Not long ago, few Nigerians had heard of Boko Haram. Now, the whole world is talking about the extremist group that kidnaps school girls and bombs cities. How did it become so formidable?
Six years ago, most Nigerians had not even heard of Boko Haram. Now the whole world is talking about the extremist group that has kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in the north of the country. Founded in 2002, how did it rise to become such a threat to national security in such a short period of time?
1. Political connections
It would be naive to think that this kidnap happened in a vacuum, or that the Boko Haram has no connection to the powers that be in Nigeria's Game of Thrones-style politics. Spikes in violence and insecurity took place on a suspiciously recurring basis in the 12-18 months preceding Nigerian presidential elections: the next election is scheduled for 2015.
This tends to be the time that politicians allegedly deploy armed militia to harass, intimidate, or even assassinate their rivals.
In 2012, a senior member, Kabiru Sokoto, was found in a state governor's house after escaping from police captivity. The year before, a Nigerian senator was arrested on suspicion of aiding the group after claims that he telephoned a militant more than 70 times in one month.
The extremist group is also automatically linked to all kidnappings, violence, and assassinations committed in northern Nigeria – even acts of armed banditry and political assassinations are attributed to it, whether the group claims responsibility for them or not, adding to its reputation and aura.
2. Imbalance between north and south
Seemingly disconnected historical events over the past 60-70 years started the slide into poverty and inequality that eventually led to the formation of Boko Haram. Before Nigeria's independence in 1960, British colonial authorities ruled the north (where most Muslims live) and south of Nigeria (where most Christians live) separately. Western schools started by Christian missionaries flourished in the south, but Muslim leaders were reluctant to allow Christian mission schools to open in the north.
The long-term result is a massive economic and educational imbalance between the north and south which persists today. In many southern states more than 90% of women are literate. The corresponding percentage is below 5% in some states in the far north. Less than 10% of Nigerian university applicants (pdf) come from the 12 Muslim majority states in northern Nigeria (where Boko Haram's insurgency rages). Boko Haram draws its members from the legions of uneducated, unemployed, poor and disenchanted young northern men.
3. Sharia law
An overlooked catalyst for Boko Haram's evolution occurred in 2000 when Ahmed Yerima, the governor of Zamfara state in Nigeria's north-west, extended the jurisdiction of Muslim sharia law to criminal cases, prescribing punishments such as stoning for adultery, amputation for theft and flogging for drinking alcohol. This became a super-charged political issue in the north, as sharia was popular among Muslims who hoped it would lead to a social and moral revival. Eight other states in northern Nigeria also enacted sharia in full and Boko Haram's then leader, Mohammed Yusuf, anticipated it would also be implemented in his home state of Borno. They became disaffected and increasingly hostile to the government when Borno did not implement sharia in full.
4. Government crackdown
When Boko Haram clashed with police in 2009, the government responded with amilitary iron fist. Security forces destroyed Boko Haram's mosque, killed hundreds of its members, and arrested, then summarily executed, its leader Yusuf and his father-in-law. The routing of Yusuf and his followers radicalised Boko Haram even more by eliminating the conciliatory faction within the group, and paving the way for its takeover by its most implacable faction led by Yusuf's deputy, Abubakar Shekau.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau speaks in this still image taken from an undated video released by Boko Haram in May 2014. Photograph: Reuters TV/Reuters5. Nigeria's complicated ethnic and religious mix
Sensitive ethno-regional issues make it difficult to fight Boko Haram. A massive elephant in the room is that the vast majority of the army's fighting troops have historically been recruited from ethnic groups in northern Nigeria. Such ethnic groups include the Kanuri – to which most Boko Haram members belong. Unleashing the army on militants means soldiers may be ordered to commit fratricide against communities they come from, who they are not hostile to, and leaves the army vulnerable to infiltration.
Also, an attack by Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan (a Christian from the south) on a northern Islamic group with unrestrained force in the year before a presidential election, would surely result in lost votes amid accusations of being heavy handed with people of another faith.
6. Military limitations
The Chibok schoolgirls are unlikely to be rescued in a spectacular military raid. The Nigerian army is trained for conventional warfare and peacekeeping operations. Elaborate hostage rescues are not its forte. It is having to make ad hoc adaptations to train cadets to carry out counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations.
Military offensives can only buy temporary breathing space for politicians to devise permanent solutions to the problem posed by Boko Haram. Some in the military establishment acknowledge that the military alone cannot eliminate the group. Nigeria's former chief of defence, staff General Martin Luther Agwai (who commanded the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur), said: "You can never solve any of these problems with military solutions… It is a political issue; it is a social issue; it is an economic issue, and until these issues are addressed, the military can never give you a solution."
A likely outcome to the current stand-off is that the government will negotiate an unwieldy deal with Boko Haram that will see the girls released in instalments.
This would not be unprecedented as the Nigerian government has a history of paying off or reaching uncomfortable opaque compromises with its opponents. When militants waged an armed insurgency in the oil-producing areas of southern Nigeria to protest against economic exploitation, the government ended it by granting amnesty and cash stipends to the militants in exchange for them giving up violence. This has created a "money and amnesty for guns" precedent. Muslim leaders from northern Nigeria have urged the government to similarly negotiate with Boko Haram and to grant it amnesty. With more money and more guns, the group might become more powerful still.
Max Siollun is a Nigerian historian, writer, and author of the book Oil, Politics and Violence: Nigeria's Military Coup Culture 1966-1976. Follow him on Twitter@maxsiollun
comments (42)
This discussion is closed for comments.
Finally. This article should have been published weeks ago. On April 17 2014. Instead of that dreadful excuse of an article by Simon Allison. I know very little about Nigeria but just a cursory search of Nigerian news reports even as I was reading that article suggested political figures in the north were pulling the strings of the BK.Further reading showed that the BK in recent months have acquired armoured personnel carriers, RPGs, night vision goggles, trucks with military markings. Nigerian soldiers have complained about the terrorists being better armed and equipped than themselves. Surely, the BK simply just didnt steal all this.
Then Abubakar Shekau's video appeared. Yes, he is undoubtedly as ruthless as a rabid dog,but he doesn't really appear to have enough braincells to complete a thought, let alone mastermind all that murder and mayhem. The northern ruling elite have a lot to answer to.
Maybe Nigeria is better off partitioned. If the northern states are so backward, barbaric and intransigent, the southerners are better off on their own.
The last time a partition of Nigeria was attempted it didn't really end that well, if you recall!
Could the weapons have come from the Libyan armoury?.
It will be different this time around - Southerners & Christians are tired of these people and their absolutist practice of Islam - they've had 44 years of experience and they are fed up with them.
During the civil war, the Niger Delta found no common cause with the Igbos - that has changed. Today, Northern Christians, Niger Deltans & other Southerners would gladly allow these "Saudi wannabes" their own state in the Sahel - and even pay them off to support it - if they left the rest of us alone.
Partition is probably the answer, but the Nigerians should reach this conclusion themselves.
Let's not get involved, please. This is none of our business.
Partition in not an option. Who gets the oil. How are several extremely corrupt countries better than one extremely corrupt country.
Doesn't matter - partition will happen regardless. Unlike Sudan, the oil & the ports are in the South - so "who gets the oil" doesn't arise.
- Who gets the oil
The Ikwerre and the Ogboni people live on the land which produces the oil.
A good analysis, I believe.
I really don't know why I keep typing BK when I mean BH! Sorry.
This is the best analysis I have read about this Boko Haram issue. But I accept you cant synthesize it into a twitter hashtag.
You may wish to consider two more:
7. Following Gaddafi's removal that part of Africa has become inundated with arms and ammunition from Libya. Most brazen attacks by BH in the north east of Nigeria happened after the collapse of Libya.8. From 1999 (before the advent of BH) there have been various attacks on communities in the north east of Nigeria, then reported as robberies. Witnesses claimed that these robbers come in hundreds and operate unmolested for several hours.
I've pointed this out before:
The main external funding of BH comes from reactionary fundamentalist sympathizers in Saudi Arabia (of course) AND THE UK (the old colonial power).
Funding sources for Boko Haram are not certain, but is believed to be partially funded by bank robberies and by other Islamist groups. In February 2012, recently arrested officials revealed that "while the organization initially relied on donations from members, its links with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM, opened it up to more funding from groups in Saudi Arabia and the UK". They went on to say that other sources of funding included the (UK-based) Al Muntada Trust Fund and the Islamic World Society.
In the past, Nigerian officials have been criticized for being unable to trace much of the funding that Boko Haram has received.
Wikipedia
To give an idea of just how reactionary these pumped-up gangs of macho posturing kids and their backers are: they think Saudi Arabia is far too 'progressive'.
They HATE reason, not just for women, who might be led to think about their slavery:
In a 2009 BBC interview, Mohammed Yusuf, then leader of the group, stated his belief that the fact of a spherical Earth is contrary to Islamic teaching and should be rejected, along with Darwinian evolution and the fact of rain originating from water evaporated by the sun.
Makes you understand why Wole Soyinka referred to the UK as a ''cesspit'' of fundamentalism four years ago.
Indeed...
Military limitations is as the result of lack of government funding and lack of government affect for the victims of boko haram attacks. Any reasonable government would have taken steps to properly fund and rain the military when facing such an insurgency. The porous borders should have been rectified with more security and equipment. Corruption at the highest levels does not leave the rank and file of the military with any sort of morale. Why should the low corporal stake his life while those at the top get rich. Every problem in Nigeria in my own estimation is magnified due to absolute corruption in the government. Provide people with opportunity to succeed, good educational and infrastructure and the issue of religious and ethnic divisions will mostly evaporate. Hungry people are angry people.
At last an incisive and well argued article in the Graud cifs.
This article was so well written and informative that I can't really think of anything that needs commenting on. Nor have I any questions; it covers everything I wanted to know.
So, just to justify the bandwidth in responding I'll say 'thanks' to the author.
Partition is the last thing that can happen because we've gone a long way, even up to surviving a civil war .Northern Nigerians have always been this violent because of the Islamization in the 14 century .
#1 Reason: Hillary Clinton's State Department refused to name BokoHaram a Terrorist Organization which would have changed the entire strategy years ago. They really believed that the Gocernment of Nigeria was the real problem. Totally clueless.
Ah man im so glad someone said it. I just knew the yanks would be the number one reason. I couldn't justify myself but thank god you did.
Tis d'Yanks fault lads. We are all right everything makes sense now.
Six reasons? There are only two.
The first one is called compassion fatigue. The appetite of these people for murder and mayhem and killing and raping and torturing their own seems to be unlimited.
The second one is called political correctness. We are so afraid of reprisals and acting now for fear of offending some group and being labelled some horrible thing that we do nothing. Evil thus prospers.
No such group as Boko Haram
From Biafra war and before it is quite evident that Youruba,Hausa,Ibo,Fulani and what you hav can't stay together.Nigeria is an artificial nation kept together
by force,but the simple truth is they can't live together until a major shake up-More or less like UkrainaThis episode is the most transparent psyop in the past few years. I do believe these innocent young ladies are being tormented, and so are their innocent families, but this is a non-event in comparison to the decades-long Zionist-European rape of Africa.http://vehme.blogspot.com/
Right on Brother.
Of course now that the Chinese are pouring into sub-Saharan Africa, stripping the land of its wealth and resources - tis grand.
just clicked that link...FFS..I'm speechless
I see some vigilantes were killing some militants over the past few days.
Number 1 reason why Boko Haram won't succeed - the people.
Hopefully they will all get together and kill every last one of these regressive bastards.
I read that too - 200 BH dead and a few prisoners.
And they reportedly did it with machetes and hand weapons!
Maybe we should arm the villagers. The 'good guys'. And let them get on with it - I can't foresee any problems there...
- This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.
Bloomin' 'eck, we've finally had an article about Boko Haram from someone from Nigeria who knows about them!
Except it will never be a Guardian editor's pick and highlighted on the front page of CiF. Because the Al-Guardian is as agenda driven as anyone else.
7. Auditable trail of CIA money
Very good article, the best about the subject. Why it's not frontpage is the mystery (or not, knowing the Guardian).
Wasn't it forerunners of Boko Haram who radicalised Osama bin Laden when he was working in Sudan?
- This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.
The Boko Haram playbook has been playing out in multiple sub-saharan countries since the Arab spring.
First we saw Islamic fundamentalists effectively invade and divide Mali into 2 separate states, that is until French intervention.
Secondly the Central African Republic has been in a state of civil war for over a year thanks to Seleca rebels which overran the previous government.
In short, the Boko Haram crises is part of a broader synchronized geo-political attack on potential weak governments in Sub-saharan Africa.
If we pour resources into one region without addressing the broader geo-political dynamics in sub-sahara, and more specifically attacking the funding these islamist fundamentalist groups are getting from the middle east and Europe, you can fully expect the problem to shift to another potentially vulnerable country.
Seventh most important reason the Nigerian militant group is so powerful is because it was created as an adversary by the global break away civilization to justify incursion and ultimate control of Nigeria's natural resources.
Two reasons:
Western bankster backing
Western media attentionThis whole incident is a sugarcoated, made-for-TV drama. Not to say the girls aren't really being held against their will, etc. But what has happened to them is trivial in comparison to the daily sufferings of so many in Africa.
I see nothing but a psy-op going on here. Send in the IDF and Mossad, ASAP!
- This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our community standards. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see our FAQs.
Pretty good article. You missed out the funding though, which many on Cif have speculated is coming from the major sponsors of Wahhabist terrorism in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia.
Goodluck Jonathan is too scared of triggering a widespread crisis if he goes after the Nigerian backers of Boko Haram very aggressively. His softly-softly approach is just emboldening them and making life more difficult for Nigerians. If the Nigerian backers get what I suspect they want - which is a staunch Northern Muslim president then I'll bet that the attacks will mysteriously taper out as Boko Haram suddenly become more susceptible to negotiation. If the next president is from another ethnic group, the next 4 years in Nigeria are going to be ugly because Boko Haram will intensify their efforts to make Nigeria ungovernable.
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment