• Killed 1,132 in 364 attacks, says U.S. report
• Group’s, Talibans’ record higher than killings by Al-Qaeda, Maoists, Al-Shabaah
• Outrage at ACN’s opposition to ban on group
• PDP accuses party of support for insurgents
WITH
only the Talibans in Afghanistan ahead,Boko Haram is now the second
widely known perpetrator of terrorism in the world, according to a
report by the United States (U.S.) government.
Just last week,
the U.S. State Department announced a $7 million bounty for information
that will lead to the capture of the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau.
And
in Nigeria, there is outrage at the opposition of the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN) to the Federal Government’s ban on the group. The
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday accused the ACN of trying to
use the press as a subterfuge to hide its support for insurgents and to
whittle the efforts by the Federal Government to end acts of terrorism
in the country.
The ruling party, which threw its weight behind
President Goodluck Jonathan, said contrary to the claims by the ACN, no
part of the presidential order proscribing terrorist groups, directly or
indirectly violated any provision of the constitution or impinged on
the freedom of the press in the country.
The PDP National
Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement on Monday
described the allegation by the ACN that the order was aimed at gagging
the press, as despicable and a clear indication of how far the
opposition party could go to distort facts to support violence and cause
disaffection among Nigerians.
The PDP in Ondo State and the Niger Delta Professionals also faulted the position of the ACN.
An
annex to the U.S. government report on terrorism last year, just made
available to The Guardian, shows that besides the Taliban in
Afghanistan, Boko Haram in Nigeria had the highest number of terror
attacks last yearand killed also the second highest number of people.
The
statistical report called ‘START’ conducted by the University of
Maryland for the American government on global terrorism in 2012 has
revealed that while the Talibans killed 1,842 people in 525 attacks last
year, and came tops on the infamous ranking, Boko Haram came second
killing 1,132 in 364 attacks.
Both the Talibans and Boko Haram
killed more than Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Maoists in India, Al-Shabaab,
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula among other global terrorist groups.
Commenting,
the Christian Association of Nigerian Americans (CANAN) noted that
based on these statistics of the U.S. government, the refusal of the
State Department to designate Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist
Organisation (FTO) continued to be unsettling.
A statement from
the group on Monday in New York said: “The statistics that were computed
at the instruction of the U.S. government by a reputable university
deemed a centre of excellence by the U.S. government show proof why Boko
Haram should be designated.”
CANAN added: “This is a further
evidence that our demand to the State Department to designate Boko Haram
an FTO is a position backed up by facts and reality. Our hope and
expectation is that soon, the State Department will do what is right.”
The
statistical report also revealed that of the top 10 countries with the
most terrorist attacks last year, Nigeria came fifth because of the
activities of Boko Haram.
Besides, Nigeria ranked fourth in
number of deaths from terrorist attacks. According to the statistical
information attached to the recent “U.S. Terrorism 2012 reports”, last
year alone, there were a total number of 546 terror attacks in Nigeria
with 1,386 killed.
“The average lethality of terrorist attacks
in Nigeria (2.54 deaths per attack) is more than 50 per cent higher than
the global average of 1.64.”
The statistical report revealed
that in 2012, the majority of highly lethal attacks -159 in all -, took
place in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Nigeria and Syria, killing a total
of 2,880 people.
The report stated that Boko Haram “was
responsible for a number of highly lethal attacks in 2012, including a
series of co-ordinated bombings and armed assaults in Kano, Nigeria, on
January 20 that killed an estimated 190 people.”
The ‘START’ was
conducted by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and
Responses to Terrorism, based at the University of Maryland. The
consortium is deemed a U.S. Homeland Security Centre of Excellence for
Science and Technology.
The U.S. laws require the government in
its yearly terrorism reports to include complete statistical information
on number of individuals killed, injured or kidnapped by each terrorist
group during the preceding year.
Last year June, the U.S. State Department contracted the consortium to collect the statistical data.
A
statement by the Ondo State Director of Publicity of PDP, Ayo Fadaka
which was made available to The Guardian in Akure yesterday, expressed
“total disappointment” over the ACN’s position on the Boko Haram issue.
The
statement read in part: “The activities of terrorist groups represent a
grave challenge to the corporate existence of the nation and its only
goal is to systematically pursue a programme that would have completely
led to its disintegration.
“In tackling this development,
President Goodluck Jonathan certainly did explore all available avenues
to make Boko Haram and its accomplices to embrace peace and even
conditionally disarm its membership and this was rebuffed continuously.
“It
was when it became almost impossible to call them to order that the
Federal Government finally declared a state of emergency in the prime
theatres of their action and even when that happened, the ACN was the
only party that condemned the action of government as if the programmes
of these anti-system groups are synonymous with its goals.
“Again,
the ACN has pushed further its frontiers of clandestine support for
these groups by needlessly criticising the Federal Government gazette of
the ban of these agencies saying it will infringe on the liberty of
people, we wonder if there are elements in that party that are
accomplices of Boko Haram.
“Therefore, we call on the people of
the South-West to take due cognisance of the activities of the party and
be circumspect in appreciating same. There are ominous signs that there
are more than meet the eyes in its style and operations. In the
South-West, we take pride in our tolerance level and ability to
accommodate our diverse feelings but if feelers from Osun State are
anything to go by today, religious sentimentalism is being promoted by
the ACN government of Rauf Aregbesola and this is sad and absolutely
reprehensible.
“In playing politics, we expect that issues that
promote the development and health of the nation must dictate the views
of political parties and not sectarian and parochial issues that will
certainly do more damage than ordinarily anticipated.
“Parties
thrive today because there is a nation where peace and orderliness reign
and that must be a goal of every citizen to preserve.
“We
restate that anyone who is conscious of all the evils perpetrated on
citizens and corporate organisations in this country by Boko Haram and
its accomplices and continues to seek to express support for these
organisations in whatever manner is anything but patriotic.
“We
equally remind the ACN that its desire to make any political gain in
Nigeria is certainly predicated on the peace and well-being of the
nation.”
In their reaction to the ACN’s position, Niger Delta
Professionals said that the party’s attack was an insult to the Nigerian
people.
In a statement by National Co-ordinator, Mr. Onoriode
Izomo and National Secretary, Mr. Andrew O. Ugbovoro of the group, they
said that the ACN’s action had proved its desperation to rule the
nation.
“Or how else would you explain such an open support for
violence and killing of innocent souls and destruction of property by a
group that has no value for life? Is ACN indirectly unveiling part of
their agenda for their proposed coalition with the APC? Buhari attacked
the Presidency by his utterance, the whole world condemned him, now his
supposed coalition partner decides to join his wagon of senseless
utterance and publicly attack the President again. These are the same
people who had consistently criticised the President on his peaceful
approach to the handling of fear and terror created by the same group in
Nigeria,” the group said.
It added: “We want to let the ACN
know that Nigerians may be gullible but not totally silly, any one or
group who could support the Boko Haram despite all the havoc they
created in this nation is not only violence-oriented, but is an enemy of
peace and does not deserve to be given the slightest opportunity to go
near Aso Rock let alone enter into it. God has only shown Nigerians the
make-up of people seeking our votes to rule us. By this singular act, we
are no longer deceived by the below par performance of some of the ACN
governors, it’s merely a ploy to lure Nigerians to their own doom. ACN
or APC if given opportunity to run the affairs of this nation would use
Boko Haram to terrorise Nigerians. Note that any man or group that
supports evil is himself or herself evil.”
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