Chad has sentenced ten members of Boko Haram to death on terror charges. The militants belonging to the most dangerous terrorist group in Africa were found guilty of twin terror attacks in the capital N’Djamena in June that killed 38 persons.
The death penalty given to the Islamist militants will set an example for other terror groups and work to dampen the spirits of Boko Haram, which has been waging a relentless battle against the government of Nigeria. The group, led by the intransigent Abu Bakr Shekau, has been perpetrating numerous atrocities on the people of Nigeria and neighbouring countries like Chad. Death to the militants will work to demoralise the group as it ratchets up attacks against Nigerian troops and the public after President Muhammadu Buhari took charge. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram attacks in the last three months.
The death sentences came a day after Nigeria marked 500 days since 276 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram. Militants stormed the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno state on the evening of April 14 last year, abducting the girls who were preparing for end-of-year exams.
Fifty-seven of the girls escaped but there has been no trace of the 219 others since May last year, when about 100 of them appeared in a Boko Haram video, dressed in Muslim attire and reciting the Holy Quran. The kidnappings drew global attention to the plight of the Nigerian population especially in the country’s northeast, which has been overrun by the militant group. It triggered an international outcry and a social media campaign — Bring Back Our Girls — even drawing celebrities like US First Lady Michelle Obama and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie to the cause of the schoolgirls.
As hapless relatives of the Chibok girls brood over their unknown fate, their abductors continue to kill scores of innocent people every week. A group of Islamist militias given to killing, loot and plunder challenging the might of the state is not a good sign for citizens and government authorities. With every carnage, Boko Haram keeps gaining traction in a country that has been ravaged by militancy. Muhammadu Buhari’s government had come to power on the promise of fighting militancy and corruption. Even so many weeks after taking over, there is no indication that the government has been trying to trace the girls. It is likely that after 500 days, the girls have been married off or sold as sex slaves by their captors. It is incumbent on the Nigerian government to find out in what state the kidnapped girls are and whether, if at all, they will ever be freed from their captors•
Chad has sentenced ten members of Boko Haram to death on terror charges. The militants belonging to the most dangerous terrorist group in Africa were found guilty of twin terror attacks in the capital N’Djamena in June that killed 38 persons.
The death penalty given to the Islamist militants will set an example for other terror groups and work to dampen the spirits of Boko Haram, which has been waging a relentless battle against the government of Nigeria. The group, led by the intransigent Abu Bakr Shekau, has been perpetrating numerous atrocities on the people of Nigeria and neighbouring countries like Chad. Death to the militants will work to demoralise the group as it ratchets up attacks against Nigerian troops and the public after President Muhammadu Buhari took charge. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram attacks in the last three months.
The death sentences came a day after Nigeria marked 500 days since 276 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram. Militants stormed the Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno state on the evening of April 14 last year, abducting the girls who were preparing for end-of-year exams.
Fifty-seven of the girls escaped but there has been no trace of the 219 others since May last year, when about 100 of them appeared in a Boko Haram video, dressed in Muslim attire and reciting the Holy Quran. The kidnappings drew global attention to the plight of the Nigerian population especially in the country’s northeast, which has been overrun by the militant group. It triggered an international outcry and a social media campaign — Bring Back Our Girls — even drawing celebrities like US First Lady Michelle Obama and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie to the cause of the schoolgirls.
As hapless relatives of the Chibok girls brood over their unknown fate, their abductors continue to kill scores of innocent people every week. A group of Islamist militias given to killing, loot and plunder challenging the might of the state is not a good sign for citizens and government authorities. With every carnage, Boko Haram keeps gaining traction in a country that has been ravaged by militancy. Muhammadu Buhari’s government had come to power on the promise of fighting militancy and corruption. Even so many weeks after taking over, there is no indication that the government has been trying to trace the girls. It is likely that after 500 days, the girls have been married off or sold as sex slaves by their captors. It is incumbent on the Nigerian government to find out in what state the kidnapped girls are and whether, if at all, they will ever be freed from their captors•
