> Kebbi State .com A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE GENESIS OF BOKO
HARAM INSURGENCE
(Note: this is not an attempt to justify the Boko
haram insurgence which I and many other
Muslim maintain is a transgression of the limits
set by Islam. It is rather an attempt to understand the genesis behind the violent
orgies perpetrated by the group that is claiming
innocent lives by the day, preventing peaceful
coexistence and threatening the whole of
Nigerian national security and unity). Boko haram started in 2002 as a peaceful Islamic
splinter group that nurtured a controversial
ideology against western education. The group
never called itself boko haram but was named
by the public and given a raving attention by the
Nigerian media when the sect leader Muhammad Yusuf declared and propagated that
boko (western education) was haram
(sacrilegious). Among the reasons he gave were
some theories he regarded as contradictory to
the priciples of Islam. An example is the theory
human evolution found in western science books which excluded the divine hands of God
in the creation of man and the universe. This, he
explained opposed a fundamental principle of
Islam which holds God as the omnipotent
creator of the universe and all it contains. Other
reason he sighted was the immorality that youths commonly engage in at western schools
such as semi naked dressing, fornication,
alcoholism and substance abuse etc. He also
castigated the western education system as
being deficient in solving the issue of
joblessness among the Nigerian youths but rather robs them of the time needed to skill
themselves in non white collar jobs. His ideology was challenged by many Islamic
scholars including his former teachers who
regarded the western education as a thorny tree
that has its good and bad side but maintained
that Islam allows and encourages the quest for
knowledge in its entire ramification. Although attempt to bring him to order by these scholars
fell on deaf ears, he continued to lure many
especially the youth who were mostly shackled
by the bondage of escalating poverty and
joblessness. Many were said to have dropped
out of schools and took to menial jobs and trading. Many tore their school certificate
although in an interview with BBC Hausa, he
denounced the allegation of ever telling any of
his members to discard his certificate. The sect continued to propagate their ideology
and also called for the creation of an Islamic
state in northern Nigeria. They continued to
operate as a benign and non violent group until
when the police killed a number of its members
(about 14) during a funeral procession on the flimsy ground of not using a helmet. The sect leader wrote series of letter to the
Borno state government and the Borno
commissioner of police. He called for the
compensation of the family of victims killed
extrajudiciously by the police during the funeral
procession. He followed his letter with practical visits to the police but all appeal fell
on deaf ears. He then called severally to the IG of
police and the Yaradua administration to
intervene but to date, nothing was done to the
culprits. He began to send threat to the government and
the police. He castigated the Yara’ dua
government in an out and called Yaradua an
oppressor and declared the government as
unjust. For those Muslim leaders and scholar
who opposed his threat against the government, he declared them as hypocrite and even
declared some as unbelievers. He and his
member began to arm themselves while
receiving support from many who sympathized
with them and had grievance against the jungle
justice of the Nigerian police. He was said to have received sympathy even by some non
Muslims who were alleged to have bailed him
out on some occasions that he was detained by
the police on the ground of perceived breach of
peace due to his threats to the Yar’adua
governement. According to Dr. Aliyu Tilde “Possession of arms
is a crime, a serious one for that matter, because
if for any reason all the 165 million Nigerians
will resort to possessing firearms, then there
will be endless bloodshed that will not
appease God in anyway. Government owes other citizens the responsibility to check the group. In
checking any such excesses, however,
government should have followed the law and
respect the fundamental rights of citizens. It can
arrest and charge BH leaders and members with
treason, possession of firearms, etc. But Yar'adua regime did none of these; instead, it
chose to exterminate the group. Had
government adopted due process and patiently
abided by it throughout its conflict with the
group, things wouldn't have reached this level.
But it chose to err first, and its error compelled the group to adopt the dangerous strategy of
operating underground. Dr. aliyu further said “Let us not forget the
“finish them” order that President Yar’adua gave
to the security forces that morning when he was
leaving for Brazil. In fact, he even timed it that
by 4.00pm that day, the job must have been
completed. In Maiduguri, Government went for total extermination of the group without
recourse to any due process. The world was
witness to how their centre was leveled by
soldiers; Muhammad Yusuf, their leader, was
executed; Muhammad Foi, a former member of
Sheriff’s cabinet, was executed on the street after his arrest” Muhammad Fugu, the father in-law of
Muhammad Yusuf who never part of the group
was declared wanted by the police. He brought
himself willingly to the police station where he
was killed on the spot without any interrogation
but for simply being a relative to Muhammad Yusuf’s wife. “The police and the military went
about killing anyone that resembled their
members to the extent that people started
shaving their beards en masse; etc. A senior
police officer was reported in the press saying
that he cannot guarantee the life of anyone wearing such features. So many were arrested
along with their wives. They remain in prison to
date without trial. Extermination is still the
strategy of government in dealing with the
group. Video footage of Mr. Yusuf’s extrajudicial
muder soon went viral, but no one was tried and punished for the crime”. “When the group protested at a police station in
Bauchi did not actually necessitate an all-out
war against it. In Bauchi, it was estimated that
over seventy members of the group were
massacred at their centre behind the airport.
Apparently, they were even unaware of the conflict at Dutsen Tanshi police station that
started that morning. By evening, the state
commissioner for special duties led a team of
government agents that leveled the centre with
bulldozers. Passengers at the Yankari Park in
Bauchi also witnessed how eight unarmed members were arrested and killed instantly by
soldiers as they were boarding a bus to
Maiduguri. The governor, Isa Yuguda, would
later claim credit for the “decisive way” in
which his government dealt with the group in
his state”. The world condemned the actions of the
authorities on the highhandedness they
showed. The government apologized to the
United Nations after it was condemned for the
human right abuses, promising that it will bring
the perpetrators to book. Actually, it did nothing. No disciplinary action was taken
against anyone until when Boko Haram bombed
the Police Headquarters in Abuja in 2010. Two
police officers were then reportedly dismissed
from service for the murder of the Boko Haram
leader. Since the government chose to negotiate with
bullets and bombs, Boko Haram therefore went
underground. It took time to heal its wounds,
regroup and re-strategize before returning to
revenge what Imam Shekau described as the
“the injustice meted against it.” Seeking revenge, Boko Haram targeted the police, the
military and local politicians When it reappeared in 2010, Boko Haram started
to selectively kill people that assisted the
authorities in identifying them. The initial
victims were grassroots traditional rulers- all of
them Muslims, the lawanis as they are called in
Borno. Among the high profile killings made in this category were those of the junior brother to
the Shehu of Borno, the state chairman of the
ruling party in the state and its gubernatorial
candidate during the last elections. After killing
the first few, Boko Haram issued a warning that
it will go after all those that aided the authorities in persecuting them. These included
a number of ulama, traditional rulers, and the
three governors of Borno, Gombe and Bauchi
states. It demanded pubic apologies from the
governors and got it from the last two. Immediately the group started its selective
killings, the ulama realized their vulnerability
and none of them dared again to condemn the
group publicly or repeat to assign it the Kharijite
nomenclature. At a point, Boko Haram also
issued a warning that they will also go against anyone who publicly condemns its activities,
including journalists who do not live by the
ethics of their profession in reporting it's
activities. The very day their massacre started in 2009, the
Bauchi State government sought and obtained
from the ulama in the town a fatwa which served
as a license for authorities to kill Boko Haram
members without recourse to justice. Only the
most elderly sheikh in town opined differently, insisting that in Islam no soul should be killed
without a ruling from a judge. That is why some
of the ulama fled the country when Boko Haram
staged a return the following year. The governor
too has abandoned the Government House and
practically relocated to Abuja since he received the death threat. The government has been unable to protect its
informants and other citizens from these
attacks. This partially explains the silence of the
Muslim community over Boko Haram. Whatever the case, None of this excuses Boko
Haram’s killing of innocents. The group has
swayed off the mark and has gone too far when it
considered criticisms as attack. By so doing,
they instill fear in the population and loose
public sympathy. Appeal to its members to put down its weapons and negotiate with
government and they will rebut in this standard
format: “How can we trust any negotiation with
people who are amassing arsenal to attack us Jean Herskovits, a professor of history at the
State University of New York had this to say
“Instead, approximately 25 percent of Nigeria’s
budget for 2012 is allocated for security, even
though the military and police routinely
respond to attacks with indiscriminate force and killing. Indeed, according to many Nigerians I’ve
talked to from the northeast, the army is more
feared than Boko Haram. Influential Nigerians
from Maiduguri, where Boko Haram is centered,
pleaded with Mr. Jonathan’s government in June
and July not to respond to Boko Haram with force alone” There is nothing, once said the UN Secretary-
General after the bombing of UN headquarters in
Abuja last year, which cannot be amicably
resolved through dialogue. The government has
to accept full responsibility and start a genuine
process of reconciliation and rehabilitation. The Muslim society as whole must continue to
condemn this baseless killings and check the
activities of extremists – mainly youths who
lack the wisdom to see things in different
shades. They need to be guided accordingly by
leaders of their sects and relevant authorities. Otherwise, they will continue drifting away
from the centre until they reach a point where
they dream of a whole world drowned in an
ocean of human blood. Certainly, this will not
please God who has described Himself as the
Most Merciful. (With Excerpts from The New Challenges of
Boko Haram by Dr. Aliyu Tilde, in Nigeria book
haram is not the problem By Hean Herskovits
Published: January 2, 2012)
| Posted: at 24-01-2012 11:30 PM (12 years ago) | Newbie |
|
kelvingray
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