Shoot to Kill

The upcoming election in Nigeria is creating more and more violence as we creep closer to election time. More riots and violence have become so common that the government issued a "shoot to kill" order allowing soldiers patrolling the city to shoot anyone who begins a riot. This order took place shortly after a Muslim election worker was killed and his body was set on fire in Jos. "The new order in Jos allow soldiers to kill anyone trying to hurt another person or destroy a home, church or mosque in the city and surrounding areas." The city has been a continuous hot zone for violence and riots which began towards the end of 2010. The government is now taking extreme measures to try and stop the violence which has erupted. There are mixed feelings to the new order from the military. Some believe this will have a positive affect on the city and will begin to move the city to a safer lifestyle. Others do not believe this will have a positive affect. Some are scared more violence will erupt from protest against the new order, and there will be even more bloodshed on a matter that is suppose to protect the people but in turn may end up killing even more people than before.

This demonstrates a number of things we have learned in class. This first being the cleavages in Nigeria. The religious cleavages are tearing the city of Jos apart and are allowing the military to pass these absurd orders. Another demonstration it the fact that fact that civil rights and freedoms are being taken away from the citizens in Jos and surrounding areas. Of course Nigeria does not have the type of freedoms we in the United States have, but don't they get some right to live? Even if they are protesting in a violent way, just arrest the people or shoot to injure but not to kill. Finally, the third thing it demonstrates is the power the government has. Clearly the government and the military are closely related if the government gives them the authority to pass an order that they have. Obviously the military is a large part of the society in Nigeria, unlike here in the United States.

Conference in the Netherlands Questions Shell Officials on Nigerian Oil Pollution

Environmental organizations, business officials from the Royal Dutch Shell company, and Dutch lawmakers convened in the Netherlands on Wednesday in The Hague to discuss possible shady and irresponsible actions taken by Shell in its dealings with Nigeria for oil. Organizations targeted the company claiming that their actions had led to irreparable damage in the vulnerable Niger Delta region because of continuous oil pollution and spills from Royal Dutch Shell rigs. The Economic Affairs Committee in the lower house of Parliament called the meeting after the Friends of the Earth group and Amnesty International accused Shell of "nontransparent, inconsistent and misleading figures" about oil pollution created under their jurisdiction. The groups claimed that the company was understating the facts in order to shirk their legal liability and "ignore human rights abuses". Shell's executive vice president for sub-Saharan Africa, Ian Craig claimed that many of the oil spills were caused by sabotage or "organized theft of oil", referred to as "bunkering". He also pleaded that although oil spills had become too often and common much of the pollution could be attributed to threats against employees which caused the company to not be able to fully engage in maintenance activities. Chief executive of Shell Netherlands, Peter de Wit, argued tat the company helped Nigeria by creating thousands of jobs and was not fully responsible for the pollution, some of that blame lay with the Nigerian government, he argued. He proceeded to state that it was not a matter of the company's dealings rather the problem was "the issue [of] different local circumstances". Craig added to this idea by stating that problems related to the oil business had more to do with Nigeria's, "high population density, the ensuing competition for resources, poverty, political marginalization and, of course, corruption, leading to frustration, violence, and criminality" and that all attempts to improve conditions had been impeded by "militant attacks on [their] staff and facilities and by a lack of funding".

This conference and its topics of debate show both the idea of political and economic change and the idea of common policy issues. It demonstrates how problems related to attempted political change and efforts to globalize Nigeria's economy can lead to an increase in political and economic destabilization. Furthermore, by the statement that this was an "issue[of] different local circumstances" we can infer that a part of this problem and pollution had more to do with regionalism and the development and lack there of in different parts of Nigeria rather than the actions of the Royal Dutch Shell company. This event also demonstrates common policy issues such as environmental degradation, population, and economic performance. According to the article, the pollution in Nigeria is worse than "perhaps any other place on earth" showing that attempted economic leaps come at a cost. Population plays in to this issue as Craig states that overpopulation, poor demographic clustering, and poverty leads to corruption and "bunkering". Lastly this event plays into the idea that although the Nigeria Delta region has suffered a great deal from the effects of poor oil infrastructure, without this business partnership, the Nigerian economy would deflate severely.

Nigeria Polition and Others Shot and Killed

The city of Maiduguri

   
 Modu Fannami Gubio was shot and killed Friday by men on motorbikes in Maiduguri city after praryers. Gubio was the candiate for the All Nigeria People's Party in April, running for governer in the north eastern state Borno. Four others were killed in the attack, including a 10-year-old child.

     Gubio was outside of his father's home, talking to supporters, when two men rode by on bikes, each with a gun. They fired into the crowd; the killers have not yet been caught.

     Similar ride-by assassinations over the last few months have been planed on the Boko Haram sect, locally know as the Taliban. This group wants to see Islamic laws imposed in Nigeria; the sect is also opposed to Western education and ideas. The violence started in July 2009, when the sect attacked a police station.

     The assassination of Gubio this Friday shows some of the turmoil in the political structure of Nigeria in the face of elections. The terroist group responsible for the death of the politition and civilians is a clear example of political violence, as well as coinciding cleavages involving Western thinking and religion.

Nigerian Presidential Candiates

Current Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will run against a minimum of three opponents in the upcoming election, all from the Muslim North. Jonathan is the heavy favorite to win the election, as the People's Democratic Party has won every election for the last decade. Representing the PDP, Jonathan promised to fight corruption and push through reforms for the country. In August 2010, he announced a multi-billion dollar plan to create a new energy sector and end power shortages.

Current Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan

Although Jonathan is popular, his campaign was controversial due to the pact that sates power should rotate between the Christian South and Muslim North every two terms.

Muhammadu Buhari is running for the Congress for Progressive Change party. The military ruler of Nigeria during the 1980s, Buhari was known for ruling with an iron fist. Although he was overthrown in 1985, his clean reputation makes him strong opposition to Jonathan.



Ibrahim Shekarau runs for the All Nigerian People's Party, but is considered an outsider in the race for president. Even though he has vowed to restore trust in government, Shekarau is a longshot.

                         

Nigerian's action Congress has selected Nuhu Ribadu to represent then in the upcoming race. With little support and having fled Nigerian in 2009, Ribadu is likely one of the least likely candidates for election.

Clash in Nigeria leaves 13 Dead

On January 11, 2011, at least 13 people had been left dead outside the city of Jos due to ethnic tensions. The violence began January 7, after a bus full of Muslims became lost when returing to the city from a wedding. By Monday, the streets of the city had been deserted to avoid even more violence. Jos is located in the middle of Nigeria, and istherefore a hot zone for clashes between the Muslim North and the Christian South. In the past decade there has been more and more violence between the two religious groups. On Christmas Eve and Christmas day, there were a set of bomb set off right outside of the city of Jos. No one has been identified behind these two attacks, therefore no arrest have been made.

These sets of attacks demonstrate the affects that coinciding cleavages can have on a country. Coinciding cleavages are the bad types of cleavages which tear a country apart. There are many religious tensions seen in Nigeria between the Muslim population and the Christian population which result in flare ups and attacks which are seen here in these news stories. These types of incidences are keeping the Nigerian nation from moving forward in both the economic and political world. With set backs like these, one must wonder if the citizens in the country will ever come together as a nation and instead of having violent disputes over who is what religion, view each other as Nigerians, not muslim and Christian.

January Voting Registration Turns Deadly

On Monday, January 17th citizens gathered to register to vote in upcoming elections in Jos, Nigeria, a city known for debilitating clashes and tensions between Muslims and Christians. Youths protesting against the fact that Muslims were conducting the voter registration became the catalyst of violence. According the witnesses, soldiers opened fire among the crowd causing the death of a university graduate volunteer followed by two other bystanders. General Hassan Umaru, a leading military commander, continues to deny that the soldiers ever were ordered to or used lethal force. The country continues to attempt to register some 70 million eligible voters in the upcoming two weeks so that they will be able to participate in April elections in the violence-torn region despite the fact that 500 people were killed last year in Jos alone.



This tragic story demonstrates how challenging efforts to democratize and liberalize the country of Nigeria has become, and, unfortunately, most likely will continue for some time. Consistently, the violence can be attributed to the coinciding cleavages that rip the country apart caused by the incredible tensions between the predominately Muslim north and Christian south. This religious division polarizes the country into two separate identities, making it increasingly difficult to unify Nigeria as a whole and create a new healthy sense of nationalism. This story is encouraging though because it, at the least, shows some level of political participation and an effort to democratize the country in structure and function.