FRIDAY…excitement grows!!

Today is Sambisa Memorial Day in Nigeria. Every 22nd December, Nigeria mourns victims of Boko Haram insurgents and celebrates the victory of Nigeria’s military. The day is commemorated as Sambisa Memorial Day.

The Sambisa Forest is a forest in Borno State, northeast Nigeria. It is in the southwestern part of Chad Basin National Park, about 60 kilometers southeast of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. The name of the forest comes from the village of Sambisa which is on the border with Gwoza in the East. The forest had a large population of Leopards, Lions, Elephants, and Hyenas before its occupation in 2013 by the Boko Haram terrorists.

December 22 was chosen for the annual public holiday because it was on December 22, 2016, that the Nigerian Armed Forces took over the Sambisa Forest from Boko Haram. Boko Haram, officially known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād (Arabic: جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit. ‘Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad’), is an Islamist militant organization based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. Boko Haram was the world’s deadliest terror group during part of the mid-2010s according to the Global Terrorism Index.

Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands of people, in frequent attacks against the police, armed forces and civilians. It has resulted in the deaths of more than 300,000 children and has 2.3 million from their homes. Boko Haram has contributed to regional food crises and famines.