Boko Haram (30 page)

‘Otages au Cameroun: l'hypothèse d'une rançon se confirme', iTele, 25 April 2013,
http://www.itele.fr/monde/video/otages-au-cameroun-lhypothese-dune-rancon-se-confirme-46925
.

Tim Cocks, ‘Nigerian Islamists got $3.15 million to free French hostages: document', Reuters, 26 April 2013.

Video special effects or trickery cannot be ruled out with this footage and others, but the beheading certainly looked gruesomely real.

Aminu Abubakar, ‘Gunmen kill 10 in attacks on Nigeria polio clinics', Agence France-Presse via dawn.com, 9 February 2013.

Those quoted provided me with their names and agreed that I could use them, but I have withheld them out of fears for their safety.

Human Rights Watch, ‘Spiraling violence: Boko Haram attacks and security force abuses in Nigeria', October 2012.

Amnesty, ‘Trapped'.

National Human Rights Commission, ‘The Baga Incident and the Situation in North-East Nigeria: An Interim Assessment and Report', Abuja, June 2013.

Human Rights Watch, ‘Violence', p. 58.

Human Rights Watch, ‘Violence', p. 72.

National Human Rights Commission, ‘Baga', pp. 18–19.

Aminu Abubakar, ‘Nigeria fishing town paralysed by fear after slaughter', Agence France-Presse, 1 May 2013.

Abubakar, ‘Nigeria fishing town'.

Human Rights Watch, ‘Nigeria: Massive Destruction, Deaths from Military Raid', 1 May 2013.

National Human Rights Commission, ‘Baga', p. 19.

‘Channels TV visits liberated Boko Haram's camp in Borno', Channels Television, 7 June 2013,
http://www.channelstv.com/home/2013/06/07/channels-tv-visits-liberated-boko-harams-camp-in-borno/
.

Olukolade was later promoted to major-general.

Hamza Idris, ‘Who are Borno's “Civilian JTF”?',
Weekly Trust
, 29 March 2014; Heather Murdock, ‘Civilian security on front lines to fight Nigeria's Boko Haram', Voice of America, 9 December 2013.

M.J. Smith, ‘Nigeria insurgents targeting schools for mayhem', Agence France-Presse, 8 July 2013.

Smith, ‘Insurgents'.

Aminu Abubakar, ‘Nigeria mosque attack raises questions over army offensive', Agence France-Presse, 13 August 2013.

‘Death toll in northeast Nigeria attack “at least 142”', Agence France-Presse, 22 September 2013; ‘Nigeria reinforces town after Boko Haram massacre', Agence France-Presse, 20 September 2013; ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram Abducts Women, Recruits Children', Human Rights Watch, 29 November 2013.

Adam Nossiter, ‘Bodies pour in as Nigeria hunts for Islamists',
New York Times
, 7 May 2013.

I later sought to contact the commissioner, who sent me a message saying I should call the hospital's chief medical director and provided me with a number. No one answered and I received no response to a text message sent to it. This was, of course, after mobile phone service was reconnected in Maiduguri.

Amnesty International, ‘Nigeria: war crimes and crimes against humanity as violence escalates in north-east', 31 March 2014.

He said he was appointed as a ‘peace ambassador'. He has never worked as a Nigerian ambassador in another country.

When I asked him in a later phone call what exactly his ‘security' role was, he told me that he was in fact working for an NGO that aims to bring together the country's north and south.

I should stress that I have not visited Chibok myself and have relied on interviews with residents and others, as well as a history of the Chibok people written by Gerald Neher, the missionary I quote who lived there in the 1950s and 1960s. I sought to visit Chibok when I returned to Nigeria in late May and early June 2014 after the attack on the town, but decided against travelling by road because of security concerns.

Church of the Brethren's website:
http://www.brethren.org/partners/nigeria/history/
.

Nigeria's official 2006 census put the population at more than 66,000.

‘Boko Haram: Borno schools closed indefinitely', 22 March 2014, Agence France-Presse via Nigeria's
Vanguard
newspaper.

‘National Literacy Action Plan for 2012–2015', High-Level International Round Table on Literacy, UNESCO, Paris, 6–7 September 2012 (
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/pdf/Nigeria.pdf
).

‘Nigerian authorities failed to act on warnings about Boko Haram raid on school', Amnesty International, 9 May 2014; a school official in an interview with me estimated there had been about 15 soldiers, though he admitted he was not sure.

Talatu Usman, ‘How Borno Governor caused kidnap of Chibok schoolgirls – WAEC',
Premium Times
, 3 May 2014.

Footage from Channels TV interview with Jidda can be found on YouTube in several parts. The first is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGmzexqk8xs
. Links are provided in the video window for each subsequent part.

The principal told me that she never said she was there on the night of the kidnappings and that she was misquoted if reports said otherwise.

Joe Brock, ‘Boko Haram, taking to hills, seize slave “brides”', Reuters, 13 November 2013; and Human Rights Watch, ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram abducts women, recruits children', 29 November 2013.

A Nigerian security source spoke to me about this on condition of anonymity in October 2013.

Aminu Abubakar, ‘Boko Haram leader claims Nigeria capital bombing in new video', Agence France-Presse, 19 April 2014.

‘Nigerian authorities failed to act'.

Adam Nossiter, ‘Tales of escapees in Nigeria add to worries about other kidnapped girls',
New York Times
, 14 May 2014.

Nossiter, ‘Tales of escapees'.

Details on the forest come mainly from two papers: P. Omondi, R. Mayienda, J.S. Mamza and M.S. Massalatchi, ‘Total Aerial Count of Elephants and other Wildlife Species in Sambisa Game Reserve in Borno State, Nigeria', Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, July 2006 (available at
http://www.cites.org/common/prog/mike/survey/0607_FW_AT_Survey_Sambisa_big.pdf
); Y.P. Mbaya, and H. Malgwi, ‘Species List and Status of Mammals and Birds in Sambisa Game Reserve, Borno State, Nigeria',
Journal of Research in Forestry, Wildlife and Environment
, 2(1) (March 2010), pp. 135–40.

The father I spoke with was only aware of two, but there have been reports of others.

These numbers were as of 26 July 2014.

‘#BBCtrending: The creator of #BringBackOurGirls', BBC, 7 May 2014,
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-27315124
.

Video from the meeting can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMwIkuoAMj0
.

‘Nigeria arrests woman protesting for schoolgirls' release: activist', Agence France-Presse, 5 May 2014. Other reports said two people were arrested.

The man in the video resembled past images identified as being of Shekau and appeared to be authentic, but it is impossible to know for certain whether it was him, as with all such videos.

Translation by Aminu Abubakar, who was also the first journalist for a foreign news organisation (AFP) to obtain the video. The full video can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrfWS_vL0D4
.

Josh Rogin, ‘McCain: send U.S. special forces to rescue Nigerian girls', The Daily Beast, 13 May 2014,
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/13/mccain-send-u-s-special-forces-to-rescue-nigerian-girls.html
.

Tolu Ogunlesi, ‘Opinion: Nigerians right to be wary of U.S. intentions', 13 May 2014, CNN Opinion,
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/13/opinion/nigeria-us-military-ogunlesi/
.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) was later replaced by the 7th Division of the Nigerian military.

Video of Friend's testimony can be found at:
http://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/bringbackourgirls-addressing-the-threat-of-boko-haram/051514
.

US Defence Department press release,
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=122310
.

The US Department of Defense did not respond to my requests for comment.

Dan Williams and Tim Cocks, ‘Nigeria's neglected Israeli drones won't help find girls', Reuters, 20 May 2014.

The video was first obtained by Aminu Abubakar of AFP news agency (Agence France-Presse, ‘New Boko Haram video claims to show missing Nigerian schoolgirls', 12 May 2014). The full video is also available at:
http://saharareporters.com/videos/full-video-boko-haram-video-showing-kidnapped-school-girls
.

Translation provided by Aminu Abubakar.

Adam Nossiter, ‘Small comfort as parents identify kidnapped Nigerian girls on video',
New York Times
, 13 May 2013.

Video footage of Jonathan's comments is available on the BBC's website:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27451966
.

‘Fake #BringBackOurGirls protesters surface in Abuja', Sahara Reporters, 26 May 2014,
http://saharareporters.com/2014/05/26/photonews-fake-bringbackourgirls-protesters-surface-abuja
.

Video of Badeh's comments is available online, including at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooss0CEGtic
and
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nigeria-defense-chief-we-know-where-the-girls-are/
.

Jonathan Miller, ‘Freeing Nigerian schoolgirls now “a very messy affair”', Channel 4 News, 2 June 2014,
http://www.channel4.com/news/nigerian-schoolgirls-kidnapped-release-freeing-messy-affair
; Miles Amoore and Dipesh Gadher, ‘Welby aide in talks to free Nigerian girls',
Sunday Times
, 1 June 2014; Sarah Dean, Emily Crane, and Barbara Jones, ‘“We must not endanger their lives any further”, says Australian man desperately trying to free Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram',
Daily Mail
, 1 June 2014; Patrick Begley, ‘How amateur peacemaker Stephen Davis rescued kidnapped girls from Boko Haram',
Sydney Morning Herald
, 29 August 2014.

Jibrin Ibrahim, ‘Rent a crowd and miss the message', 27 May 2014, originally published by Sahara Reporters, but no longer accessible there. It can still be found on other websites, including at:
http://elotitv.com/entry/rent-a-crowd-and-miss-the-message-by-jibrin-ibrahim
.

According to some accounts, the rumour began thanks to a US National Intelligence Council discussion paper that looked at possible scenarios in sub-Saharan Africa. For an overview of the issue, see: John Campbell, ‘U.S. government never predicted Nigeria break up in 2015', Council on Foreign Relations Africa in Transition blog, 16 May 2012,
http://blogs.cfr.org/campbell/2012/05/16/u-s-government-never-predicted-nigeria-break-up-in-2015/
.