US Govt Lauded Over Boko Haram's Ranking On Global Terror List
The Christian Association of Nigerian Americans (CANAN) has again noted that based on the recent statistics submitted to the U.S. government, by its own appointed agents, the refusal of the State Department to designate Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) continues to be unsettling.
According to that report, the Talibans in Afghanistan are ahead and Boko Haram is now the second widely known perpetrator of terrorism in the world.
Just last week, the U.S. State Department announced a $7 million bounty for information that will lead to the capture of the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau.
An annex to the U.S. government report on terrorism last year revealed that besides the Taliban in Afghanistan, Boko Haram in Nigeria had the highest number of terror attacks last year and killed also the second highest number of people.
The statistical report called ‘START’ conducted by the University of Maryland for the American government on global terrorism in 2012 has revealed that while the Talibans killed 1,842 people in 525 attacks last year, and came tops on the infamous ranking, Boko Haram came second killing 1,132 in 364 attacks.
Both the Talibans and Boko Haram killed more than Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Maoists in India, Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula among other global terrorist groups.
The statistics that were computed at the instruction of the U.S. government by a reputable university deemed a centre of excellence by the U.S. government show proof why Boko Haram should be designated.
"We at CANAN sees this as a further evidence that our demand to the State Department to designate Boko Haram an FTO is a position backed up by facts and reality. Our hope and expectation is that soon, the State Department will do what is right" a statement made available to our correspondent by the Executive Director of the association, Mr. Laolu Akande, said.
The statistical report also revealed that of the top 10 countries with the most terrorist attacks last year, Nigeria came fifth because of the activities of Boko Haram.
Besides, Nigeria ranked fourth in number of deaths from terrorist attacks. According to the statistical information attached to the recent “U.S. Terrorism 2012 reports”, last year alone, there were a total number of 546 terror attacks in Nigeria with 1,386
The ‘START’ was conducted by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, based at the University of Maryland. The consortium is deemed a U.S. Homeland Security Centre of Excellence for Science and Technology.
The U.S. laws require the government in its yearly terrorism reports to include complete statistical information on number of individuals killed, injured or kidnapped by each terrorist group during the preceding year.
Last year June, the U.S. State Department contracted the consortium to collect the statistical data.
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