Writing Homework Help

The farmers—43
of them—were found in the rice fields where they had gone to work. Some
had their throats slit. Others were beheaded. In the days that followed
locals found evidence of yet more butchery, taking the toll to 78. Boko
Haram, a jihadist group that has been fighting since 2009 to carve out a
caliphate in north-east Nigeria, was quick to claim credit for the
murders. It said they were revenge for the capture of a militant by
locals.

The people of north-east Nigeria have
grown wearily accustomed to the horrors of Boko Haram, whose name is
loosely translated as “Western education is forbidden”. The group has
been known to strap ticking bombs to children before sending them into
markets and mosques. Its abduction of more than 200 girls from a school
in Chibok in 2014 became emblematic of the many failures of President
Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. He was defeated in an election the
following year by Muhammadu Buhari, a former general who promised to
restore security.

Yet the latest killings—and the
government’s ham-fisted response to them—have rekindled outrage among
Nigerians. Garba Shehu, Mr Buhari’s spokesman, initially blamed the
victims, saying they had not been given permission from the army to go
to the farm. An army spokesman accused them of collaborating with the
insurgents and not tipping off the security forces.

1. Identify how Boko Haram contributed to Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat in 2015.
2. Identify why President Buhari is losing support among northern rural farmers.
3. Explain whether a President with a northern or southern background would be best to protect Nigeria from jihadist attacks.

But one survivor said they had told
soldiers that jihadists were in the area. After the farmers nabbed one
and handed him over, many feared Boko Haram would retaliate. When it
did, the army was nowhere to be seen.

The government is unable to provide
security in large swathes of the countryside. Jihadists are not the only
scourge. Bandits loot villages in northern and central Nigeria, and
kidnap for ransom. Many farmers have abandoned their homes and crops.
“We will not have food sufficiency because people are afraid of going to
their farms,” says the head of a farmers’ association.

Mr Buhari won a second term last year,
largely thanks to the votes of rural northerners. Their support now
seems to be dwindling. That may not matter much to a term-limited
77-year-old. But it matters to his party. Allies are pleading with him
to fire his army chief. Mr Buhari remains remote and passive, however,
even as his country burns.