Beyond Boko Haram’s Reach, Love and Feminism Flourish In a different war zone, a curfew like the one that descends on this city each night to protect residents from Boko Haram might stifle any hope of a social life. To much of the world, the Nigerian city of Maiduguri is simply known as the birthplace of Boko Haram, the extremist group that kills with abandon and treats women and girls like property, forcing them to cook, clean, bear children and die on command. 16, 2017 MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Boko Haram kidnaps young women and girls, turns them into sex slaves and passes them around to its fighters like prizes. Then one night in the early days of the war, Mr. Bukar recalled, Boko Haram stormed the club and killed patrons inside. "I’ll help with housework and I’ll help take care of the children and my wife." For all the new freedoms, many longtime residents say the staggering violence and tenacity of Boko Haram has succeeded in crushing much of Maiduguri’s traditional spirit. Here, no one was talking about the war, the many hundreds, if not thousands, of women abducted by Boko Haram, the millions uprooted by violence, facing hunger and despair.
