[size=28]Birth of A monster[/size]

Mohamed Yusuf is widely accepted to be the original leader of the proscribed militant Islamic group commonly referred to as Boko Haram.

What most of you are not aware of is the original composition of Yusuf's inner circle which were drawn not from the vast population of poor ignorant masses in the north but from very educated young men of privileged background.

What most of you also are not aware of is that the radicalization of these young men did not begin with Yusuf or in some rundown Madrasah that dots northern Nigeria but in lecture halls in universities across northern Nigeria. They came to Yusuf because they could identify with his own very radical message.

The group gots it's nick name Boko Haram for its opposition of western styled education and mainly because the group was composed of young privileged and highly educated young men who turned their back on the world preferring a return to classical medieval Islamic society. Public destruction of certificates was done to woo more young men into their fold.

The group unsurprisingly continued to enjoy wide spread support among young northerners because of the energetic, vibrant and new perspective they offered. Within a short time, the group started to draw negative critism fom the old established clerics who not only frowned about their radical views but saw their own popularity wane in the midst of younger Muslims who preferred what Yusuf had to offer.

This critism will lead to both false and truthful allegations by the clerics to the authorities on the extent of the radicalization Yusuf was offering the youth. The security apparatus then swung in to investigate the activities of Yusuf and his group and severally he was "invited" to the police station to clarify issues. This only made Yusuf more popular among the youth and gave him an air of fighting the established order. The north was witnessing its first ever revolutionary character.

Yusuf sensing the new twist to his personality and movement will capitalize on his new found fame and status by pumping up the rhetoric even further. This is when the crooked politicians got to notice this young charismatic man. His popularity they (politicians) thought, could be used to their advantage and before long Yusuf added another feather to his influence and ego. With Politicians patronizing Yusuf and soliciting for his support base, things were bound to get to his head.

Here was this young man of humble background and limited education surrounded by children of the elite and the poor masses at his beck and call now getting visits from prominent local, state, regional and national political figures.

Before long the politicians began to use Yusuf's supporters to carry out violent attacks on their opponents for a fee paid to Yusuf off course.
This only made Yusuf more notorious with the security agents. But anytime he or any of his members were picked up both their highly placed political associates and the influential relatives of his Liutenants swung into action to spring him out of custody.

Before long Yusuf built an air of impunity for himself and his members since they were always let go Scott free after any of their violent skirmishes within Borno. It didn't take long for concerned individuals to petition the DSS about Yusuf and before long he was picked up during the second tenure of Obasanjo and was held for a long period by the DSS. This was the time Yusuf met Asari in detention.

But eventually, Yusuf was released back into society and his aura had taken up legendary status.
This is a man that even the federal government could not convict.
From here on, grand delusions of grandeur began to set in and Yusuf thought he had everything at is disposal to take out the Nigerian state.

We thus, cannot exclude the influences of Yusuf's inner circle and their connections to the corridor of power in our polity in incubating the monster boko haram.

This goes to show that the Boko Haram insurgency has its roots in the northern oligarchy.

Abdulmutalab is a good example of how a young privileged and educated northern youth can become radicalized.

This is were the maitassine movement differs completely with that of Boko Haram.

The maitassine movement was drawn from the poor dredges of northern Nigeria. The maitassine movement was effectively dealt with because the northern oligarchy saw it as a revolutionary movement ( which it was) challenging their authority and dominance and as such this was why the group was completely isolated and summarily destroyed.

The case with Boko Haram is different as the group is intertwined with the northern oligarchy.

PPAngel:


Maitassine can never be compared to Boko Haram in terms of scale, weaponery and tacit support.

Unlike Boko Haram, Maitassine group were widely condemned and all hands where on deck in the north to rid their society of the group.

No elder stateman, traditional ruler, scholar, cleric, politician , socio-political group called for amnesty for maitassine group. No presidential aspirant campaigned for amnesty for the maittassine sect unlike Boko Haram where the president elect demanded for an amnesty program on the boko haram behalf.

Maitassine uprising was a civil war in Islam and no christian or minority group were targetted unlike what we have with Boko haram.

Maittasine was only difficult to handle because their members where embedded in the teeming impoverished populace.

Maittasine had no agenda other than overthrowing the religious class order in the north.

No. The maitassine uprising met a stiff ressistance from northern Nigeria as a whole.

Buhari still struggled to quench the group and in less than 4 months from the last recorded major uprising by the group in Gombe 1985, Buhari was overthrown.

Maitassine was contained by the north and it soon lost steam and disappeared from the landscape.

Firstly, you first have to understand what the ideology and make up of the maitassine group to understand why the northern oligarchy supported the government to quell the group. The sect was against established order in the north and appealled to the down trodden of society.

This is far at varriance with Boko Haram that enjoys tacit and financial support from powerful elements in the north.

This is where and how Boko differs from the Maitassine sect.

[size=18pt]THE MAITATSINE RISINGS IN NIGERIA 1980-85: A REVOLT OF THE DISINHERITED [/size]
BY ELIZABETH ISICHEI
(Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand)

Maitatsine was the nickname of a Cameroonian religious teacher who died a violent death in Kano, Nigeria, in 1980. His teachings were deeply heterodox-he claimed to be a Prophet. In December 1980, his followers in Kano revolted; the city was convulsed by what was virtually civil war, and 4177 died, among them Maitatsine himself. In October, 1982 a new rising broke out at Bulumkutu, 15 kilometres from Maiduguri, far to the east. 3,350 were killed. Fighting also broke out in Rigasa village, near Kaduna, which spread into the city. In March, 1984 there was an outbreak of violence in Yola, the capital of Gongola State, which left between 500 and 1,000 dead. In April, 1985, there was yet another rising in Gombe, in Bauchi State, when over a hundred were killed. His followers are usually called "Maitatsine"; the movement is also known as Kalo Kato. This paper studies these risings, and the social forces which produced them. It also outlines other recent manifestations of militant Islam, in northern Nigeria, which have sometimes led to conflict.

The Leader

In 1980, Muhammadu Marwa was a slightly built man in his late fifties. He came from Marwa, in Cameroun. His nickname Maitatsine developed because he would say, in halting Hausa " Wanda bata yarda ba Allah ta Tchine", "May Allah curse the one who disagrees with his version"--thus, Mai Tachine, later rendered more accurately as Maitatsine. He had had a long history as a dissident preacher in Kano, and had been imprisoned and deported in 1962, but later returned. His followers had been involved in a clash at the mosque in Kano's Sabongari in 1972, and there had been an increasing number of clashes and arrests in 1979 and 1980.

He lived in an area of Kano called Yan Awaki. Many of his followers lived with him-two thousand according to one estimate. He supported them from donations from prosperous sympathisers and by the alms they solicited, which, according to one of his wives, brought in 200 Naira a day. His enclave increasingly seemed an imperium in imperio. Local residents complained, and there were some clashes. Later, the government of Kano State, (then ruled by the People's Redemption Party, under Governor Abubakar Rimi) and the Nigerian Security Organization were blamed for not taking action sooner. Presumably Rimi hoped, by being conciliatory, to avoid violence-on one occasion he actually invited Maitatsine's envoys to lunch, much to the disapproval of the Aniagolu commission! There seems, too, to have been a breakdown of communication between the various organs of government-both the Kano State Governor and the Secretary to the state government first learned of the existence of a State Security Commission during the Aniagolu commission's sittings. A police report of October 1980 stated, "Religious fanatics numbering about 2,000 occupied Yan Awaki Quarters in Kano City...when any member is arrested and charged to Court, they will not attend...They constitute their area into a private republic not accessible to other people."

Kano 1980

On 18 December, 1980, four police units were sent to Shahauci playground, an open space near Maitatsine's headquarters, to arrest some of his preachers. The police were ambushed and routed by men attacking suddenly from all directions, "using hatchets, bows and arrows, swords, clubs, dane-guns, daggers and other similar dangerous weapons." The next day, the "fanatics"-as they are always called in the Nigerian press-moved into other parts of Kano. The New Nigerian called it all "a major war." Houses, traders' stalls, an abbatoir, cinemas and vehicles were burnt and the rising was only put down by the joint action of the army and air force. When it was all over, 4,177 had died, according to official figures. Even at this point in time, the movement was not confined to Kano. There had been an earlier clash at Jos, on 2 Sept., 1980 when about three hundred sect members fought the police and overpowered them, but then, inexplicably, left for Kano. Six bus loads of reinforcements came to Maitatsine's aid from Sokoto, armed with bows and arrows; they had asked the drivers to take them to Yan Awaki to help him, but were deflected before they arrived. Maitatsine was wounded in the leg, and died as a result of his injury. His body buried by his followers, was exhumed and cremated by the authorities, in the vain hope of preventing a continuation of his cult.

His supporters were variously numbered between three and ten thousand. A significant proportion of them came from other West African countries; thus of 449 imprisoned in Kano Central Prison, 135 came from Niger Republic.

After the rising, many "fanatics" scattered to other states, taking their message with them. Hundreds were in prison, where they posed a problem, partly because of their sheer numbers partly because of uncertainty about the most appropriate charge. In the end they were released-the last batch of 923 were pardoned on 1 October, 1982, in what was later much blamed as misguided clemency. 223 of these were foreigners, who were deported.

Bulumkutu and Rigasa, 1982

On 26 October, 1982, another rising broke out, this time, at Bulumkutu, a hamlet 15 kilometres from Maiduguri. It followed the same pattern-a police search and arrests, followed by an attack by "fanatics" armed with "guns, cutlasses, daggers and clubs." Four days of fierce fighting followed, in which 3,350 were killed.

Many of the dead could not be identified, as their eyes, ears, tongues and noses had been removed, "according to the traditions of the Maitatsine sect." On 29 October, there was a new outbreak of violence, at another state capital, hundreds of miles away, in Kaduna. An Assistant Commission of Police-who lost his life-went to Rigasa village, near Kaduna, to investigate reports that "fanatics", fleeing from Maiduguri, had regrouped there. The disturbance spread into the city. "...there was a stampede in Kaduna metropolis." Most of those who died were sect members, who were killed by the civilian population. There had been some vigilante activity during the Kano riots-men with staves, mounting roadblocks. Now it reached disquieting proportions, "Fears were being expressed that people who were innocent might have become victims of either the fanatics or the vigilantes in near equal measures.

"Some "fanatics" fled to Kagoro; others were caught boarding a train to Port Harcourt. On 30 October, 1982 there was yet another outbreak-in Kano. This was unconnected with Maitatsine. Muslims, thought to be students, attempted to destroy a church in Fegge, which, they felt, was being built too close to a mosque. The police, forewarned, prevented them; the students went on a rampage damaging other churches, hotels, and cars. This was profoundly alarming-for the first time, Muslims were attacking Christians. Three were killed, and others injured. These three almost simultaneous outbreaks had a deeply unsettling effect on public opinion. When a fight broke out between two people in a Zaria market, a panic developed. "Economic life was virtually at a standstill in Jos and Bauchi because of similar rumors."