The United States has stated that the Nigerian security apparatus lack the capacity to fight terrorism within the nation’s borders.
The position of the US government is contained in a document titled ‘Country Reports on Terrorism 2010‘, an annual Congressionally mandated report that provides an assessment of trends and events in global terrorism from January 1 to December 31, 2010.
In its appraisal, the report, a copy of which was made available to journalists, gave kudos to the Federal Government for its efforts at collaborating with other stakeholders to curb the rising wave of global terrorism.
Specifically, the reports said corruption and lack of capacity building had hindered the ability of the security agencies to respond to security and terrorist threats within Nigeria’s borders.
According to the report, this was presented to the US Congress in Washington on Friday. The report read in part, “While senior police officers were well-educated and able to articulate the fundamentals of police organisation theory and practices, most of the rank-and-file police personnel lacked skills, training, and equipment.”
Operationally, the report said Nigerian police tried to undertake limited border security operations, “but lacked communications, surveillance, and vehicle support to detect and apprehend terrorists and criminals transiting the country’s borders.”
The report added that Nigerian Navy was unable to patrol its coastal waters effectively, thus making the Niger Delta more vulnerable to attacks by criminals and extremists.
But the report lauded the Federal Government for taking steps to improve coordination, communication, and cooperation among its various government agencies and internationally on counterterrorism matters.
The report added that the development was sequel to the fact that the Federal Government had collaborated with stakeholders such as the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Federal Aviation Administration, and the International Civil Aviation Organisation to strengthen its safety and security systems at four major international airports.
In advocating laws that seek to address terrorist financing in the country, which it said do not comply with international standards, the report however, commended Nigeria’s laws for money laundering, which it claimed “were more extensive.”
The US government called for the amendment of the laws setting up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to reference terrorist financing as a predicate offence for money laundering.
But the US report came in the wake of security challenges arising from the activities of Boko Haram.
The Boko Haram (Western education is a sin -Haram) is an Islamist group that seeks the imposition of Shariah law in the Northern states of Nigeria, and was led by the late Ustaz Muhammed Yusuf in 2002.
The official name of the group is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”. The literal translation is “Association of Sunnis for the Propagation of Islam and for Holy War”.
The sect, however,became popular, following sectarian violence in Nigeria in 2009. But residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital where it was formed in 2002, named it Boko Haram. Which means Western education is forbidden in Hausa language. Residents gave it the name because of its strong opposition to Western education, which it sees as corrupting Muslims. The term “Boko Haram” comes from the Hausa word boko meaning “Animist, western or otherwise non-Islamic education” and the Arabic word haram figuratively meaning “sin” (literally, “forbidden”).
The group started drawing attention in 2002 just as the late Yusuf became its leader in the same year. In 2004, it moved to Kanamma, Yobe State, where it set up a base called “ Afghanistan “, used to attack nearby police outposts and killing police officers.
In Bauchi State, the group was reported as refusing to mix with the local people. The group includes members who come from neighbouring Chad and speak only in Arabic.
But in July 2009, the Nigeria Police started investigating the group, following reports that the group was arming itself. Several leaders were arrested in Bauchi, sparking deadly clashes with Nigerian security forces which led to the deaths of an estimated 700 people.[
Before the clashes, many Muslim leaders and at least one military official had warned the authorities about Boko Haram. Those warnings were reportedly ignored.
In Yobe State , fighters reportedly “used fuel-laden motorcycles” and “bows with poison arrows” to attack a police station. On July 30, 2009, Yusuf was allegedly killed by the police in custody.
In January 2010, the group attacked Borno State, killing four people in Dala Alemderi ward in Maiduguri metropolis.
On September 7, 2010, the sect members stormed Bauchi State, freeing over 700 prisoners
On December 2010, the sect members were blamed for a market bombing in which 92 of its members were arrested by police.
On Friday, January 28, 2011, the Borno State candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) for the April 2011 governorship elections was assassinated, along with his brother, four police officers and a 12-year old boy. Boko Haram has been blamed for these killings.
On March 29, an attempt to bomb a rally was allegedly averted by the police in Maiduguri, Borno State . The threat was blamed on Boko Haram. On April 1 (the day before the original date of Nigeria s legislative elections), suspected Boko Haram members attacked a police station in Bauchi.
On April 9, a polling centre in Maiduguri was bombed. On April 15, the Maiduguri office of the Independent National Electoral Commission was bombed, and several people were shot in a separate incident on the same day. Authorities suspected Boko Haram. On April 20, Boko Haram killed a Muslim cleric and ambushed several police officers in Maiduguri . On April 22, Boko Haram freed 14 prisoners during a jailbreak in Yola, Adamawa State.
On Tuesday, February 8, 2011, Boko Haram gave conditions for peace, insisting that ex-Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff should leave office with immediate effect and also allow members to reclaim their mosque in Maiduguri.
On May 9, 2011, Boko Haram rejected an offer for amnesty made by the governor-elect of Borno State, Kashim Shettima just as the sect was accused of aiding a series of bombings in northern Nigeria on May 29, 2011 that left 15 people dead.
On June 17, 2011, the group claimed responsibility for a bombing attack on the Police Force headquarters in Abuja that occurred the previous day. Officials believed that the attack was the first suicide bombing in Nigeria’s history and that it specifically targeted the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim.
On June 26, 2011, the sect carried out a bombing attack on a beer garden in Maiduguri, according to officials and witnesses. Militants on motorcycles reportedly threw explosives into the drinking spot, killing about 25 people.
On June 27, 2011, another bombing in Maiduguri attributed to the group killed at least two girls and wounded three Customs officials.[
On July 3, 2011, a bombing in a beer garden in Maiduguri attributed to the group killed at least 20 people.
On July 10, 2011, a blast occurred at a church the All Christian Fellowship Church in Suleja , Niger State just as the incident was traced to the sect.
On July 11, 2011, the University of Maiduguri closed its institution on the grounds of security concerns.
A prominent Muslim cleric, Liman Bana, was shot dead by Boko Haram on August 12, 2011. He died after sustaining gunshot wounds while walking home from conducting prayers at the main mosque in Ngala.