No one seems to know how many Nigerian girls are actually missing

Some Nigerian family friends had a party last week and I asked the husband (who was a lawyer in Nigeria) for an update on the situation. He explained some remarkable new developments but I struggled to follow/grasp. Something about the President's security forces turning on him (both ground soldiers and inner circle figures) and other outside forces shifting alliances or something. If it weren't a party I would have asked him to explain further (or slower), but I walked away with the sense that the political situation was very dynamic and anything could happen at any moment. No new report on the girls of course, and of course I haven't heard a word of this "upset" in the regime in the US media. But then, of course we wouldn't as long as there's the middle east to obsess about.

 

smart post

 

Dear probation officer (moderator?):

I don't remember what the fight/controversy was about, but for what it's worth, I was never offended at all by flaming's post about "blaming white people for everything that has ever happened to BM" -I just couldn't help but remark on that statement and maybe embarrass him a little (cause it was silly) is all. Of course I was never serious about "moving on"; I just thought he needed reminding that ww are "white people" (even wm forget that, so not a biggie).

I don't think that had anything to do with him getting restricted or whatever (there was some other beef and fist fight out back?), but for what it's worth I'm not pressing charges and, after all he does "contribute". lol

 

I think you're right Bliss. Sounds like you're really more informed than most, by investing time for broader sources of info. All I know is the only few Nigerians I know only speak of it as a fundamentally religious conflict.

Which reminds me of a ridiculous thing my dad said when the girls were first abducted. I'm embarrassed to share this but he said that Dr. Dre (who was also in the news that day for his deal with apple) should offer to pay ransom for the girls. I cocked my head and looked at him and said "Why Dr. Dre? There's tons of billionaires in America, why Dr. Dre?". I think he knew he was caught a little, and said "well, because he's a famous rapper and they might negotiate with him." To which I responded, "What is it about being a rapper that's going to give him clout with Boko Haram? Any more clout than the billionaires at the country club right here in our town?" See, I immediately knew two things when my dad announced his idea to rescue the children: (1) that he thought Dre would be a great ambassador in this situation because he was black, and (2) he was ever-so-slightly bitter about a black rapper getting $3.2 billion. I wanted to point out that Dre obviously wasn't just a rapper, that he was not only a producer in one of the few lucrative American domestic and export industries, but that he also now succeeded in making bank by merging his business with yet another of the only lucrative industries we got - silicon valley. But that's a whole nother convo I'd leave for another time. I wanted him to explain why he thought Dre should be the one to cough up his money to buy the children back and why he thought Boko Haram would give a shit about an American rapper. Cause Kim Jon Il fell in love with Rodman? WTF? Now, keep in mind my dad is a harvard educated guy from new york who devoted his life to studying history and international politics. I said, "Dad, I don't think the issue in Nigeria is a race thing. And I don't think the Islamic terrorist group named ""Western or non-Islamic education is a sin" is going to get excited about a phone call from the ambassador of West Coast G Funk. And I don't suspect it's even really about money for these suicide bombers." Look, I know there's nothing special about a 70 year old white man displaying macro-aggression racism; it just also struck me there's also maybe a generational factor at play. I don't think my dad saw that Dre didn't make the $3.2B cause he sold a bunch of records about banging women and smokin dope. I don't think he sees what's what we see, that the real hip-hop $ is not made on MLK street but on wall street. I asked my dad how Dre is any different than the hundreds of 20 something billionaires who developed/produced something that Apple or Microsoft wanted real bad. Why don't we put Mark Zuckerberg on a plane to North Nigeria with a bag full of his money? Oohhh, cause he's a skinny white dude from Yale.
Anyway, sorry for the long-winded off topic story. When you said is was about religion and not race it just reminded me of this funny (kinda) exchange with my dad. Peace.

 

You're right, The Guardian covers the kidnapping constantly, as well as their more recent incursions and attacks in Cameroon.

 

The Nigerian situation is a complicated mess.

Firstly, age old rivalries and animosities earlier suppressed by military governments ruling the nation in the past has been re-ignited by growing economic inequalities caused by lack of regulation and standardization of education in northern Nigeria.

Secondly, increasing private delivery of service in Nigeria, especially education, has left a vulnerable section of the northern masses to grow up in the arms of extreme Islamists. Education being served does not prepare kids for the modern economy and most northern kids are now caught in cold traps of poverty.

Thirdly, several years ago, northern political elites who lost access to power by accident in Nigerian's new found democracy sought to regain power by promoting governance through sharia laws, unfortunately this ended up hoodwinking the northern people into voting them in en-masse .

Many years later, no democracy dividends, and the growing poverty have made many poverty stricken masses to grow disenchanted with the politicians who misruled them. Now you have an extremist minority seeking alternative ways of living and running their lives. The sharia laws that were promoted by northern political elites to win votes have progressively created an intolerant religious environment that promotes Islamic lifestyle that is not compatible with modern businesses and this has caused capital to flow out of northern states and this has left many of the communities devastated and hopeless and this has increased radicalization of many of the youths in this section of the country.

All these issues mentioned in the preceding paragraphs have created an environment that our clueless Nigerian president has not been able to get a handle on. In one sense, he has refused to engage with the issue intelligently. In another sense, he has chosen to play dirty politics with the issue.

Unfortunately Nigeria's new democratic environment has created more problems for the common military men who were removed from power. Now they have no jobs nor sources of livelihood unlike the years they were part of the ruling class that benefited immensely from economic opportunities. These common military men, mostly ex service men from northern Nigeria are the ones, in my opinion, trading in arms and promoting Boko Haram and the ones that have complicated the mess in the environment that was earlier exploited by northern political elites.

This is my attempt to put a story together behind what is being reported in the news. I hope I can continue further at some point.

 

Thank you naija for this interesting and very helpful contribution. My mobile has a tech issue preventing me from giving rep (the source of the glitch is likely with the NSA's servers as usual) so I'll note appreciation here. Your posts are always value-add.

 

It is the thought that counts. I love how your mind works even though I may not agree with her sometimes. I still love her.

I salute you.

 

:smt054