The 2015 Baga massacre was a series of
mass killing
Mass killing is a concept which has been proposed by genocide scholars who wish to define incidents of non-combat killing which are perpetrated by a government or a state. A mass killing is commonly defined as the killing of group members without ...
s carried out by the
Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
group in the north-eastern Nigerian town of
Baga and its environs, in the
state of Borno, between 3 January and 7 January 2015.
The attack began on 3 January when Boko Haram overran a military base that was the headquarters of the
Multinational Joint Task Force
The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) is a combined multinational formation, comprising units, mostly military, from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. It is headquartered in N'Djamena and is mandated to bring an end to the Boko Haram ...
containing troops from
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
,
Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages[Western media
Western media is the mass media of the Western world. During the Cold War, Western media contrasted with Soviet media. Western media has gradually expanded into developing countries (often, non-Western countries) around the world.
History
T ...](_blank)
outlets reported that "over 2,000" people are thought to have been killed or "unaccounted for", but local media reported "at least a hundred" fatalities, while the Nigerian
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
said that no more than 150 people in total had been killed, including militants.
Several government officials denied that the fatalities were as extensive as reported, with some even claiming that the massacre had never taken place or that the Nigerian military had repelled the militants from the region,
a claim that was refuted by local officials, survivors, and the international media.
Baga and at least 16 other towns are thought to have been destroyed as over 35,000 people are reported to have been displaced, with many feared to have drowned while trying to cross
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
and others trapped on islands in the lake.
The attacks are said to have resulted in Boko Haram extending its control to over 70% of Borno State, while its leader,
Abubakar Shekau
Abu Mohammed Abubakar al-Sheikawi (also known by the alias ''Darul Akeem wa Zamunda Tawheed'', or ''Darul Tawheed''; "the abode of monotheism"; born 1965, 1969 or 1975 – 19 May 2021) was a Kanuri man known as the leader of Boko Haram, a Nigeri ...
, claimed responsibility for the massacre in a video statement, saying that they "were not much" and that the group's insurgency "would not stop".
Background
Baga, in Borno State, was the location of a
Nigerian Army
The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army.
History Formation
The Nigerian ...
base that was the headquarters of the
Multinational Joint Task Force
The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) is a combined multinational formation, comprising units, mostly military, from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. It is headquartered in N'Djamena and is mandated to bring an end to the Boko Haram ...
(MNJTF), an international force of soldiers from Nigeria, Niger and Chad that was formed in 1994 to deal with cross-border security issues and, more recently, combating the Boko Haram insurgency.
For that reason, the town is believed to have been of strategic importance to Boko Haram, as the last major town in Northern Borno State under the control of the
Nigerian government and a key military base for government and international forces.
Massacre and attacks
![USArmy-BokoHaram-Baga](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/USArmy-BokoHaram-Baga.png)
The attacks began on 3 January, when a large number of
Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...
militants captured the town of Baga and overran the MNJTF headquarters and army base in town.
Attack on MNJTF headquarters
According to
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Ahmed Zanna
Khalifa Ahmed Zanna (5 January 1955 – 16 May 2015) was a Nigerian politician who was elected Senator for Borno Central, in Borno State, on the 9 April, 2011 national elections at the age of 55. He was elected under the People's Democratic ...
, who represents the district of
Borno Central, government forces—despite being the joint headquarters, only Nigerian Army forces were stationed there at the time—resisted the militants, who "attacked from all sides", for several hours, but eventually "joined civilians fleeing into the bush".
They reportedly seized a large number of weapons and vehicles, according to Zanna.
In the days following the assault, the militants forced Baga's residents into the surrounding area villages.
On the evening of Tuesday, 6 January, two local residents reported that the militants began to burn local buildings using
petrol bombs
A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flammab ...
and explosives, and according to survivors proceeded to kill those left.
On 9 January, a resident described the extent of the damage by reporting, "There is not any single house that is standing there."
According to Musa Bukar, head of the
Kukawa
Kukawa (previously Kuka) is a town and Local Government Area in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, close to Lake Chad.
The town was founded in 1814 as capital of the Kanem-Bornu Empire by the Muslim scholar and warlord Muhammad al-Amin al ...
local government area, all 16 villages in the LGA were razed as well, and their residents either killed or forced to flee.
Extent of fatalities
The extent of the killings is as of yet unknown, and reports vary widely.
According to
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
:
[Mausi Segun]
Dispatches: What Really Happened in Baga, Nigeria?
Human Rights Watch, 14 January 2015.
The exact death toll in Baga and 16 surrounding villages is unknown, with estimates ranging from "dozens" to 2000 or more. "No one stayed back to count bodies", one local resident told Human Rights Watch. "We were all running to get out of town ahead of Boko Haram fighters who have since taken over the area".
Bukar stated that over two thousand people are thought to have been killed.
Zanna said that two thousand were "unaccounted for"; other sources said that "dozens" or "over a hundred" had been killed.
At least 100 were killed in the initial attack on 3 January, according to Baba Abba Hassan, the district head, later adding that "hundreds of corpses still lay on the streets" of the town and that many women and children were among the victims, having been pursued into the bush by the militants.
Hassan, however, denied that the attack on 7 January had ever occurred and that the figure of 2,000 deaths was "outrageous".
Several government sources allegedly rejected claims of such a high number of fatalities, suggesting that it was considerably lower.
However, the Nigerian government has downplayed the extent of, and frequently outright denied the existence of, Boko Haram attacks several times in the past, including a
prior massacre in Baga in 2013 where both Boko Haram and the
Nigerian military
The Nigerian Armed Forces (NAF) are the combined military forces of Nigeria. It consists of three uniformed service branches: the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, and Nigerian Air Force. The President of Nigeria functions as the commander-in-chief o ...
were implicated in the death of over 200 citizens.
Aftermath and refugee crisis
Satellite imagery taken on 2 and 7 January was released by
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
showing that in Baga, which is "less than two square kilometres in size, approximately 620 structures were damaged or completely destroyed by fire." In Doron Baga, located about 2.5 km away, fishing boats present on the 2nd were no longer visible, and "more than 3,100 structures were damaged or destroyed by fire affecting most of the 4 square kilometre town."
Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
stated: "The attack on Baga and surrounding towns, looks as if it could be Boko Haram's deadliest act in a catalog of increasingly heinous attacks carried out by the group. If reports that the town was largely razed to the ground and that hundreds or even as many as two thousand civilians were killed are true, this marks a disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram's ongoing onslaught against the civilian population."
Maina Maaji Lawan
Maina Maaji Lawan (born 12 July 1954) a former governor and former senator for Borno State and a businessman-farmer, the CEO of Dansarki Farms.
Background
Maina Ma’aji Lawan, CON, was born 12 July 1954 at Kauwa in Kukawa Local Government Are ...
, a former governor of Borno state and the current Senator representing the district of Borno North, questioned why the soldiers had reportedly fled the base, saying: "
ere is definitely something wrong that makes our military abandon their posts each time there is an attack from Boko Haram."
This followed a spate of Nigerian troops, numbering in the hundreds, fleeing Boko Haram in battle.
According to Lawan, the attack meant that 70% of Borno State would now be under the control of Boko Haram.
Refugee crisis
On 7 January, a government spokesperson stated that 1,636
IDPs
An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced displacement, forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the Refugee#Definition ...
had been registered following the attack.
According to independent reports and local officials, however, least 35,000 people are thought to have fled the region.
"Bodies lay strewn on the streets", according to survivors, as the entire population of Baga is thought to have fled, some into Cameroon and Chad.
Approximately 20,000 sought shelter at camp near
Maiduguri
Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State
Borno State is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border form ...
, the state capital, and another 10,000 in
Monguno were waiting to be transported.
Bukar said that the town was now "virtually non-existent".
Local human rights activists said that they had been told by women who had escaped the town that their daughters, some as young as 10, had been kidnapped.
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...
ian
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Kalzeubet Pahimi Deubet
Kalzeubet Pahimi Deubet (born 1 January 1957) is a Chadian businessman and politician who was Prime Minister of Chad from November 2013 to February 2016.
Early life and career
Deubet was the head of the state-owned cotton parastatal.
Politics
D ...
said that at least 2,500 Nigerians and 500 Chadians had sought refuge in the neighbouring country following the attacks, some of whom were trying to cross
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
in flimsy and overloaded canoes.
Many of those trying to cross the lake were feared to have drowned, while hundreds of others, over five hundred by one account, were trapped on islands in the lake.
According to local officials who had communicated with the refugees via telephone, refugees were "dying from lack of food, cold and malaria" on one "mosquito-infested island."
Response and criticism
A large number of commentators criticised what they saw as insufficient coverage of the massacre in the international
newsmedia, suggesting it was indicative of an ingrained bias towards African affairs. Others condemned the degree to which the
government of Nigeria and local media was downplaying or even ignoring the attacks, adding that local apathy was ultimately responsible for the amount of attention which foreign media chose to place on the massacre. The responses of government officials were considered to be closely related to the highly contested
presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pre ...
taking place that year.
Government security officials initially stated that "base troops had held their positions" and quickly denied that any attack had taken place in Baga.
One pro-government newspaper, citing a local fisherman, went as far to claim that Boko Haram had instead been dealt a "heavy defeat" by the Nigerian military in Baga and that the town was firmly under government control.
Air Chief Marshal
Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...
Alex Badeh
Alex Sabundu Badeh (7 November 1957 – 18 December 2018) was an officer of the Nigerian Air Force who served as the 18th Chief of Air Staff and the 15th Chief of Defence Staff of Nigeria. He died from gunshot injuries sustained after his vehic ...
, the
Chief of the Defence Staff, initially denied that the MNJTF headquarters had been captured but later admitted that it had.
The location of the attack in remote northeastern Borno State, much of which is occupied by Boko Haram, as well as "the routine nature of Nigeria's violence may have diminished" perceptions of the massacre's newsworthiness. Experts have noted that media has been suppressed in Borno State, where witnesses with information frequently lack contacts with the media, and statements by the military are unreliable.
[Eliza Anyangwe]
Boko Haram attacks: why isn't Nigerian civil society protesting terrorism?
m ''The Guardian'', 14 January 2015. The Nigerian press was also seen as not adequately covering the attacks in Baga. One expert stated: "Local media caught on to the story only after the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's coverage. This is because there's been ongoing violence in the past year and people are increasingly desensitised."
Many newspapers did not initially report on the massacre at all, and those that did, in many cases, either referred to the prior first attack on 3 January and gave figures far more limited than those circulating elsewhere, or gave outright denials of one sort or another. One newspaper's headline stated that the "BBC lied" in reporting that the second attack of 7 January had taken place.
Many commentators criticised the international media for a perceived lack of coverage of the massacre, especially in comparison with that received by the
in Paris, which had occurred just days before. However,
on 8 January, himself condemned the events in Paris as a "dastardly terrorist attack", while refraining from making any comment on the massacre in Baga.
Jonathan's failure to remark on the attacks earned him widespread and international criticism;
, disparaged Jonathan, saying:
On 14 January, Goodluck, along with Chief of the Defence Staff Badeh,
, and several other senior military commanders, made an unscheduled visit to Maiduguri, meeting with Borno's governor,
under heavy guard.
The visit was "shrouded in secrecy" and Jonathan made no public comment about his visit or the attacks while there. On 16 January, members of the
'' to Jonathan urging him to end his silence on the attacks, saying that he had "met calamity with insouciance", drawing parallels with his belated response to the
.
The issue of the Boko Haram insurgency and the inability of the government to fight the group were closely tied with the
. According to Manji Cheto, vice-president of a corporate advisory firm, Goodluck "by acknowledging the scale of the violence,
acknowledging a certain degree of his failure as a president, so he’s not going to talk about security with less than six weeks to go before the election."
Many analysts and observers expressed similar views, that the downplaying of the attacks by Goodluck, the government, and media outlets supportive of the PDP was intended to reduce the political costs of domestic instability in the election.
, were quick to condemn the attacks and the government's response. Buhari, on 10 January, said that the massacre was further proof to the claim that "Nigeria has become a place where people no longer feel safe, where the armed forces have neither the weapons nor the government support required to do an effective job of protecting Nigerian citizens and their property."
was excessively repressive. According to analysts, however, to many Nigerians in 2015, Buhari's "reputation for strong leadership and intolerance of corruption" as leader, and his campaigning on such, appealed to an "intense public yearning for an end to Boko Haram’s nihilism and to instability caused by rising communal, criminal and political violence".
The search for security could "override traditional voting patterns based on religious and ethnic affiliations", but the
in a reported warned that the tightening race instead "suggests the country is heading toward a very volatile and vicious electoral contest."
Although the elections were postponed, the ongoing violence and insurgency of Boko Haram is regarded as having played a major factor in Buhari's ultimate defeat of Jonathan.