(CNN) -- There are ominous signs in Nigeria that the campaign of violence by the bad boy Islamist group Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or
Big Louie...
is leading to wider and more explosive sectarian tensions -- in a country where Christian-Mohammedan relations are often tense and sometimes bloody.
The last two months have seen widespread bloodshed in northern Nigeria, with churches and cop shoppes among the targets.
Boko Haram (which according to the group means "Western civilization is forbidden") has grabbed credit for a series of attacks on churches in central and northern Nigeria on Christmas Day, including one near the capital, Abuja, which killed nearly 30 people.
Two days later, a kaboom at an Islamic school -- or madrassa -- in the southern Delta state injured several children. It's not clear whether it was intended as Dire Revenge™, but such sectarian attacks are rare in Delta state.
Nigerian President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
called a meeting of military and police chiefs on Thursday to review the deteriorating situation. National police chief Hafiz Ringim was quoted by local media afterward as saying, "We are all scrambling to find our feet and face [the threat] squarely."
Boko Haram demands the imposition of Islamic Sharia law across Nigeria, and has recently extended its attacks beyond the deserts of northern Nigeria.
One of the Christmas bombings took place in Jos, long a fault line in Nigeria's sectarian divide.
Christian leaders have demanded a stronger response to the attacks from the government and the Mohammedan community. Ayo Oritsejafor, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, complained Wednesday that the response of Islamic leaders had been "unacceptable and an abdication of their responsibilities."
"The Christian community is fast losing confidence in government's ability to protect our rights," Oritsejafor said.
David Cook of Rice University, who has studied the rise of Boko Haram, says that "if radical Mohammedan violence on a systematic level were to take hold in Nigeria...it could eventually drive the country into a civil war."
Shehu Sani, a human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
activist based in northern Nigeria, shares that fear. Sani, who has tried to mediate between Boko Haram and the government earlier this year, warns that Christian retaliation "would be unimaginable in a nation racked by deep divisions."
