Massacre In Jos Increases Buhari's Pressure

Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has come under serious pressure following a wave of insurgent attacks that has continued to threaten the peace of the nation.

The emergency services said on Monday, at least 44 people were killed in twin bomb blasts in the central Nigerian city of Jos,  after a wave of mass casualty attacks blamed on Boko Haram militants.

According to AFP count, the bombing on Sunday took the death toll from raids, explosions and suicide attacks to 267 this month alone and up to 524 since Muhammadu Buhari became president on May 29.

General Buhari has repeatedly vowed to crush the Islamists and is eyeing the deployment of a strengthened regional force at the end of this month to deliver a hammer blow.

However, with the death toll rising by the day, attacks increasing and the military seemingly unable to prevent attacks on civilians, the President has come under pressure to act fast.

Reports have it that on Monday evening, a young girl thought to be aged just 13 blew herself up near a major mosque in the northern city of Kano as worshippers gathered for prayers but caused no deaths or injuries.

A second attack targeted the packed Shagalinku restaurant in a shopping complex on the Bauchi Road, which is popular with travellers from the northeast.

According to a local resident Mohammed Shafi’, who is a regular at the restaurant, the whole neighbourhood shook from the blast and he counted 25 bodies, including four waitresses.

He said “The restaurant was badly damaged. Bits of human flesh, blood stains, plastic tables and chairs and all sorts of personal items litter the place.”

The Jos massacre followed a suicide attack on a church in the north-eastern city of Potiskum on Sunday, which left five people dead, including the pastor, a woman and her two children.

Just last week, Islamist militants fighters raided a number of villages around the Lake Chad area, killing more than 150 worshipers as they prayed in mosques.

On Sunday, Buhari said that Boko Haram, which has ties to the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, had “declared war on all that we value.”

The President promised to do “everything possible to eradicate Boko Haram, terrorism and mindless extremism from Nigeria in the shortest possible time.”

The resumption of Boko Haram’s guerrilla-style tactics against civilian targets follows its capture of territory across the northeast last year.

The rebels were reportedly pushed out of towns and villages since the turn of the year but the attacks prove that the group is resilient and formidable, one that requires higher fire power.

Speculations by security analysts have shown that a decline in the intensity of operations by the existing multilateral force of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon has allowed the rebels to regroup and rearm.

They further speculate that the increase in attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan has coincided with Buhari being distracted by other pertinent issues such as the decline in the economy.

Survey has shown that the patience of the highly lethargic Nigerian populace is wearing thing.