November 23, 2012:
In the north even some soldiers are complaining of the summary execution of Moslem men during operations against Boko Haram. Some cell phone videos of these murders are showing up and the army is denying the accusations. Many of the civilians fleeing areas where the army is most active are young men who fear being killed for just being nearby when the army comes looking for Boko Haram. This sort of behavior has long been common with the army, which has never been able to change this sort of behavior by its junior officers and NCOs.
Despite the publicity oil theft is receiving (because of new investigations), most Nigerians doubt the revelations will halt the theft, which is a huge business and costing the government over $7 billion a year. Nigerians know that to be a successful thief in Nigeria you must know who to bribe, and the bigger the theft the more bribes you have to pay to more senior people. Nigerians are waiting for prosecutors to go after the senior officials taking bribes to allow the oil thefts to continue. That is not happening, and all the government is doing is ordering the military to arrest the men drilling into the oil pipelines and chase down some of those who illegally gather the oil into coastal tankers to be taken to neighboring countries and sold to brokers that can get the stolen oil into the legitimate market. No one further up the food chain is being bothered.
November 22, 2012: In the north (near Kano) a Moslem mob killed four Christians, after rumors circulated that Christians had insulted Islam.
November 20, 2012: French oil company Total is selling 20 percent of its Nigerian operations to a Chinese firm for $2.5 billion. The Chinese are willing to move in because they ignore media or diplomatic criticism of whatever harsh (to Westerners) methods they use to run their business operations in Africa. The brutality of the Chinese sometimes angers the Africans but the Chinese shrug it off and keep their business operations going.
November 18, 2012: In the east (Taraba State) fighting broke out between Moslems and Christians, leaving at least ten dead and dozens wounded. The fighting began when Christians set up roadblocks to keep Moslems away from churches during Sunday services. This was meant to keep potential terrorists away but sparked violence between Christians and Moslems. The army had to impose a curfew to stop the violence.
The government denied rumors that it was engaged in secret negotiations with Boko Haram. The government insisted there were no negotiations and would not be any.
November 16, 2012: In the northeastern city of Maiduguri, troops raided a Boko Haram hideout and killed wanted (for killing a retired army general three weeks ago) terrorist leader Ibn Saleh Ibrahim.