Out of fear of possible Boko Haram bombing, the 2012 Afan Festival, also known as Kagoro Day in Southern Kaduna, has been cancelled. The event, the largest and most popular ethnic festival in Northern Nigeria, is normally held on the 1st of January.

The cancellation is in recognition of the bombings the Boko Haram sect vowed to unleash on Christian communities on 31st December 2011 and 1st January 2012.

The cancellation came today as President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was vowing in Abuja that his government will fight Boko Haram, the “group of evil-minded people who want to cause anarchy, to the end”.

Mr. Jonathan was speaking to Mr. Mohame Bazoum, Deputy Prime Minister of Niger Republic, who brought a solidarity message and condolences to Nigeria for lives lost during the Christmas Day attacks from President Issoufou Mahamadou.

Today’s unprecedented cancellation of Kagoro Day was contained in a statement SaharaReporters received today in Kagoro, Southern Kaduna.

Signed by Sunday Gwafan, National President of Kagoro Development Association, it said, “The Traditional Council and the Kagoro community in Kaura local government area of Kaduna State, wish to inform the general public and in particular, the friends and well wishers of Kagoro Chiefdom that because of the current mood of the nation the usual National Afan Festival which holds every 1st day of January of the year will not hold in the usual manner.

“Instead, the Kagoro community being predominantly Christian, has decided to observe the festival in a solemn manner in all Churches, praising and worshiping our God and thanking Him for all the blessings of the year past and praying for peace, protection, unity and more blessings for the chiefdom, state and nation at large. We therefore invite all Kagoro sons and daughters, including friends and well wishers, to come home for these prayers that will be held on the 1st January 2012 in all Churches in Kagoro land. The Chief of Kagoro and other government functionaries will worship at ECWA Hausa Fadan Kagoro by 10:00 am.”




Last week’s attacks in Southern Kaduna occurred in the same area, and about ten persons were killed.

In Mr. Jonathan’s statement today, he seemed to have backed off a widely criticized utterance last week where he said that Nigerians would learn to live with the Boko Haram attacks.

In today’s more carefully-worded statement, he said that both Muslims and Christians were victims of the explosives planted by Boko haram, and called for a concerted effort by all well-meaning Nigerians to bring this problem under control.


President Jonathan agreed with President Issoufou that this was not a religious war, adding that “no religion asks its followers to throw bombs to kill people they don’t even know”.

Mr. Jonathan called on neighboring countries to cooperate with Nigeria in the struggle against the menace because “the perpetrators pass through borders at will and we have to ensure that there are no safe havens for them in the sub-region”.

Earlier, Mr. Mohame Bazoum, Deputy Prime Minister of Niger Republic, said President Issoufou was concerned about the violence and loss of lives, and assured President Jonathan of the Nigerien President’s support in the efforts to check the activities of Boko Haram.


http://saharareporters.com/news-page/boko-haram-southern-kaduna-festival-cancelled-jonathan-vows-fight-%E2%80%98-end%E2%80%99

This is an indication that Boko Haram have defeated us.A well celebrated festival won't take place 'cos of insecurity in our nation shows that GEJ is not worthy to be the leader of this country.

I am sorry, but words mean nothing right now.

There should be a BH war room in Aso Rock by now. After the Xmas bombings, GEJ should have:

1. Closed all our land borders on the northern half of the country - for a month in the first instance.
2. Immediately establish a line of defence across the country from just above Abuja involving roads, river and air.
3. Declare a state of emergency in several northern states, replace their governors and put army generals in place.

And that would be the beginning.

^ Your suggestions, whether they totally work or not, are MILES ahead of the useless speeches of Jonafufu Goatluck president because he will do nothing but talk like an imbec ile.

So now the President has moved as suggested below. Although quite late the President's move is still a good one. I hope the fact that the state of emergency is limited to a few local governments is based on knowledge of the sources of this virulent groups calling themselves BH.

Still, apart from putting down these groups where they are currently operating, there are two other objectives in the recommendations below. Preventing cross-border movements is one. However, the most important objective is to address the wack-a-mole nature of this group. That requires a line of defense in case they attempt to move around.

Given that, I hope that the president's SOE declaration and land border closure is only the visible part of his actions, and that a line of defense is also being established around the local governments where BH is known to be active.

koruji:

I am sorry, but words mean nothing right now.

There should be a BH war room in Aso Rock by now. After the Xmas bombings, GEJ should have:

1. Closed all our land borders on the northern half of the country - for a month in the first instance.
2. Immediately establish a line of defence across the country from just above Abuja involving roads, river and air.
3. Declare a state of emergency in several northern states, replace their governors and put army generals in place.

And that would be the beginning.