Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Boko Haram

Perhaps, the era of just binary logic or just EITHER/OR as THE way to engage 21stC geopolitical-economic realities

On Friday, March 20, 2026, 12:40 PM, Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinibrahim891@gmail.com> wrote:

Boko Haram is Exhausting: Please Obliterate Them

Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy Column, Daily Trust, 20th March 2026

I am tired of writing about Boko Haram. It is mentally exhausting to

be chronicling death, destruction and despair for over two decades.

The Boko Haram narrative started with its founding in 2002 (some say

earlier, others say later) in Maiduguri, Nigeria, by a cleric,

Mohammed Yusuf. Originally, the group appeared with a noble objective

to "purify" Islam and oppose Western culture, education and influence.

It started as a non-violent group focused on proselytization but then

started engaging in violent acts. The government of the day, led by

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, was not ready to accept violent groups

and ordered that they be obliterated and they were wiped out.

Their leader, Mohammed Yusuf was martyred by the Nigerian Police after

the military had handed him over to them for prosecution and the story

of the insurgency started. A clear objective emerged after they

regrouped and returned to the terrain, the creation of an Islamic

state in Nigeria. Following the assassination of their founder in

2009, the group, under Abubakar Shekau, became increasingly violent,

adopting terrorist tactics, including suicide bombings, starting with

attacks in 2011, such as the Abuja police headquarters bombing. By

2014, they had declared an Islamic Caliphate, controlled about 17

local governments in Nigeria and had a headquarters. It became clear

they had to be destroyed, nay, annihilated and obliterated. The

exhausting struggle for annihilation continued under Yar'Adua,

Jonathan, Buhari and now Tinubu. No light at the end of the tunnel.

Last week, I mentioned in my column that Boko Haram had been attacking

military formations and gradually encircling Maiduguri. They responded

yes and sent three bomb blasts into the city on 16th March. At least

23 people were killed and over a hundred wounded. I guess it had

become such a routine type of mass killing that the President did not

even flinch and travelled on to London for his programmed State Visit

to the United Kingdom where he received a 42 rather than the normal 21

Gun Salute. Sign.

Meanwhile for Maiduguri, which had suffered the repeated tragedies of

bomb blasts spread over the past decade, fear was back in the streets

and on people's faces. The tragedy continues. The Maiduguri explosions

came barely 24 hours after terrorists attacked a military base in

Kofa, a community close to Ajilari on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

Before then, there had been attacks by terror groups across Borno

State, including assaults on rural military bases and resettled

communities like Ngoshe and Dalwa as reported by HumAngle. The

depressing stories are endless.

There is a standard response to such tragedies by the Nigerian

government. Enroute to the United Kingdom, the President ordered the

Service Chiefs to relocate to Maiduguri and resolve the security

crisis. In the past, they have been so ordered numerous times, they

had moved to the epi-centre of the security crisis and nothing had

been solved. I have never understood the significance of the movement.

For months, the terrorists have been attacking military bases in Borno

and Yobe States and my civilian thinking was that the military would

be so angry that they would hunt down all the terrorists and

obliterate them for daring to confront one of Africa's greatest

military. It did not happen.

Way back in 2014, the Nigerian government recruited foreign

mercenaries to combat and obliterate Boko Haram. I was very uneasy

about the significance of the policy shift. It meant that the

government itself no longer believed our armed forces were up to the

task. I wondered them whether terrorism will end in my lifetime.

Eventually the contract with the foreign military contractor was

cancelled and full confidence was reported in the armed forces. They

improved their work and all the local government areas taken over by

the terrorists were recaptured and it appeared light could be seen at

the end of the tunnel. Since then, Boko Haram fighters have spent a

lot of energy fighting and killing themselves. I thought that was a

great opportunity to move in for the kill. That did not happen. Boko

Haram now split into different organisations have been recovering and

fully returned to their battle against the Nigerian people and the

Nigerian State. Terrorism never really subsided, it simply stopped

capturing and keeping territory. It raided, looted, raped, killed,

taxed and moved on.

As a country, we have not really been able to directly pose the

existential question of why our armed forces have been unable to smash

and obliterate terrorism. The Nigerian army, it appears to me, has not

changed substantially from the one bequeathed by British colonialism.

It has clearly shown its limits in combating terrorists who are mobile

and manoeuvrable like the Boko Harams and the bandit terrorists. Our

intelligence services have grown and multiplied since the creation of

the Nigerian Security Organisation (NSO) by Gen Obasanjo in 1976. It

was replaced by a multiplicity of organisations such as DSS, NIA and

DMI. We are however yet to see the type of efficiency displayed by the

Special Branch of the police in ancient times. But then, what do I

know, they may be doing excellent work but the intelligence they

gather may be set aside somewhere along the chain of command. As a

citizen, I would really like to know what the problem is.

Maybe the question to pose is that after two decades of terrorism, why

has Nigeria not publicly posed the question of what the problems of

combating terrorism are so that we can collectively search for an

alternative route to peace and security. My wish remains, obliterate

the terrorists so that we can move on.

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

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