Tag: Borno

Boko Haram killed Christian woman’s son to ‘teach her a lesson’ for not converting to Islam

March 1, 2018 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Maiduguri, Nigeria, Pope Francis

Rebecca Bitrus was abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 and suffered because of her faith. (Photo credit: Claire Giangravé/Crux news agency)

The shocking story of Rebecca Bitrus, a Nigerian woman who suffered terrible abuse after her capture by Boko Haram in 2014, has been shared with Pope Francis at a meeting in the Vatican. Her story, shared as the Colosseum was lit up in red last Saturday (24 February) in support . . . Read More

Fears of ‘another Chibok’ after Boko Haram school attack

February 22, 2018 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Dapchi, Islamic extremism, Kidnapping, Leah Sharibu, Nigeria, Yobe

Some of the 21 girls who were released in October 2016. (Photo: Open Doors International)

Fears are growing that the girls still missing after Boko Haram attacked a boarding school in Nigeria’s north-eastern state of Yobe on Monday night (19 February) have been taken by the militant group. The attack comes almost four years after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, . . . Read More

‘Chibok girl’ asks parents to ‘embrace Islam’ in Boko Haram video

January 15, 2018 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Nigeria

Boko Haram has released a video purporting to show some of the Chibok schoolgirls still in captivity. “In the video, a girl dressed in a full niqab [Islamic dress] appeals to her parents to embrace Islam,” the BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty reports. “Dressed in a blue and white niqab, the young . . . Read More

Another Chibok girl rescued, 112 still missing

January 5, 2018 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Nigeria

The Nigerian Army says it has rescued one of the schoolgirls abducted by the radical Islamic group Boko Haram from the north-eastern town of Chibok in 2014. The girl, identified as Salomi Pogu, was found on 4 January in Pulka, in the north-eastern state of Borno, said the Army in . . . Read More

Nigeria: Boko Haram survivor and her baby ‘shamed’

December 1, 2017 Nigeria Acid attacks, Boko Haram, Borno, Converts, Gwoza, Islamic extremism, Nigeria, Rape, Trauma, UN, West Africa, Women

Boko Haram survivor Esther*, holding her daughter Rebecca in her arms. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

As Islamic extremist group Boko Haram continues to hold young women captive in West Africa, some have been rescued only to return to their homes in shame, finding themselves labelled “Boko Haram women”. Until October 2015 Esther* lived the normal life of a 17-year-old in Gwoza, a town in southern . . . Read More

Boko Haram: 381 killed in Nigeria and Cameroon since April

September 5, 2017 Adamawa, Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Far North, Lake Chad, Maroua, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

An upsurge in Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria and Cameroon have claimed the lives of at least 381 civilians in the five months since the start of April 2017, with casualties more than double the previous five months, says Amnesty International in a new report. The radical Islamist group had . . . Read More

Boko Haram defector calls others to repent and leave

September 4, 2017 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Yobe

A Boko Haram defector has called on his former fellow fighters to repent and leave the Islamist group. Bana Umar, from Nigeria’s north-eastern town of Banki, was 27 when he joined Boko Haram in 2014, the same year the group kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls from their dormitory in the town . . . Read More

‘Prostitution is rife’ – sexual exploitation of Boko Haram survivors in IDP camps

September 1, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Divorce, IDPs, Maiduguri, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Women

Thousands of Christians in north-east Nigeria displaced by Boko Haram’s insurgency now face discrimination and harsh treatment – including sexual exploitation – by government officials, reports Global Christian News (GCN). While many thousands have been killed, others sought refuge in neighbouring Cameroon or in the relatively safe states in the . . . Read More

‘I identify with Chibok parents, I too am a victim, I lost my son’ – UN award winner Rebecca Dali

August 21, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, EYN, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Rebecca Dali

Rebecca Dali’s son Timothy, 18, left the house one evening, telling her he was going to visit his friend. “Are you sure?” she asked. It was immediately after the 2011 Nigerian elections, when inter-religious tensions were high. His friend lived across town, in an area where Timothy might be at . . . Read More

Displaced by Boko Haram’s violence, Nigerians finally get food to prevent famine

August 4, 2017 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Borno, Christian Association of Nigeria, IDPs, Nigeria, UN, Yobe

Food aid has reached 15,000 families in Northeast Nigeria who live in famine-like conditions. (Photo: Open Doors International)

The current crisis in northeast Nigeria has been called the “greatest crisis on the African continent“. More than five million Nigerians live in famine-like conditions in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, the epicentre of the eight years-long Boko Haram insurgency. According to the World Food Programme, the ongoing insecurity has . . . Read More

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