Suspected Boko Haram gunmen targeted the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in the Railway Quarters area of Maiduguri. The attackers killed the resident pastor, Rev. David Usman (45), and the church secretary, Mr. Hamman Andrew. A fellow pastor recounted that the victims were shot and killed by members of Boko Haram near the Railway Quarters, where the slain pastor’s church is located. This was the second attack on Pastor Usman’s church premises, the first occurring in July 2009 when militants burned the building and killed several congregants.

Perpetrators

Boko Haram

Response

The Borno State Police Commissioner confirmed the attack and blamed Boko Haram. The police cordoned off the area, but the attackers escaped on motorcycles—a signature getaway method at the time. This prompted the Borno State Government to consider a ban on commercial motorcycles (Achaba) during night hours.

Displacement

0

Socioeconomic drivers

Religious intimidation, mass-casualty intent, destabilization of intercommunal peace.

Trajectory

The 9 June 2011 assassination was part of a coordinated wave of violence that targeted both Christian and moderate Muslim leaders. It followed a 7 June 2011 bombing of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church that killed three people, and preceded a 16 June 2011 suicide bombing of the Abuja police headquarters. The targeting of a pastor and a church official in a single operation showed Boko Haram’s increasing ambition to eliminate all forms of opposition, religious or otherwise. The use of motorcycles for a quick getaway forced the state government to consider banning commercial motorcycles at night, a measure that reflected the group‘s ability to dictate security policy.

Cycle notes

The 9 June 2011 assassination mirrored the pattern of cleric killings that Boko Haram had used since its re-emergence after the 2009 uprising. It echoed the 13 March 2011 assassination of Imam Ibrahim Ahmed Abdullahi, a vocal advocate of non-violence, and prefigured the 2014 killing of Sheikh Albani Zaria, a prominent Salafi scholar who also criticised the group. The tactic of using motorcycle-borne gunmen to carry out hit-and-run assassinations had become a signature of the insurgency, first seen in the October 2010 killing of Imam Bashir Kashara. The attack on a church official also resonated with the 2014 abduction and murder of Ropvil Daciya Dalep, a member of COCIN, along the Damaturu-Maiduguri highway.

Pattern

The Clerical Target — In 2011, Boko Haram began a systematic campaign to assassinate religious leaders who spoke out against their ideology. While they primarily targeted moderate Muslim clerics, the killing of Christian pastors served a dual purpose: eliminating "infidel" leadership and stoking sectarian fear to force a demographic "cleansing" of the North East.

Sources

• https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/10/11/spiraling-violence/boko-haram-attacks-and-security-force-abuses-nigeria
• https://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/boko-haram-members-kill-2-pastors-in-borno/amp/
• https://thealabamabaptist.org/nigerian-pastor-church-secretary-shot-dead/#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dpopup%3Aclose%26settings%3DeyJkb19ub3Rfc2hvd19hZ2FpbiI6IiJ9