The jihadi group Boko Haram have been revealed as the most brutal terror organisation last year, killing more people than ISIS.
Based in the thick Sambisa forest in Borno State, the Nigerian Islamist militia has regularly attacked African Union and Nigerian army forces as well as indiscriminately targeting civilians.
A new report on global terrorism by the Institute of Economics and Peace reveals that Boko Haram murdered 6,664 people last year in comparison to ISIS’s 6,073 victims.
Nigeria has been blighted with terror attacks, predominantly by Boko Haram but also by a smaller, lesser known militant group known as the Fulani militants, who murdered 1,229 people in 2014.
“The country witnessed the largest increase in terrorist deaths ever recorded by any country, increasing by over 300 per cent to 7,512 fatalities,” the report notes.
The report also reveals that Boko Haram appear to have changed their targets, with an 11 per cent decrease in the number of deaths of religious figure and a 172 per cent increase in the deaths of private citizens.
Scene of a twin blast in Kano phone market on November 18, 2015
The news comes as two Boko Haram female suicide bombers blew themselves up at a phoneshop market in Kano state, north-eastern Nigeria, killing 15 people.
One of the bombers is thought to have been as young as 11-years-old. They entered the packed marketplace and detonated their secretly concealed explosive vests at 4pm yesterday.
Boko Haram, who pledged their allegiance to ISIS in Syria and Iraq earlier this year, have frequently used child suicide bombers and mass kidnappings to stamp their authority in north-eastern Nigeria.
They changed their name to Islamic State in West Africa after declaring their allegiance to ISIS in Syria and Iraq in March 2015.
The battle against terrorism in Nigeria remains a long campaign for President Buhari, who recently claimed that Nigerian troops were denied weapons to fight Boko Haram.
Terrified civilians wait for news about family and friends caught up in the horrific Kano attacks
He also claimed that thousands of lives were lost because of rampant fraud in the procurement process.
Buhari ordered anyone involved in corrupt multi-billion dollar deals for weapons and equipment to be ‘brought to book’ after receiving a report from a committee set up to probe the issue.
Former national security advisor Sambo Dasuki is accused of awarding some $2 billion in ‘fictitious and phantom contracts’ for fighter jets, helicopters and bombs that never materialised.
But he hit back, denying anything untoward and stating that sensitive military deals and payments were all sanctioned by former president Goodluck Jonathan.
“All contracts and accruing payments were with the approval of the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces,” he said in a statement.
“Once the ex-president approved, the former NSA paid. So, there was due process for every purchase in line with regulations guiding arms procurement for the armed forces…
“There was no room for awarding fictitious contracts. The conclusions of the panel were presumptive, baseless and lacked diligence.”
A victim of the double suicide bombing in Kano
Dasuki, a 60-year-old former army colonel, is already facing money laundering and illegal possession of weapons charges and claimed he was being targeted by Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign.
But his assertions that Jonathan knew about the payments in question will be explosive in Nigeria and could see pressure on the former president to answer questions.
The country’s former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, was arrested in London in October as part of a British investigation into bribery and money laundering.
Buhari has said ‘mind-boggling’ sums have disappeared from the oil sector and has vowed to overhaul the industry to bolster weakened government revenues caused by the global slump in crude prices.
Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram leader swore allegiance to Islamic State
Some $5.3 billion was provided to the Office of the National Security Advisor, defence headquarters and the headquarters of the army, navy and air force, the statement said.
“It was observed that in spite of this huge financial intervention, very little was expended to support defence procurement,” it added.
Some 53 of 513 contracts awarded were ‘failed contracts’ and Dasuki allegedly sanctioned huge payments without contractual evidence or explanations.
The ‘fictitious and phantom contracts’ related to the purchase of four Alpha (fighter) jets, 12 helicopters, bombs and ammunition.
But they ‘were not executed and the equipment (was) never supplied to the Nigerian air force, neither are they in its inventory’, it added.
Dasuki, who is also accused of asking Nigeria’s central bank to transfer $132 million and almost 10 million euros to accounts in west Africa, Britain and the United States, rejected the claims as ‘laughable’.
Service chiefs wrote to him to acknowledge receipt of the material, he added, describing himself as ‘just the clearing house’ who only acted with presidential approval.
“I am not a thief or treasury looter as being portrayed,” he added.
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