Thursday 10 December 2015

[Part 2] Chronicling unceasing slaughter of Biafrans in Nigeria before Boko Haram (1980-2006)

[Part 2] Chronicling unceasing slaughter of Biafrans in Nigeria before Boko Haram (1980-2006)
The Igbo genocide was primarily about the protection of strategic British interests in Nigeria. The departing colonialists had secured the collaboration of the northern region, which was vehemently opposed to African independence. Thus Fulani-Hausa elites played a key role in the perpetration of the genocide." Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe


Biafrans were first massacred in Jos in 1945, then in Kano in 1953. Hundreds of Biafrans were murdered during these massacres and tens of thousands of pounds sterling worth of their property looted or destroyed (Ekwe-Ekwe, 2006: 8, 19-20). No perpetrators of these murders were ever apprehended or punished by the British regime.

These unceasing slaughters and non-apprehension and punishment of perpetrators have been carried forward till date. Most recently at Onitsha, where over nine innocent Biafrans were gruesomely murdered by agents of the Nigerian government.

Below is a chronicle of various incidents were many Biafrans were slaughtered in Nigeria from 1980 t0 2006, before Boko Haram emerged and took over with the slaughter of Biafrans till date.





1) 1980 May: 2467 Christians [Biafrans] killed in Zaria
2) 1980 December 18‐20 Riots in Kano. The Maitatsine sect, 4,177 Biafrans are killed.
3) 1982 September 29-October 3. Disturbances in Kaduna, Kaduna State. 53 killed and many churches are burned.
4) 1982 October 29‐30. Further trouble in Maiduguri, Borno State, Maitatsine sects. 118 die.
5) 1984 February 27-March 5. Disturbance in Yola, Gongola State. Maitatsine sect, 568 die. Mostly Christians
6) 1985 April 26‐28 Riot in Gombe, Bauchi State. Maitatsine sect. 105 Mostly Christians die.
7) 1987 March 5th and following days. In Kafanchan, Kaduna State, Christians and Muslims clash at the College of Education. 100 Churches burned.
8) 1987 March. Katsina, Funtua, Zaria, Gussau and Kaduna (Kaduna State). A wave of religious riots, many churches are burned and property destroyed, and many lives are lost.
9) 1991 April In Katsina, several lives are lost. Shiite sect in Katsina led by Malam Yahaya Yakubu stirs up trouble. 
10)1991 April, in Tafawa Balewa (Bauchi State) over 200 lives were lost with properties and 20 churches destroyed.
11) 1992 February 6th and then May 15‐16 Zango Kataf, Zaria, Kaduna State Communal clash becomes a religious clash, with lives and property destroyed
12) Funtua (Katsina State). Kalakato religious sect assaults a village head. 50 lives were lost and properties destroyed.
13) 1999. May 20. Muslim‐Christian riots in Kaduna, for three days, several hundred were feared dead. 3200 conservative estimate, mostly Christians
14) 1999. July 18 Hausa and Yoruba riot in Shagamu, over 60 are killed. This led to trouble in Kano where over 70 are killed. 
15) 2000 August 11. About 200 are killed as the army intervenes in Taraba State 
16) 2000 October. Sharia Law in is introduced in Zamfara State. 
17) 2000 February. Riots in Kaduna over the introduction of Sharia. Over 400 are killed. Mostly Christians
17) 2001 September 7. Christian‐Muslim conflicts in Jos. Over 500 are killed.
18) 2001 October 12‐14 In Kano, there are anti‐American riots, because of USA intervention in Afghanistan. At least 350 are killed Mostly Christians.
19) 2006 February:Sectarian violence sparked by cartoons of Islam’s most revered figure spread to 11 Nigerian cities resulting in the burning of 28 churches and pushing the total death toll to more than 650.


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