Criticism trail President’s visit to Maiduguri following Boko Haram attack

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan ventured into the
heartland of Boko Haram Islamist militants just days after the
group killed hundreds in the town of Baga close to Lake Chad.
Jonathan spent three hours in Maiduguri, capital of Borno
state, meeting survivors of the deadly January 3 Boko Haram
attack.
At a camp offering shelter to some of the 5,000 people who
fled their homes, Jonathan promised that the displaced would
soon be able “to go back to your houses.”
One displaced person who asked not to be named told DW’s
Hausa language service that Jonathan had come to the camp
to deflect criticism that “with all the killing happening in the
area, he failed to visit us until the end of his tenure.”
Jonathan last visited Maiduguri in March 2013.
Another displaced person told DW that Jonathan had been
greeted with the cry “Sai Buhari” meaning “we are with
Buhari.”
This was a reference to former military ruler Muhammadu
Buhari, Jonathan’s main rival for the presidency in nationwide
elections in Nigeria on February 14.
However, Jonathan’s spokesman Reuben Abati insisted at a
media briefing that “it was not a political visit – the president
did not discuss politics.”
Jonathan visited the Nigerian army’s 7th Division base in
Maiduguri, where disgruntled troops shot at their commanding
officer last May, leading to a court martial at which 12 were
sentenced to death for mutiny. Nigerian troops have
complained that Boko Haram are better equipped with
weapons than they are.
Boko Haram has swathes of northeastern Nigeria under its
control, but Jonathan said in Maiduguri his security chiefs had
promised that “all the areas under the control of Boko Haram
will soon be recaptured.”
Previous efforts by the Nigerian military to contain Boko
Haram have met with little success.
Boko Haram’s occupation of areas of northeasten Nigeria has
raised questions about the credibility of the February 14
elections as voting is unlikely to be possible there.
The Boko Haram insurgency has long since spread beyond
Nigeria’s borders. Chad said this week it will send a large
number of troops to neighboring Cameroon to help it fight
incursions on its territory by the militants.
The move, announced by President Idriss Deby Itno, was
backed unanimously by members of the Chadian parliament
on Friday.
Chad has said it will also send troops to Nigeria itself.
French President Francois Hollande, whose country is still
reeling from a lethal Islamist militant attack on the offices of a
satirical magazine in the French capital Paris, accused Boko
Haram on Friday of “carrying out crimes against humanity” in
Nigeria.
“France must give more help to countries fighting this
scourge,” he told ambassadors.
Similar remarks were made earlier by US Secretary of State
John Kerry who also referred to a “crime against humanity” on
hearing of the destruction of Baga and nearby Doron Baga by
Boko Haram.
Rights group Amnesty International has released satellite
images of the towns before and after the attack which appear
to show “devastation of catastrophic proportions.”
( DEUTSCHE WELLE )