Haram are practically every one of us.

The fight against Boko Haram is a belated fight for Nigeria's independence. In order to fight the Boko Haram successfully, we have to become Nigerians. Other countries fought for their independence but we never did in Nigeria. Suddenly, we are now saying "Bring back Our Girls." But these Chibok girls were not "Our Girls" before they were kidnapped. And even if, by the grace of God, we were to secure their release tomorrow; they would immediately cease to be "Our Girls." This makes us no different from the Boko Haram. The Boko Haram kidnapped these girls because they are not theirs. Neither do we consider them to be ours. They cannot be ours as long as we do not believe we are all Nigerians. Therefore, all our "bring back Our Girls" posturing is just for show.




Nigerian Boko Haram

Nigerians only become Nigerians in the rarefied context of a national football match of short duration. But even while we are united in supporting the Super Eagles, we equally support Arsenal and Chelsea football clubs in England. There was no report of any Spaniard dying as a result of the recent Champion League football match between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Nevertheless, two Nigerian supporters of Real Madrid died out of anxiety arising from the match. Because we are Boko Haram, we even kill ourselves over matters that don't pertain directly to us. I am still waiting for the day that I go to London and find Britons wearing T-shirts with Enugu Rangers or Kano Pillars football clubs emblazoned on them.
Because we are not Nigerians, we readily adopt foreign "nations" that don't recognize us and call them our own. Because we don't believe in Nigeria, we are easily seduced to take on other "nationalities." Because we are don't believe in Nigeria, we can easily be led to believe in another "nation." We are easily persuaded to become Boko Haram. Because we hate Nigeria, we become Boko Haram instead of Nigerians. We plant bombs in the market-place. We bring Nigeria down instead of building Nigeria up. Since the children of Chibok are not our children, we steal the money meant for enhancing their education and use it to send our children to school abroad.

The Boko Haram is not only the man who blows up buildings and kills the innocent. The Boko Haram is also that man who ensures that fake drugs are sold in our pharmacies, and that our hospitals are places where people go to die and not to be healed. The Boko Haram is not only that man who says "Western education is a sin." The Boko Haram is also that public official who sits while our universities are closed down for six months over an industrial dispute. The Chibok incident has brought all these tendencies into sharp relief. We are the Boko Haram and the Boko Haram are us.










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Femi Aribisala is a writer, preacher and co-ordinator of Healing Wings, a Pentecostal Christian fellowship
































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Loladeville blog is a one-stop site for entertainment, sports, fashion and other interesting news.

First of all, I'll like to wish every children on planet earth a Happy Children's day. Regardless of my post title, we can't deny that May 27 has been set aside to celebrate children worldwide. So, If you're a mother, sister, Father, brother reading this. My heartfelt prayer is for God to continue to keep our children, give wings to their dreams. May they grow in stature and wisdom and may they continue to lighten out faces with happiness.

Today makes it 43 days that over 200 Nigerian children were abducted in their school by members of terrorist sect, Boko Haram. Over 200 children whose only crime was to concede to the idea of education. Today, over 200 girls are in danger, over 100 parents and families are in anguish and pain. Every child has a right to education. Why should their cases be different?
In Nigeria, it's NOT a happy Children's Day. Where are these effervescent children we see, who should be home, running errands, taken to amusement places, visiting friends trying out new clothes, taking photographs or just being showered with love? We can't talk to the terrorists, but we shouldn't lose our voices to the government because it is its responsibility.

Today, I join my heart with parents whose faces have not known sleep since this sad news was broken to them. Parents whose attention are glued to their TV screens and radio day and night for news about the safe return of their children. Today I say a painful RIP to the mother who developed an heart attack and died after learning of her child's abduction and those who might be going through an ailment, diagnosed with hypertension or probably hospitalized.

In Nigeria, it's NOT a Happy Children's Day, no child should be afraid to pursue a brighter future. There are low-key celebrations in some states today, learnt some children have even decided to boycott any form of fanfare. Some are wearing red today just to show solidarity; to stand by the miserable Chibok girls today.

In Nigeria, it's NOT a Happy Children's Day. We are deeply saddened. In Nigeria, it's NOT a Happy Children's Day. They have suffered enough. We join our hearts with families out there, pray and simply ask the government to help #BringBackOurGirls.



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There's nothing as traumatising as watching your loved ones die right in front of you. May God continue to help our nation. Deborah Peter, a Boko Haram survivor who now lives in Virginia, USA has lent her voice to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Speaking during a presentation organized by members of the US congress yesterday May 21st, 2014 , the 15 year-old held up a #BringBackMySisters" paper sign narrated her ordeal in the hands of the terrorist sect, Boko Haram.



According to her, on the evening of December 22 2011, three members of Boko haram shot her Pastor Father 3 times on the chest after he refused to deny his faith, her brother Caleb too was killed in similar fashion. Deborah was asked her to lie in between their corpses till the next morning. A local Pastor who rescued her and paid for her transportation out of the region was also killed.



Her thoughts on Boko Haram, "It's a hard question. I think they're bad. I can't judge them. The Bible says do not judge."
She continued, "I decided to tell the world my story when the Chibok girls were taken because everyone needs to know how horrible Boko Haram is. They kill innocent people who never hurt them. I want the world to understand what happened to me. I hope the kidnapped Chibok girls will take courage from my story, and know more of what God says, and know what it means to stand strong in the face of bad people." She added.
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I'm not too sure but I think Mikel Obi is the first or only Nigerian footballer who has lent his voice to the ongoing #BringBackOurGirls campaign geared towards the freedom of the over 200 school girls abducted by terrorist sect, Boko Haram, a month ago.
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Loladeville blog is a one-stop site for entertainment, sports, fashion and other interesting news.

Photos of the over 200 girls, abducted by terrorist organization, Boko Haram has surfaced. Well, the clips were taken while the video was aired on TV. The girls who are reportedly being held in about 6 locations have all converted to Islam. According to Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau. Excerpts from the video.


"The girls you occupy yourselves with, we have liberated them...they are now Muslims. We will never release them unless our brethren are released. It's been 4-5 years you held our brethren and torturing them. And now you talk about these girls. Those who accept the faith, we'll treat them well. We will not release the girls until you free our brothers"
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As the Bring Back Our Girls campaign towards the release of over 200 abducted school girls in Chibok Borno by terrorist organization, Boko Haram intensifies, here are some of the high-profile figures in foreign countries who have shown their support/solidarity to our ailing country Nigeria.

From actors, singers to news men all over the world, these are celebrities who have carried placards with the #BringBackOurGirls caption, tweeted, posted instagram and facebook posts, some even held rallies. The list is longer than this, would update it as time goes on.



Michelle Obama, Chris Brown, Keri Hilson, Ellen DeGenres, Piers Morgan, Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, Russel Simmons, Shona Rhimes, Keke Palmer, Alicia Keys, Leona Lewis, Janelle Monae, Aisha Sesay, Justin Timberlake, Trey Songz, Kardashian sisters, Drake, P-Diddy, Kevin Hart, Wendy Williams, Naomi Campbell, Anthony Hamilton, Forest Whitaker, Malal Yousafzai, Karrueche Tran Mafikizolo, Mel Bala and other concerned members of the world.
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Loladeville blog is a one-stop site for entertainment, sports, fashion and other interesting news.
In the wake of the abduction of over 200 Nigerian school girls by Boko Haram few weeks back, award-winning writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in an article titled, "The President I Want" has condemned the lackadaisical attitude of President Jonathan towards the rescue of the girls and security in general. Read below:






Some of my relatives lived for decades in the North, in Kano and Bornu. They spoke fluent Hausa. (One relative taught me, at the age of eight, to count in Hausa.) They made planned visits to Anambra only a few times a year, at Christmas and to attend weddings and funerals. But sometimes, in the wake of violence, they made unplanned visits. I remember the word 'Maitatsine' – to my young ears, it had a striking lyricism – and I remember the influx of relatives who had packed a few bags and fled the killings.

What struck me about those hasty returns to the East was that my relatives always went back to the North. Until two years ago when my uncle packed up his life of thirty years in Maiduguri and moved to Awka. He was not going back. This time, he felt, was different. My uncle's return illustrates a feeling shared by many Nigerians about Boko Haram: a lack of hope, a lack of confidence in our leadership.We are experiencing what is, apart from the Biafran war, the most violent period in our nation's existence. Like many Nigerians, I am distressed about the students murdered in their school, about the people whose bodies were spattered in Nyanya, about the girls abducted in Chibok. I am furious that politicians are politicizing what should be a collective Nigerian mourning, a shared Nigerian sadness. And I find our president's actions and non-actions unbelievably surreal.

I do not want a president who, weeks after girls are abducted from a school and days after brave Nigerians have taken to the streets to protest the abductions, merely announces a fact-finding committee to find the girls. I want President Jonathan to be consumed, utterly consumed, by the state of insecurity in Nigeria. I want him to make security a priority, and make it seem like a priority. I want a president consumed by the urgency of now, who rejects the false idea of keeping up appearances while the country is mired in terror and uncertainty. I want President Jonathan to know – and let Nigerians know that he knows – that we are not made safer by soldiers checking the boots of cars, that to shut down Abuja in order to hold a World Economic Forum is proof of just how deeply insecure the country is. We have a big problem, and I want the president to act as if we do.

I want the president to slice through the muddle of bureaucracy, the morass of 'how things are done,' because Boko Haram is unusual and the response to it cannot be business as usual. I want President Jonathan to communicate with the Nigerian people, to realize that leadership has a strong psychological component: in the face of silence or incoherence, people lose faith. I want him to humanize the lost and the missing, to insist that their individual stories be told, to show that every Nigerian life is precious in the eyes of the Nigerian state. I want the president to seek new ideas, to act, make decisions, publish the security budget spending, offer incentives, sack people. I want the president to be angrily heartbroken about the murder of so many, to lie sleepless in bed thinking of yet what else can be done, to support and equip the armed forces and the police, but also to insist on humaneness in the midst of terror.

I want the president to be equally enraged by soldiers who commit murder, by policemen who beat bomb survivors and mourners. I want the president to stop issuing limp, belated announcements through public officials, to insist on a televised apology from whoever is responsible for lying to Nigerians about the girls having been rescued. I want President Jonathan to ignore his opponents, to remember that it is the nature of politics, to refuse to respond with defensiveness or guardedness, and to remember that Nigerians are understandably cynical about their government. I want President Jonathan to seek glory and a place in history, instead of longevity in office. I want him to put aside the forthcoming 2015 elections, and focus today on being the kind of leader Nigeria has never had.

I do not care where the president of Nigeria comes from. Even those Nigerians who focus on 'where the president is from' will be won over if they are confronted with good leadership that makes all Nigerians feel included. I have always wanted, as my president, a man or a woman who is intelligent and honest and bold, who is surrounded by truth-telling, competent advisers, whose policies are people-centered, and who wants to lead, who wants to be president, but does not need to – or have to- be president at all costs.

President Jonathan may not fit that bill, but he can approximate it: by being the leader Nigerians desperately need now.














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We can't fight this alone. We are incapable of dealing with our own problems, we need help from all quarters. There are protests on the streets of lagos, Abuja, London etc, via social media with the use of #Bringbackourgirls hashtag. The second Nyanya bomb blast is a clever but failed attempt to divert our attention from the issue at hand but we will overcome this.
According to Reuters, the United States has condemned the abduction of over 200 school girls abducted by Boko haram in Nigeria few weeks ago and has even offered to help Nigeria in its search for them. Marie Harf, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told a daily briefing.


"We have been engaged with the Nigerian government in discussions on what we might do to help support their efforts to find and free these young women. We will continue to have those discussions and help in any way we can. We know Boko Haram is active in the area and we have worked very closely with the Nigerian government to build their capacity to fight this threat."

She added, "In fiscal year 2012, the United States provided over $20 million in security assistance to Nigeria, part of that to build the country's military, boost its capacity to investigate terrorist attacks and enhance the government's forensic capabilities."


Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, the chairman of the Senate's African Affairs subcommittee also noted. "The U.S. and the international community must work with the Nigerian government to ensure these girls are reunited with their families and deepen efforts to combat the growing threat posed by Boko Haram."
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Loladeville blog is a one-stop site for entertainment, sports, fashion and other interesting news.
I am moved to write about the current state of affairs in Nigeria. My first inclination was to write to the President but since all letters to him seem to elicit only open derision and even more stupidity from his inner circle, I have decided to address my letter to a group also currently causing Nigerians a lot of pain and agony that may actually have more sense than the country's leadership.

Dear Boko Haram, the fact that you have taken arms against the Nigerian state is no surprise. The question should be why haven't more young people organised themselves against the state? Even the fact that your motto, 'Against Western Education' is in a way reasonable given the fact that your leader, martyred by the Nigerian state had university education and found no reasonable employment but had to resort to thuggery for politicians to survive, as the story goes.

He, like millions of Nigerian young people and college graduates, seeing a blighted future are doing anything to survive. They have become opportunistic desperados, almost sub‑human as the stepping on and trampling on each other to death at the Immigration employment debacle indicates.

Where you're wrong, Where I think you have gotten it wrong are in two areas, if you can pardon my giving you some unsolicited advice.

First, your victims are becoming more and more the people you should be attracting to your side. Take the Nyanya bus massacre. The people that live in Nyanya are usually the clerks, messengers and other lowly office workers that live out in relative slums compared to the rest of Abuja and take public transportation to work to receive monthly salaries they barely get by on.

Consult any written work of successful revolutionaries be it French, Russian, Cuban or even the more recent uprooting of communism in Eastern Europe, to succeed you need the people to be on your side. Right now you are not achieving this. You are targeting the group you need most. This does not make for a successful revolution but you are making yourselves into nuisances to the people and in the end while the state, including its military machine may not be able to conquer you, your downfall will be alienating these potential allies, i.e. the oppressed and down-trodden.
Secondly, the abduction of girls. It must be hard to stay in the bush as all male revolutionaries fending for yourselves with no sexual gratification. Cuban example. But again, reading up on past bush revolutionaries like the Cuban, for example, indicates that they were able to convince some women to go voluntarily with them into the bush.
Somehow, revolutionary zeal does not include sexual abstinence and cooking and cleaning by yourselves. Reading must be hard for you since you hate education but the past is a good guide to the future and if you can't read, you are done for in organizing or succeeding in most endeavours as most things have been done before and reading up on how it was done can only serve as good guidance.

The parents of the girls you abducted are just trying to give their daughters a chance at having successful lives. Without an education there is very little anyone can achieve in this early 21st century. I know living in the bush; it must still seem like the dark ages but the truth is that even with the lack of jobs and opportunities for young people in Nigeria currently, it is still better to be educated.

An educated university graduate who was selling food from a food cart ignited the Arab Spring which was spread by use of the internet which is hard to use if you are not educated. There are writings, videos and stuff you post on the internet which I haven't seen. But think of it, you can only post and use the internet because some of you have some education. But in the end you have no control over the distribution of your advertising and recruiting information because as you may know, the internet is really part of the western system you despise.

Why you're succeeding:
The truth is that you have succeeded because the Nigerian state has failed to provide jobs and opportunity for its young people who you can now easily recruit. By disrupting education, you are adding to the burden of the people.
You may say, but how about our religious issue? Let the truth be told, just as there are indigenous southern Muslims, there are indigenous northern Christians even from your epicentre in Borno State and just as you are zealous for your religion, I don't see them giving up their religion either.
The reasonable solution to this impasse would be for you to advocate for everyone to be able to practice their religion as they see fit with respect for each other's beliefs. Remember, a couple of centuries ago, all of our ancestors below the Sahara were all animists worshipping various 'gods. This 'One God' — us against them situation — is a relatively recent one in our human history and you will be advised to let the originators fight it out and let your people be."



Culled from Vanguard Newspaper














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