Nearly 300 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria

[Windmill knight]

Between the horror of Odessa and this, I am feeling in a very dark mood lately. I'm having trouble getting my head around the degree of evil. I don't know much about the political context of Nigeria, and I don't discard the possibility that this might be somehow used as propaganda, or that Boko Haram might be the creation of some 'interests' unknown to the public. But the fact remains that something like this can happen, and that someone can do it, for whatever reason - and it's just unbelievable, beyond words.

Nigeria's abducted schoolgirls: Boko Haram leader pledges to 'sell them in the marketplace'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nigerias-abducted-schoolgirls-boko-haram-leader-pledges-to-sell-them-in-the-marketplace-9324496.html

In a chilling message, the leader of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in the north of Nigeria last month, and said that he would sell them into slavery.

“I abducted your girls,” Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in the one-hour video released on Monday. “By Allah, I will sell them in the marketplace,” he continued, adding that the girls were being held as “slaves”.

In one of the most shocking attacks in Boko Haram’s five-year insurgency, armed militants swooped on a school in the town of Chibok in Nigeria’s remote northern Borno State on 14 April and snatched 276 girls from their dormitories.

But it is only now that the group has formally acknowledged responsibility for the brazen attack, a source of deep embarrassment for President Goodluck Jonathan, whose government has been accused of failing to mount a rescue effort for the girls despite receiving regular information of their whereabouts in the days after the attack.

Nigerians all over the country have been united in their anger at the abductions and protesters calling on the government to take action to find the stolen girls have marched in different cities.

In an apparent bid to deflect criticism of the government’s performance, Nigeria’s First Lady allegedly ordered the arrest of Naomi Mutah Nyadar, one of the organisers of last week’s protests in the capital, Abuja.

According to a participant at the all-night meeting on Sunday with Patience Jonathan, the President’s wife accused the protesters of fabricating reports of the kidnappings, and suggested the protest leaders were themselves members of Boko Haram, whose name loosely translates as “Western education is forbidden”.

Saratu Angus Ndirpaya, who attended the meeting, said Mrs Jonathan accused them of fabricating the abductions. “She told so many lies; that we just wanted the government of Nigeria to have a bad name, that we did not want to support her husband’s rule,” she said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

She said that other female allies of Mrs Jonathan at the meeting, including officials of the government and the ruling party, cheered and chanted “yes, yes” when Mrs Jonathan accused them of belonging to Boko Haram.

“They said we are Boko Haram, and that Mrs Nyadar is a member of Boko Haram.” She said Mrs Nyadar and herself do not have daughters among those abducted, but are supporting the mothers of kidnapped daughters.

The First Lady later denied reports that she had ordered the arrest of Mrs Nyadar, who has since been released, but called on protesters to go home, feeding criticism that the government is not serious about finding the girls.

“You are playing games. Don’t use schoolchildren and women for demonstrations again. Keep it to Borno, let it end there,” she was quoted by the state-owned News Agency of Nigeria as saying.

In response to growing domestic and international pressure, Mr Jonathan promised at the weekend, in his first public comments on the abductions, to mount a search-and-rescue operation for the students, saying that “anywhere the girls are, we will surely get them out”.

He admitted, however, that he did not know where the girls were being held although local media has reported that troops are massing at the edges of the Sambisi forest reserve, Boko Haram’s stronghold.

It is feared, though, that any military operation may already be too late for some of the girls amid reports from local community elders last week that some have already been sold into sex slavery or as “brides” for just £8 in neighbouring countries Chad and Cameroon.

There have also been reports of mass weddings to Boko Haram members, with Christian captives forced to convert to Islam.

Dressed in army fatigues and flanked by an armoured personnel carrier and pick-ups mounted with sub-machine guns, Boko Haram leader Shekau justified the attacks in the video by railing against Western education and values, and efforts to reconcile Muslims and Christians in the sharply divided country.

“I abducted a girl at a Western education school and you are disturbed. I said Western education should end. Girls, you should go and get married,” he said. “I will marry off a woman at the age of 12. I will marry off a girl at the age of nine.

“God instructed me to sell them, they are his properties and I will carry out his instructions,” he added.

The extremist leader went on to threaten similar attacks against schools. Amid fears of attacks by Islamist militants, many schools have been closed for nearly two months in parts of north-east Nigeria, affecting some 120,000 students in a region where secondary school enrolment already stands at just below 5 per cent.

The school in Chibok had been opened only briefly to allow girls from all over the region to take their exams.

Since the schoolgirls were taken last month, authorities say that 53 girls have escaped through their own efforts, either by jumping off trucks or by running away.

By a rough count, about 230 remain in the hands of the insurgents, although locals have warned the actual figure could be higher as there is no definitive list of the girls who were taken.

The kidnappers have said that two of the girls have died from snakebites, while another 20 are reportedly ill.

Since its insurgency began, Boko Haram has carried out increasingly deadly attacks on schools, pupils and teachers in a bid to create a strict Islamic state in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria.

Some 1,500 people are said to have died in Boko Haram attacks this year alone. The government is seen as doing little to blunt its effectiveness despite an almost doubling of its security budget to £3.6bn in five years.

Most of the group’s attacks have focused on northern Nigeria, but last month the emboldened group set off two bombs in the capital within a fortnight of each other, killing nearly 100 people and highlighting the major security issues that will plague the regional meeting of the World Economic Forum in Abuja this week.

The President has ordered the closure of all schools and government offices during the three-day summit scheduled to open on Wednesday.

 

[bngenoh]

Between the horror of Odessa and this, I am feeling in a very dark mood lately. I'm having trouble getting my head around the degree of evil. I don't know much about the political context of Nigeria, and I don't discard the possibility that this might be somehow used as propaganda, or that Boko Haram might be the creation of some 'interests' unknown to the public. But the fact remains that something like this can happen, and that someone can do it, for whatever reason - and it's just unbelievable, beyond words.

Boko Haram: A CIA Covert Operation: http://honourablesaka.blogspot.dk/2012/06/boko-haram-cia-covert-operation.html

The above blogger is focused on Africa and it's issues within a global framework, akin to The Saker over at vineyard of the saker.

 

[Anthony]

How we jumped out of Boko Haram truck — pupils

_http://www.punchng.com/feature/how-we-jumped-out-of-boko-haram-truck-pupils/

 

[Kisito]

"Surely" there is not link between Washington and Nigerian sect, but from the last "c" Barck and "h" Haram who are undecided, it's surprising that Boko "H" aram and Bara "c" k Obama are written with the same letters : BARAKOM or BOKARMB.

 

[paralleloscope]

Yes, it's absolutely horrible. The story is hard to get a grip on as for one it seems the number of kidnapped girls have gone from 100+ to 230 and now 276, in what seems to now be heightened mainstream media attention, despite that this article claims there has been a cover up :_http://newsrescue.com/boko-haram-a-cia-covert-operation-americas-destabilization-plots-against-nigeria-greenwhite-coalition/#axzz30slaSaV9
Perhaps in American media? but I've seen quite some European coverage.

Another slippery factor is the essence of Boko Haram and the Nigerian Government, hard to get any good information on.

Much points to BH being yet another western backed militant islamist unit working western motives, to destabilize Nigeria and introduce foreign troops to better direct the wealth. From what I've picked up from the Nigerian blogger articles carried on Sott and other Nigerian commentaries on facebook:

Boko Haram used to be a simple setup, protesting the corruption and plundering of Nigeria, the brainwashing colonial school system removing African values, as well as demanding sharia law (opinions differ whether this was a later claim). On the sideline the government was now working with CIA/ Mossad on security issues, as:

Gradually, Boko Haram strengthened their sphere of influence and became a radical political party determined to take their anti-corruption and anti-western culture to the highest level. This posed an immediate danger to the existing political establishment who did not welcome the anti-corruption campaign and also the imperial powers who saw an imminent danger to the colonial educational system they have successfully imposed on the Nigerian people. Then one day in 2009, the then President Yar'Adua ordered the persecution and aggressive crack-downs by the Nigerian security service. This brought about a violent revenge from Boko Haram. The crackdown was brutal and resulted in the death of around 700 innocent people. Many of the victims were publicly executed on suspicions that they were members of Boko Haram even without any clear proof and without a fair trial.

http://www.sott.net/article/278087-Boko-Haram-the-case-of-a-hijacked-revolution

Then they, as I understand it, somehow arose from the ashes in 2010 perhaps first now fully assimilated by CIA/ mossad guidance and ideas; to bomb, shoot, maim and hijack.

 

[Anthony]

Now they're claiming that they kindapped 8 more.

_http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/06/suspected-boko-haram-gunmen-kidnap-girls-village-nigeria

 

[Hesper]

I was listening to the news coverage of this event and was also put in a very dark mood Windmill Knight. The news coverage stated the parents knew that the girls could be kidnapped, as terrorist threats had been made before they were sent to the school. However, the parents and children decided to take the risk in order to make sure the girls were able to graduate. Really, what a horrible situation. If they don't graduate there's a distinct possibility they can't earn a living (though I'm not sure of the other ways there are for graduating minus exams/earning a living in Nigeria). But even so, what a forced choice and a disgusting situation.

_http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/04/5-things-know-nigerias-234-abducted-schoolgirls/

The girls, ages 15-18, were kidnapped at gunpoint on April 16 when militants stormed the Government Girls’ Secondary School boarding school in Chibok, in the rural northeastern state of Borno. Their school was the only one still open in the area; all other nearby schools were closed due to security threats. Despite the presence of guards, the girls were taken at gunpoint, loaded into trucks and carted off to the nearby Sambisa forest. Not much has been done by Nigerian security leaders to ensure the girls’ rescue, and their families have received little information.

I agree with others here. The whole situation simply stinks to high heaven of a ramified pathological network using terrorism to increase power and feed its pathological hunger (both official and clandestine) IMO.

 

[angelburst29]

On the heels of Michelle Obama delivering the president’s weekly address this week ( Mrs. Obama has joined President Barack Obama on past weekly addresses. Saturday’s will be the first one she delivers alone )

_http://www.aol.com/article/2014/05/09/first-lady-to-deliver-presidents-weekly-address/20883438/?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D474678

US Marines carry out first arrests of two Boko Haram members in Benue State
_http://www.nigerianwatch.com/news/4377-us-marines-carry-out-first-arrests-of-two-boko-haram-members-in-benue-state

US Marines currently in Nigeria to help the government combat Boko Haram terrorists have made their first arrests taking two male suspects into custody after they were found in possession of arms and ammunition during a targeted search.

Over the last week, US Marines have arrived in Nigeria to help with the fight against terrorism after Boko Haram took their war of terror to another level by abducting 234 pupils from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok in Borno State. Acknowledging that the matter was getting beyond its control, the Nigerian government swallowed its pride and accepted outside help.

With the abduction coming at a time when Nigeria is hosting World Economic Forum on Africa and inbetween two horrific bomb blasts in Abuja, there has been a lot of international offer of support. France, the UK, the US and China have all offered differing degrees of support in the form of intelligence, training and military assistance.

Since Wednesday, US troops have arrived in Nigeria where they are providing security for the WEF summit on Africa. It is expected that the Marines will also join Nigerian soldiers in pursuing Boko Haram into the Sambisa Forest in Borno State where they are believed to have spirited the kidnapped girls to.

According to Major General Chris Olukolade, Nigeria's director of defence in­formation, two suspected Boko Haram members were arrested at Any­ibe in Logo Local Gov­ernment Area of Benue State. He added that the duo, made up of a teenager and an elderly man, were arrested during a cordon-and-search operation and found to be in possession of firearms.

Weapons found in their possession included two rifles, three locally fabricated pistols and 61 rounds of special ammunition. Apparently, the arms were found in the possession of the teenager he is currently undergoing interrogation in custody.

US marines are highly specialised soldiers who have been deployed effectively in areas affected by serious conflict and terrorism such as Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not yet clear how many Marines will be deployed to Nigeria as part of the current operation or if they will establish a base in Borno State.

 

[H-KQGE]

With all these micro maneuvers of TPTB, it's easy to get sidetracked into their b.s. narratives. So, with the larger moves in this anti-human chess game in mind, here are some select SOTT articles documenting the plans for us all, stretching back further than what is presented. Also bare in mind that although this topic is Nigeria, it's the tentacles that touch Africa, the middle east & Russia, South America & China mainly...

http://www.sott.net/article/109763-US-Director-of-National-Intelligence-supplies-justification-for-humanitarian-intervention-warns-of-threat-to-oil-supplies-from-potential-political-chaos-in-Nigeria

That was from 2006. Note some keywords in that brief article. "Geopolitical leverage" "instability", "oil producing states." Also note the countries mentioned. Most telling is the fear that the then upcoming elections could see Nigeria as the continent's top oil producer move away from military rule. John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence manipulating that point there as if the corruption, ethno-religious violence, etc would worsen if the military weren't in charge.

Moving to 2013 & the Islamic connection, the BRICS countries, & the banks. So many dots that connect but only a few need to be touched on. See the Larry Summers "secret end-game" memo posted by Greg Palast on the "highly leveraged, completely unregulated, and dangerously unsustainable lucrative derivatives business." Note those countries that refused to "play ball" who were/are ultimately dragged into game theory manipulations.

http://www.sott.net/article/265882-Making-the-world-safe-for-Banksters-Syria-in-the-cross-hairs

This article goes hand-in-hand with the one above... http://www.sott.net/article/256143-2013-year-of-war-worldwide-Russian-analysts

As an aside of sorts, here's a golden oldie for those struggling with reality - "but our government would never do that!" http://www.sott.net/article/246042-Revealed-1957-CIA-MI6-plot-to-terrorise-Syria-spark-fake-revolution-and-assassinate-leadership

Africa's awash with metaphorical tornadoes that have been moving around & gathering strength for a very long time now. The western colonial presentation of the continent has proven to be exceptionally effective making it look like some crazy backwards place that's incapable of looking after itself, thus, reinforcing decades (if not centuries) held prejudicial beliefs about the place & it's people. Note the SOTT editorial comment.

http://www.sott.net/article/263488-Why-Obama-is-making-an-African-power-play-against-China

Rape, pillaging & plundering just continues unabated, & as was said before: (paraphrasing) "cruelty & intolerance are needed" for the spread of macrosocial evil, along with ignorance & stupidity ("a correctable condition"). The words of Lobaczewski come to mind..

The nineteenth century, especially its latter half, appears to have been a time of exceptional activity on the part of schizoidal individuals, […] our inheritance from this period includes world-images, scientific traditions, and legal concepts flavored with the shoddy ingredients of a schizoidal apprehension of reality.

Moving on. In my opinion, every SOTT regular reader should remember this next one, if new, then you should know about it now. http://www.sott.net/article/246771-General-Wesley-Clark-reveals-2001-US-plan-to-conduct-regime-change-in-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon-Libya-Somalia-Sudan-and-Iran

That's the piece that first came to mind, prompting this post. I used all the above as there were many links that I could just about remember, I thought it worthwhile to point to them (there's a lot of others too) since it seems, that this Nigeria "Boko Haram" business is a step toward the advancement of the US/NATO (same thing) plans for Africa. That article always stuck with me, not just for how dastardly it was, but also the brazen admission of the psychopaths in charge. It's an absolute classic of psychopathy - to tell those who they're going to act against beforehand. Such is the feeling of superiority & all their traits that go with their current level of being, they really can't keep their gobs shut.

Speaking of Boko Haram, http://www.globalresearch.ca/nigeria-boko-haram-kidnappings-used-to-justify-us-military-build-up-in-africa/5381653

Can't forget about this mob either http://www.sott.net/article/264710-Israeli-sphere-of-influence-Mossad-agents-interrogated-Lebanese-nationals-in-Nigeria

The place has turned to a proper free-for-all.

 

[angelburst29]

Nigerian President "Goodluck" Jonathan may regret this decision in the future?

Nigeria accepts Israeli offer to help find abducted schoolgirls
Prime Minister's Office expresses 'shock' at abduction of 200 schoolgirls; no details given on nature of assistance.

_http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.590045

May 11, 2014 - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has accepted an Israeli offer to assist in the efforts to find hundreds of schoolgirls who were kidnapped by the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram, AFP reported.

The offer was made on Sunday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke with Jonathan by phone. "Israel expresses deep shock at the crime against the girls," Netanyahu told the Nigerian president, according to the prime minister's bureau. "We are ready to help in finding the girls and fighting the cruel terrorism inflicted on you."

A statement from the Nigerian president's office in Lagos later on Sunday said that Jonathan had "briefed Mr Netanyahu on actions already being taken by Nigeria's armed forces and security agencies to locate and rescue the girls, saying that Nigeria would be pleased to have Israel's globally acknowledged anti-terrorism expertise deployed to support its ongoing operations."

More than 200 schoolgirls were abducted last month by Islamist group Boko Haram in an attack that has drawn global condemnation and prompted some Western powers to provide assistance.

Netanyahu's offer did not elaborate on how Israel might assist in the search, which also includes British and U.S. experts. A spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry said he knew of no cooperation efforts under way.

Israel has defense ties with Nigeria, and has provided it in the past with surveillance drones. Last September, Israel was among several countries that sent advisers to Kenya to assist in a stand-off with Islamist gunmen who attacked a mall in Nairobi.

 

[angelburst29]

Video appears to show some kidnapped Chibok girls alive
http://www.mail.com/news/world/4274086-video-appears-to-kidnapped-chibok-girls-alive.html#.7518-stage-hero1-4

April 13, 2016 - "The moment I saw them and recognized their faces — Saratu Ayuba, Jummai Mutah, and Kwazigu Hamman — I started crying, with tears of joy rolling down from my eyes, thanking God for their lives," she says.

The young woman, who now calls herself Saa and is going to college in the United States, was among several dozen who escaped, jumping down from the back of an open truck after Boko Haram had kidnapped them. The extremists seized 276 girls who had gathered for science exams at the Government Girls Secondary School in the northeast town of Chibok. There are 219 missing.

Saa spoke in a statement through the Education Must Continue Initiative, a Washington-based project started by Nigerian Emmanuel Ogede, which is sponsoring the education of Saa and nine other students who escaped.

"Seeing them gives me the courage to tell the world today that we should not lose hope," Saa said. "Let's keep praying and campaigning for #BringBackOurGirls. I want the world to raise their voice. Let's not stop until the government hears us and does something about it."

CNN on Wednesday aired the video, believed made in December, of girls wearing the Islamic hijab, and of one mother reaching out to a computer screen as she recognizes her daughter. "My Saratu," she wails, before breaking down in sobs. She says Saratu was 15 when she was kidnapped and now is 17.

The video shows 15 of the girls — one with a mischievous grin, one looking uncompromising, downright defiant, and one downcast. One can feel the pain that shows in the eyes of many of them. They give the date as Christmas, Dec. 25, 2015.

While Boko Haram is thought to have abducted thousands of people over the years, the mass abduction brought the extremist group to the world's attention. The campaign hashtag #BringBackOurGirls went as far as the White House, used by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama.

The failure of Nigerian officials and the military to rescue the girls brought international condemnation and contributed to President Goodluck Jonathan's loss in elections last year. Jonathan at first had denied there had been a mass abduction, but international pressure soon forced him to accept help from other countries.

The United States, Britain and France were among those that sent advisers, including hostage negotiators. U.S. and British drones located at least one group of about 80 of the girls, which was reported to Nigeria's government and military, but nothing was done.

Andrew Pocock, who was British high commissioner to Nigeria until his retirement last year, told The Sunday Times magazine last month that it was considered too dangerous to the other girls to attempt a ground or air rescue. "You might have rescued a few, but many would have been killed. ... You were damned if you do and damned if you don't," the magazine quoted him as saying.

Nigeria's military has cited the same fears. Yet that has not stopped them from attacking towns and villages where Boko Haram has held thousands of civilians captive. The military boasted last week that soldiers have rescued 11,595 civilian hostages since Feb. 26.

But none has been from Chibok. CNN reported that the "proof of life" video was sent in December to negotiators trying to free the girls. It shows an interview with Information Minister Lai Mohammed saying the government is reviewing and assessing the video.

Senator Shehu Sani, who has been involved in past negotiations with Boko Haram about the Chibok girls, told The Associated Press he found the video credible. Yakubu Nkeki, leader of a support group of parents of the kidnapped girls, said he briefly saw part of the CNN video, in between power blackouts frequent in Nigeria, and recognized some of the girls.

"We are all well," one of the girls says in the video, emphasizing the "all." There have been fears that Boko Haram's increasing use of female children and adults to carry out suicide bombings indicates they are turning captives into weapons, including the Chibok girls.

The video ends with one of the girls appealing to Nigeria's government to meet unspecified promises. There's been no word of the girls since May 2014, when Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said they had converted to Islam and threatened to sell them into slavery or forced marriage with his fighters. Many recently freed girls are pregnant.

Two mothers and 16 fathers have died since the mass abduction, some of them victims of Boko Haram attacks. Others died from illnesses blamed on stress, according to Nkeki, who spoke to the AP by phone from Chibok.

Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is due in Chibok on Thursday for the anniversary of the kidnappings, Nkeki said, complaining the issue has become politicized. He said the community is angry that their only school remains in the ruins created by Boko Haram, which firebombed buildings as they took off with the girls.

Some 20,000 children in the town and its surroundings have no school to attend, he said Thursday as parents started gathering at the school to pray for the safe return of their daughters. "Boko Haram has achieved its aim. They say they don't want us to have Western education and our children don't," Nkeki said.

This report has been corrected to show that the last word of the girls was in May 2014, not April 2014.

 

[know_yourself_1234]

Thanks, Windmill knight.

Hopefully, I just saw a video about falling correctly; but still, I can't stop thinking about of it. It is so bad I could not even read it entirely.

I understood that this event happened back in 2014; today, on a local newspaper, there was an article about Nigeria, but I did not read it. There was a picture on the side, showing a girl-soldier with an explosive belt. The text caption was not very tender to the girl.

So thank you Windmill knight, because thanks to your article, even if it is chilling, made me understood that this girl could have been one of the abducted girl. What bothered me was the fact that the newspaper described the picture in a rather partial way, which appeared to me as anger triggering.

My compassion goes to these girls, with the hope that they survive and free themselves.