By Chinazo Enigwe
ABOVE PHOTO: On Tuesday, May 1, showing soldiers standing near the body of a suspected member of the sect known as Boko Haram, following a raid by soldiers at Bubugaje, Sharada neighborhood in Kano, Nigeria. The radical Islamist sect Boko Haram published a video on the Internet Tuesday with images of a smiling suicide bomber, and containing threats against Nigerian journalists and newspapers.
(AP Photos/Salisu Rabiu)
Tragedy has struck. Recently there has been a massacre in the country of Nigeria. In Kato, Nigeria a gunman has shot and killed at least 21 people. Last Sunday in northern Nigeria, a gunman attacked worshippers at church and a worship service on Bayero University campus. According to the Nigerian Red Cross, on the campus, 16 people were killed and 22 were wounded.
Later that day the gunman open fire on five people at a church, including the pastor. The gunmen appeared on motorcycles and made amateur bombs using soda cans, and threw them in the area. There are no suspects as of yet, but the Boko Haram, a jihadist terrorist organization based in the northeast of Nigeria, has been blamed in light of their past terrorism acts.
Meanwhile in south Nigeria there have been numerous reports of kidnapping. For example, recently a Nigerian actress Anita Joseph was abducted along with her two nephews in Lagos, Nigeria. Fortunately they were released, but is still traumatized from the experience. Incidents like these have been affecting Nigerians all over. I’ve spoke with a Nigerian-American to get their view on what’s happening.
Nigerian Philadelphia local, Ifeanyi remarked, “All the things that are happening is very silly…causing extra hardship on people. [The kidnapping] is causing stress on people’s mobility, and also adverse effect on the economy.” With the reports of murders and kidnapping, it would be a necessity for the city to get a better security system.
In order for better security there needs to be more money, which causes a strain to the citizens of Nigeria. “People are not traveling back home on the events…people are not willing to visit home which is also effecting the economy.”
Nigerian citizens are in constant fear of becoming the next victim. The kidnapping and the massacres, is causing tension and hindering some daily activities. But the Nigerian community still holds out hope for peace.
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