As the activities of the notorious Boko Haram terrorists pose to defile all democratic means and military options applicable in such context in a more liberal State like Nigeria, NaijaSharpNews digs in to bring to you some critical questions and answers about the group that has killed thousands of people, and has posed a major threat to successive governments in Nigeria.
As Boko Haram kills dozens, the Nigerian government appears unable to rein in the Islamist group.
SUSPECTED Islamic militants from the terrorist group Boko Haram have executed dozens of people in northern Nigeria, according to witnesses.
Gunmen surrounded the village of Izge and opened fire with machineguns, before setting off explosions and torching houses, the Independent reported.
Nigerian government officials said they suspected the Islamist group Boko Haram was behind the attack.
Hundreds of residents fled from the village, according to eyewitnesses. “As I am talking to you now, all the dead bodies of the victims are still lying in the streets,” resident Abubakar Usman told Reuters by telephone. “We fled without burying them, fearing the terrorists were still lurking in the bushes.”
President Goodluck Jonathan mobilised troops to the area in May last year to drive out the insurgents, but attacks have continued.
Boko Haram hopes to create a new state in the predominantly Islamic northern parts of Nigeria. In the face of Jonathan’s recent offensive, the Islamists retreated into the mountainous Gwoza area bordering Cameroon, from where they mount sporadic violent attacks, predominantly on civilian targets.
What is Boko Haram?
Boko Haram – which roughly translates as ‘Western education is a sin’ – is a Nigerian Islamist terrorist group, founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 in the northern city of Maiduguri. The group’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which is Arabic for ‘People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad’. The more catchy Boko Haram is a Hausa phrase which may have been coined by the Nigerian government or locals in Maiduguri.
Has Boko Haram always been violent?
For seven years after the group was founded in 2002, Boko Haram was largely non-violent. That changed in July 2009 when suspicions that Boko Haram was arming led to the arrests of some of its members. Boko Haram retaliated by attacking police stations in Maiduguri. A military operation against Boko Haram’s compound led to the deaths of around 100 people and the arrest of Yusuf. He was shot dead the following day when he allegedly tried to escape custody.
What does Boko Haram want?
Officially, it wants to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria and the introduction of Sharia law. But it isn’t that simple. A report by the Council on Foreign Relations notes: “Injustice and poverty, as well as the belief that the West is a corrupting influence… are root causes of both the desire to implement sharia and Boko Haram’s pursuit of an Islamic state.” Nigerian analyst Chris Ngwodo says in the report: “The group itself is an effect and not a cause; it is a symptom of decades of failed government and elite delinquency finally ripening into social chaos.”
Who leads Boko Haram?
Abubakar Shekau claimed leadership of the group in a video posted in July 2010 and has since appeared in a series of videos claiming to be “at war with Christians” and threatening to mutilate and decapitate those who oppose him. The BBC describes him as “a fearless loner, a complex, paradoxical man – part intellectual, part gangster”.
How dangerous is Boko Haram?
Boko Haram began its campaign of violence in earnest in 2010. Besides the weekend’s attack, the group’s worst atrocities include a series of bombings in January 2012 that killed upto 162 people; the bombing of a bar in Maiduguri in June 2011 which killed 25 people; a suicide bombing against the UN headquarters in Abuja in August 2011, which killed 23 people; and coordinated shootings and bombings in Damaturu in November which killed more than 100.
Boko Haram is suspected by some to have links to the north African-based Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and Somalia-based Al-Shabaab. AFP reported in September 2011 after the attack on the UN that General Carter Ham, the head of the US military’s Africa Command, believed all three groups had expressed a will to “more closely collaborate and synchronise their efforts”. Boko Haram’s videos also betray al-Qaeda influences, with Shekau wearing a red and white headscarf and littering his speeches with Arabic phrases.
Can Boko Haram be stopped?
Talk of Boko Haram’s links with other terrorist groups might be unhelpful. The Council for Foreign Relations’ John Campbell believes that Boko Haram “has a legitimate grievance against [Nigeria’s] security forces and that international intervention could distract from policy actions needed to address the underlying issues”.
Analysts speaking to the BBC say the threat from Boko Haram will only be tamed “if the Nigerian government manages to reduce the region’s chronic poverty and builds an education system which gains the support of local Muslims”.
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