• Killed 1,132 in 364 attacks, says U.S. report
• Group's, Talibans' record higher than killings by Al-Qaeda, Maoists,
Al-Shabaah
• Outrage at ACN's opposition to ban on group
• PDP accuses party of support for insurgents
WITH only the Talibans in Afghanistan ahead,Boko Haram is now the
second widely known perpetrator of terrorism in the world, according
to a report by the United States (U.S.) government.
Just last week, the U.S. State Departmentannounced a $7 million bounty
for information that will lead to the captureof the group's leader,
Abubakar Shekau.
And in Nigeria, there is outrage at the opposition of the Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to the Federal Government's ban on the
group. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday accused the ACN of
trying to use the press as a subterfuge to hide its support for
insurgents and to whittle the efforts by the Federal Government to end
acts of terrorism in the country.
The ruling party, which threw its weight behind President Goodluck
Jonathan, said contrary to the claims by the ACN, no part of the
presidential order proscribing terrorist groups, directly or
indirectly violated any provision of the constitution or impinged on
the freedom of the press in the country.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a
statement on Monday described the allegation by the ACN that the order
was aimed at gagging the press, as despicable and a clear indication
of how far the opposition party could go to distort facts to support
violence and cause disaffection among Nigerians.
The PDP in Ondo State and the Niger Delta Professionals also faulted
the position of the ACN.
An annex to the U.S. government reporton terrorism last year, just
made available to The Guardian, shows that besides the Taliban in
Afghanistan, Boko Haram in Nigeria had the highest number of terror
attacks last yearand killed also the second highest number of people.
The statistical report called 'START' conducted by the University of
Marylandfor the American government on global terrorism in 2012 has
revealed that while the Talibans killed 1,842 people in525 attacks
last year, and came tops on the infamous ranking, Boko Haram came
second killing 1,132 in 364 attacks.
Both the Talibans and Boko Haram killed more than Al-Qaeda in Iraq,
the Maoists in India, Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
among other global terrorist groups.
Commenting, the Christian Association of Nigerian Americans (CANAN)
noted that based on these statistics of the U.S.government, the
refusal of the State Department to designate Boko Haram a Foreign
Terrorist Organisation (FTO) continued to be unsettling.
A statement from the group on Mondayin New York said: "The statistics
that were computed at the instruction of the U.S. government by a
reputable university deemed a centre of excellence by the U.S.
government showproof why Boko Haram should be designated."
CANAN added: "This is a further evidence that our demand to the State
Department to designate Boko Haram an FTO is a position backed up by
facts and reality. Our hope and expectation isthat soon, the State
Department will do what is right."
The statistical report also revealed that of the top 10 countries with
the most terrorist attacks last year, Nigeria came fifth because of
the activities of Boko Haram.
Besides, Nigeria ranked fourth in number of deaths from terrorist
attacks. According to the statistical information attached to the
recent "U.S.Terrorism 2012 reports", last year alone, there were a
total number of 546terror attacks in Nigeria with 1,386 killed.
"The average lethality of terrorist attacks in Nigeria (2.54 deaths
per attack) is more than 50 per cent higher than the global average of
1.64."
The statistical report revealed that in 2012, the majority of highly
lethal attacks -159 in all -, took place in Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Iraq, Nigeria and Syria, killing a total of 2,880 people.
The report stated that Boko Haram "was responsible for a number of
highly lethal attacks in 2012, including aseries of co-ordinated
bombings and armed assaults in Kano, Nigeria, on January 20 that
killed an estimated 190 people."
The 'START' was conducted by the National Consortium for the Study of
Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, based at the University of
Maryland. Theconsortium is deemed a U.S. Homeland Security Centre of
Excellence for Science and Technology.
The U.S. laws require the government inits yearly terrorism reports to
include complete statistical information on number of individuals
killed, injured or kidnapped by each terrorist group during the
preceding year.
Last year June, the U.S. State Departmentcontracted the consortium to
collect thestatistical data.
A statement by the Ondo State Director of Publicity of PDP, Ayo Fadaka
which was made available to The Guardian in Akure yesterday, expressed
"total disappointment" over the ACN's position on the Boko Haram
issue.
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