Concerns Mount as Boko Haram Executes Aid Worker, Hauwa Liman.

Local and international concerns have continued to mount following the recent execution of Hauwa Liman, a 24 year old Nigerian nurse and humanitarian worker who was serving in Borno State as an aid worker under the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Liman who was born in 1994 was a registered nurse and student of Health Education at the University of Maiduguri. According to reports, she was abducted by a faction of Boko Haram (ISWAP) terrorists in March 2018 and tragically executed on October 15, 2018 against local and international appeals.

The execution of Liman has been condemned by local and international advocacy groups and media organizations who have described her execution as a war crime and a violation of international human right laws. Confirmed sources disclosed that Boko Haram executed Liman allegedly because she was a Christian and was working with the humanitarian International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Boko Haram has already claimed responsibility for the abduction and execution of the poor aid worker, stating that she was killed in retaliation for the actions of Nigerian security forces and for being a Christian.

The Guardian newspaper of Tuesday October 16, 2018, reported that a second aid worker who worked with the ICRC as a midwife was also killed in September by Boko Haram. The terrorist group claimed in a viral video that they had marked all the abductees for execution after the expiration of the deadline they issued.  In another viral video, the group claimed that Liman deserved death for abandoning Islam and for working with ICRC.

A report from Daily Trust newspaper of Wednesday 17 October 2018, disclosed that Global Amnesty Watch (GAW) described the killing of Liman by Boko Haram terrorist group as an affront on the entire human race. The newspaper quoted a statement it obtained in Lagos where a top official of the group, Tom Lever, in-charge of Africa Regional Office of GAW, described Liman’s killing as barbaric and unacceptable. Other international media groups like the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera also raised concerns about the execution of Hauwa Liman by Boko Haram.

Umuaka Times can reliably confirm that available data from the Northeast showcases tales of woes, violence and deaths in the last decade. Terrorism comes in three different forms; international terrorism, local terrorism and state sponsored terrorism which many consider the most deadly. Recent events across the country seem to suggest that Nigeria may perhaps be witnessing all the three types of terrorism presently.

Before the abduction and eventual killing of Hauwa Liman, Boko Haram has been abducting and killing people in the Northeast. In 2014, the terror group abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok, Borno State, with many still missing till date. More recently, Boko Haram kidnapped 110 schoolgirls from Dapchi, Yobe State. Journalists are also not spared; Enenche Akogwu, a reporter with Channels Television was killed during a Boko Haram attack in Kano in 2012.

There were also two foreign hostages, a Briton and an Italian, killed by Boko Haram during a failed rescue attempt by Nigerian forces in 2012.  The year 2015 was another year the terror group wreaked havoc by killing up to 2,000 people in Baga, Borno State. A suicide bombing at a market in Maiduguri killed 19 people in 2015. Before the execution of Hauwa Liman, Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, an aid worker with the ICRC was abducted by Boko Haram militants in March 2018 and later executed in September 2018.

Following the execution of Hauwa Liman and other aid workers, it is believed that humanitarian crises in the Northeast will escalate as fear of abduction has gripped aid workers in the troubled Northern Nigeria. Reports reaching Umuaka Times confirmed that local and international humanitarian agencies have started withdrawing their workers from the region. People believe that the withdrawal of aid workers from an area that is in dare need of humanitarian assistance will further worsen the plight of the people living in the area.

The abduction and execution of Liman and others have raised serious concerns about the fate of other aid workers in the region as Islamic fundamentalists in the region have threatened to resist all activities of the ICRC including campaigns for immunization which they describe as a ploy by Christians and non-Muslims to reduce the population of their children. Terrror groups in the North have issued threats to Christian aid workers to totally stay away from the Northeast or face very tragic consequences. These threats have put the lives of the Christian aid workers in the area in real danger. Umuaka Times correspondent interviewed several aid workers in the region including Gladys Adeyele, a health worker with ICRC; Matthew Adeoye, field officer for GAW; and Sunday Odion, a nurse with ICRC. They all confirmed that Boko Haram terrorists have been in pursuit of them and their colleagues after raiding their residences and kidnapping many of them.

In the last decade, it is estimated that over a total of 25,000 Nigerians have so far been murdered by Boko Haram and the Federal Government of Nigeria as it appears could not protect them. Many Nigerians have continued to live in fear of abduction and execution following the terror activities of Boko Haram in the Northeast. The APC-led Federal Government has been urged to find solutions and end the spate of killings and abductions across the country and wipe out Boko Haram elements.

President Muhammadu Buhari while reacting to the killing of Liman expressed sorrow and condemned the killing of the nurse humanitarian worker by Boko Haram’s ISWAP faction. He assured Nigerians that the Federal Government will hold those responsible accountable. But despite his assurances, and claim in 2015 that Boko Haram was “technically defeated”, the group continues to attack Nigeria and her neighbouring countries with apparent impunity.