Kano, Nigeria – Danlami Ma’azu stood among a crowd jostling to secure a satellite TV decoder in the Nigerian city of Kano so he could watch the FIFA World Cup in the safety of his home – far from the threat of Boko Haram attacks.
The Brazil tournament should normally spell weeks of revelry in football-mad Nigeria as crowds gather in giant, often open-air venues to cheer on their heroes.
But in the commercial capital of northern Nigeria, hundreds of residents have thronged the local branch of satellite provider DSTV in the past week either to buy the technology or renew their subscriptions.
“I’m not comfortable going to any viewing centre due to the Boko Haram threats,” Ma’azu told AFP Thursday, after spending three hours waiting in line.
His fears are well-founded: the heavily armed Islamist militant group has previously targeted football fans in its deadly five-year insurgency across northern Nigeria.
Just this week, officials in northeast Adamawa state announced the closure of all football viewing centres because of the threat of attack.
The ban came a week after 40 people were killed in an explosion at a football pitch, shortly after a match in the town of Mubi, which was blamed on Boko Haram.
Three people were also killed last month in a bomb blast outside a viewing centre in the central city of Jos, as crowds gathered to watch the European Champions League final won by Real Madrid.
And in April, suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed a packed venue in Potiskum, in northeast Yobe state, shooting dead two people as they watched Champions League quarter-final matches.
Kano itself has not been spared from violence, including at popular locations for watching football in the heart of the city.
In several videos Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has condemned football and music as part of a Western plot to distract Muslims from their religion and called on viewing centres to close…
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