The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has been repeatedly making the “false claim that the Nigerian government defeated Boko Haram.” He has also repeatedly downplayed the “herdsmen” who have been massacring Christians. These so-called “herdsmen” are really Fulani jihadists who are tied to Boko Haram.
Just over a week ago, Fulani jihadist “herdsmen” launched a brutal attack upon a Catholic church during morning mass, leaving two priests and at least 17 parishioners dead. Hundreds of Christians have been murdered by Fulani jihadists since January.
Last week, Buhari met with Trump at the White House. Trump praised Buhari’s efforts to battle Boko Haram and condemned “the burning of churches and the killing and persecution of Christians,” calling it “a horrible story” and demanding that it be stopped. Trump also rebuked the targeting of Muslim civilians.
Buhari pretends to have Boko Haram and the Fulani group under control because he is a jihad sympathizer and he doesn’t want backlash from Christians locally, or international attention to their plight.
Boko Haram is not fading, and neither are the Fulani jihadists.
Upon the election of Buhari two years ago, there were concerns among Christians and human rights groups that he would favor the Muslims over Christians due to his shared “ethnicity” with the Fulani group,and that he might usher in Sharia. Last year that fear proved to have validity, when Nigerian State Security Services arrested a Christian pastor for converting a Muslim girl to Christianity.
“Nigerian President Claims Boko Haram Fading as Group Kills Scores at Mosque”, by Edwin Mora, Breitbart, May 2, 2018:
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari spoke to Voice of America (VOA) on Monday, indicating that “life in the country’s northeast is improving, as the threat of Boko Haram militants recedes and people return to their homes and farms.”
Authorities suspect that Boko Haram jihadists conducted a bombing the following day in and around a mosque in northeastern Nigeria that killed up to 27 people and wounded another 56.
The attack took place in Mubi town located in Adamawa state, which borders Borno state, the birthplace of Boko Haram where the jihadist group is most active.
Reuters reports:
The blasts in the town of Mubi bore the hallmarks of Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has waged an insurgency in Africa’s most populous country since 2009 and often deploys suicide bombers in crowded places.
The jihadist group on Thursday carried out an attack in Maiduguri, capital of neighboring Borno state, that killed four people.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in the insurgency, which has also forced some two million to flee their homes.
President has repeatedly made the false claim that the Nigerian government defeated Boko Haram.
Although U.S.-backed troops from various African countries have significantly weakened the terrorist organization, it remains very much active in northeastern Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon, VOA notes.
During the interview on Monday, Buhari argued that when he took office in 2015, the jihadists controlled a majority of local government areas in their birthplace Borno state, ”But now they are not holding any local governments, according to what the military told me, and I believe them.”
The Nigerian leader pointed out that people displaced by Boko Haram at the height of its insurgency — which began in 2009 — have returned home and cultivating their farms, courtesy of low-interest loans from the government.