Shekau claims to be fighting for Islam. Now he has caused more harm and hardship to Muslims than whatever existed before. And it is now difficult for him to retrace his steps. Inspite of the denial by the Army, any sane person knows that on Nigerian roads if a soldier's car hits yours from behind or yours hits his, you are in trouble
Lesson : Religion of Islam is practised by knowledge and adherence to proper methodology; not by whims, no matter how passionate
May Allah guide us aright

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20163435

Nigeria army 'abuses' in Boko Haram crackdown - Amnesty

Nigerian security forces have carried out widespread abuses in their campaign against the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, Amnesty International says.

The rights group says in a report that abuses include extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance and torture.

A spokesman from the Nigerian army rejected the accusations, saying soldiers always operate within the law.

Boko Haram campaigns for an Islamic state and has been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of people this year.

It has carried out frequent attacks in northern and central Nigeria since 2009.

In its report, Amnesty blamed Boko Haram for widespread atrocities, including murder, burning down churches and schools, and attacks against the media.

But it said a heavy-handed response by the security forces had only fuelled further violence.

"The cycle of attack and counter-attack has been marked by unlawful violence on both sides, with devastating consequences for the human rights of those trapped in the middle," said the group's secretary general, Salil Shetty.

"People are living in a climate of fear and insecurity, vulnerable to attack from Boko Haram and facing human rights violations at the hands of the very state security forces which should be protecting them."

Reports of people being shot dead by the army or beaten to death in detention were particularly common in the north-east of the country, Amnesty said.

In response, Nigerian army spokesman Col SK Usman told the BBC that soldiers were professional and properly trained.

"There is no Nigerian soldier that goes out on the streets to just kill innocent Nigerians," he said.

"So whatever we do we always make sure it is done within the ambit of the law."

Amnesty's report documents what it calls an "increasing climate of fear" in which people are too scared to report crimes and journalists do not dare to cover them.

It calls on Nigeria's government to clarify the truth about incidents linked to Boko Haram, establish accountability for abuses and bring those responsible to justice.

Just watching a reporter from Al-azeera on this issue they are blaming the soldiers for not handling the issue in a logical way, for instance my colleague till now that I am typing this reply nobody knows exactly what had happened to him because he is missing and no one can tell either he's breathing or not, however, it happened boko haram strike in gwange area and that my friend was resided there after closing work straight he went home and unfortunately he was captured by the forces that is the end of his life. May almighty Allah forgive his bad deeds and Aljanna should be the final home for him Ameen.

^ very sad, its quite unfortunate that those we expect to protect us are also killing innocent recklessly. To make matter worse, people do not care, since its the "abokis" they are killing, its all well and good.

I was reading on the front page a narrative of a nairalander who experienced a horrible encounter with armed robbers, the pathetic thing is about how our police had no clue on how to investigate a crime scene! I am not sure if the police do have a functioning forensic dept. I almost burst into laughter while watching the news early this year after a bomb blast, and i saw some men wearing reflective jackets with CSI inscribed on them, CSI indeed.

I wonder what intelligence the sss have been gathering before and during this whole mess. I heard about cases of some extremist springing up in the north as far back as 2003 or thereabout, what did they do to investigate their activities? Should i be surprised, how many murder cases were ever resolved?

So amnesty wants the government to clear the air? By doing what? We all know the government side of the story na, the soldiers killed 40 boko haram members, 2 A.K 47 rifles, 20 life ammuniton and 5 IEDs were recovered...case closed.

I guess life is worthless in this country, both the government and criminals are terrorizing the populace with great impunity.

I pray Allah put to shame all those who try to paint Islam bad amin.

sino: ^ very sad, its quite unfortunate that those we expect to protect us are also killing innocent recklessly. To make matter worse, people do not care, since its the "abokis" they are killing, its all well and good.

I was reading on the front page a narrative of a nairalander who experienced a horrible encounter with armed robbers, the pathetic thing is about how our police had no clue on how to investigate a crime scene! I am not sure if the police do have a functioning forensic dept. I almost burst into laughter while watching the news early this year after a bomb blast, and i saw some men wearing reflective jackets with CSI inscribed on them, CSI indeed.

I wonder what intelligence the sss have been gathering before and during this whole mess. I heard about cases of some extremist springing up in the north as far back as 2003 or thereabout, what did they do to investigate their activities? Should i be surprised, how many murder cases were ever resolved?

So amnesty wants the government to clear the air? By doing what? We all know the government side of the story na, the soldiers killed 40 boko haram members, 2 A.K 47 rifles, 20 life ammuniton and 5 IEDs were recovered...case closed.

I guess life is worthless in this country, both the government and criminals are terrorizing the populace with great impunity.

I pray Allah put to shame all those who try to paint Islam bad amin.

I realy appreciate your genuine concern as a good Nigerian. The problem is that this Boko Haram do think that when they kill they are doing the work of Allah.

This I think is the reason why a person can choose to be a suicide bomber. What we can do is pray for God to open their eyes to know that He (God) is not pleased with killing people.

^^^^
Let us assume without conceding that they are working for Allah. So when they take their lives, they are doing good
Will the people killed by security forces or civilians on reprisal mission also have the same reward?
That is what I cannot get past. They can commit their suicide quietly at home and perhaps be blessed, if they so believe. But when they drag the unwilling into it, are they allowing the victims to have any intentions and say?

truthman2012:

I realy appreciate your genuine concern as a good Nigerian. The problem is that this Boko Haram do think that when they kill they are doing the work of Allah.

This I think is the reason why a person can choose to be a suicide bomber. What we can do is pray for God to open their eyes to know that He (God) is not pleased with killing people.

You made a lot of sense, but its not the thought of working for Allah that is propelling these guys, if it was so, all muslims would have been a suicide bomber. It is worthy to mention that Islam forbids any form of suicide, so their case is that of loads of brainwashing by leaders who have selfish interest.

Well, we continue to pray, hoping one day our government would apply the appropriate approach to tackle this menace.

^^^^
Another point is to consider when muslims started suicide bombing.
Islam was perfected about 1400 years ago
Yet suicide bombing in Islam is less than 30 years ago
Yes, it is really a product of innovation - and brainwashing made it popular
The irony of it all is that Japan had it as a state policy during WWII - kamikaze
And the Tamil Tigers took it over - Rajiv Ghandhi was a victim of it
before muslims copied it

^^ true talk, wars were faught during the time of the prophet(saw), where they were outnumbered, and the enemies caused a lot of damage to the muslim community, i have never read about a sahabah going to the community of the disbelivers and go on a killing spree, talkless of the prophet sanctioning such act...

What is haram has always been clear, i hate the fact that this boko haram have no clear-cut reasons for their actions, they keep changing their demands like the weather...i watched a video where they carried out an execution, i was horrified, the one that was reciting the Qur'an couldnt recite well, the one that wanted to carry out the kill was so reckless that he was using the knife to comb the hair of the victim subhanallah! He wasnt able to cut properly and had to be helped by another fellow. After watching that video, i said these guys are not muslims even when you want to kill an animal islamically, you dont do that. I kept thinking what was the reason behind making a video in the first place!

I read about their demands for them to cease fire, and i was amazed that they want compensation, who are these guyz sef?! If all the innocent they killed would request blood money i wonder what they would do.

^^^^^^
Good observation. Who will read the guidance on how to slaughter rams to minimise pain during eid and would believe that these murderous thugs are muslims

As soon as someone who believed that peace was necessary and met Obasanjo was killed, it became clear that BH had become factionalised
That is why I tend to agree that there is criminal BH, political BH and the original religious (although misguided) BH
If they truly fighting for islam, how will the arrest by the FGN of Modu Sheriff help Islam? Will that build more mosques, make muslims better understand the true message of Islam?
The comments on NL alone point to me that the political aspect is being exploited. Am I to believe that Azazi was a perfect fool?
Anyone talking about arresting Modu Sheriff is a politician, this is very simple
MEND started kidnapping for "ransom". It has become a thriving industry. So has the business of carrying out armed robbery, assassination enemies (and other crimes) in the name of BH

The lesson for all is clear: People who deviate start with a minor grievance and there are extremists like them who would join based on that grievance alone. But it becomes difficult to grow to a sizable number because as they encounter more reasonable people, those will challenge "is that all, is that enough for you to do all these and alienate people"? So they need to invent more reasons to pump up the feeling of outrage that would encourage people to join them. That has happened from earlier times.

Today, this history is well known, a BH member is killed by the police, BH retaliate, the police retaliate with greater ferocity and we have this tit-for-tat
Today the security services can point to the inhuman atrocities of BH; BH can fill pages with the outrageous deeds of the security agencies. But this matter has a very simple beginning but it has taken on a life of its own. It is difficult for even the late founder of BH to stop even if he is alive. He would share in the punishment for what he started. The best thing is never to start

Like one sheik said - Farah Aideed was a bad ruler, but has his death brought stability to Somalia? No. On the contrary, Somalia is a very unsafe and lawless country. Some people felt Sadat was a very bad person and they killed him, they ended up with Mubarak, somebody that most people agree turned out be far worse than Sadat.

May Allah guide us