THE EVOLUTION OF BOKO HARAM (1)
Muhammed Yusuf, founder of “Boko Haram” (BH)
was a devout student and follower of Sheik Jafar
Mohammed, a notable and influential Islamic
scholar before he encountered a radical ideology
(modelled on the Afghan Taliban) which counselled
a total boycott of democracy, government and
Western education. Yusuf was attracted to this
‘pure’ form of Islam which led to a confrontation
with his former mentor, who regarded such
teachings as extremist, and who was later
assassinated, probably by Yusuf’s followers in Kano
in 2007. Shehu Sani claims that BH’s actual origin
dates back to 1995 when it was called Sahaba and
led by one Abubakar Lawan who later proceeded to
the University of Medina for studies, paving way for
Yusuf’s takeover. Some others trace the “Boko
Haram” tendency to the Maitatsine group of the
1980’s. The group is however formally believed to
have started in Maiduguri in 2002.
The group’s formal name is Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna
Lidda’wati Wal-Jihad (People Committed to the
Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad)
though observers nicknamed them “Boko
Haram” (consistent with their teachings and
conduct) which meant “western education is
sacrilege/sin/forbidden”. They seek to abolish the
secular Nigerian constitution in favour of an Islamic
state, and want to establish a complete Sharia
based state in the 19 Northern States and all over
Nigeria. Sometimes known as “Yusuffiya” after its
founder, BH also abhors banking, taxation and
western jurisprudence/court systems and regarded
the mixing of boys and girls in schools improper.
Yusuf also rejected scientific explanations for
natural phenomenon. It appears clear (and was
recently admitted by the new leader, Imam
Abubakar Shekau, a hard-line assistant of Yusuf
now reportedly based in Qoundere, Cameroun) that
the group’s membership include Chadians,
Nigeriens, Cameroonians and other non-Nigerians
and its organisational structure provided for “Amirs”
in Chad and Niger!
Yusuf’s landlord and in-law, late Baba Fugu,
allowed him to build a mosque in the railway
quarters area of Maiduguri, and along with Shekau,
Yusuf developed his “state-within-a-state”-
including a cabinet, a ruling council (Shura Council),
departments, brigade of guards, military wing (with
the “armies” recruited from the large pool of
“Almajiris”), Hisbah, a large farm and court with
Yusuf as judge! As Yusuf’s empire expanded, there
is little doubt that the security agencies and the
Nigerian state were aware of these developments.
But in its dysfunctional state, they either looked the
other way, or when security warned their counsel
was ignored! Yusuf’s message resonated with the
large number of pious, poor, uneducated,
unemployed and disaffected youth and even some
undergraduates and University lecturers joined his
ranks. As his influence expanded, Boko Haram
became attractive to politicians and soon was to
form an “alliance” with the Borno State Government
under Senator Ali Modu Sherriff who became
governor in 2003. Sherriff appointed one of Yusuf’s
associates, Alhaji Buji Foi as Commissioner for
Religious Affairs and Water Resources and took the
group under his wings, further expanding their
influence and power and making Yusuf quite
wealthy.
There was a political and social context to all this.
Modu Sherriff was an opposition ANPP governor
who was ready to use any means possible to
defend his power base from the marauding PDP.
Sherriff and his fellow ANPP governors as well as
their presidential candidate, then Muhammadu
Buhari had championed what Obasanjo called
“political Sharia” to insulate themselves from the
ruling PDP onslaught.BH expanded to Bauchi, Yobe,
Kano and other Northern States, and quite plausibly
helped ANPP sustain their holds on Borno and Yobe
and to capture Bauchi and Kano from the PDP. Then
Sherriff and Yusuf fell apart! Knowing the power of
his Frankenstein creation, Sherriff (and Isa Yuguda
who having secured power on the ANPP platform
had headed back to PDP) launched a “pre-
emptive” (in Yuguda’s words) strike against BH
between July 26 and 29, 2009 routing the group in
Bauchi, Maiduguri, Yobe and Kano States… or so it
then seemed! It was convenient to all concerned to
kill Yusuf, Boi and Baba Fugu! Meanwhile, the
political environment was changing in favour of
BH’s narrative! President Yar’adua who gave the
order to crush BH died and Northern politicians,
Imams, Emirs, and elite appeared unhappy that his
Vice-Prsident, Jonathan, a Southern Christian would
take-over from him. To make things worse,
Jonathan proceeded to contest and win the 2011
elections against Northern threats and intimidation.
BH duly underwent a transformation. To provide
troops, jail breaks were organized-on September 8,
2010 from Bauchi Prisons; and Yola Prisons on April
22, 2011-where detained members were freed. A
transition in terms of funding, logistics, training,
operational capabilities, intelligence and audacity
was also evident. How and who oversaw these
transformations? At the latest, by January 2010
when BH launched its Jihad with its first terrorist
attack in Maiduguri, it may have been linked with Al
Queda as recently confirmed by the Nigerian foreign
minister. From ride-by shootings on “okadas” in
Maiduguri and environs, they graduated to
audacious attacks on police headquarters in Abuja;
and the Christmas day bombing of the St. Theresa’s
Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State! Suicide
bombings also came into the mix!
The suspicious circumstances of the “escape” of
Kabiru “Sokoto” (of Biu), the alleged Madalla bomber
in the custody of Zakari Biu confirms that BH may
have links high up in the police, security agencies,
traditional and religious establishment, and political
and elite circles.
The Evolution of Boko Haram (2)
It seems Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda was
instrumental in persuading late President Yar’adua
to curtail the menace of “Boko Haram”. Yuguda
having decamped from PDP to ANPP, duly won the
governorship in 2007. He subsequently became
Yar’adua’s son-in-law, and returned to the PDP,
possibly losing some political goodwill in the
process. He may have dreaded returning to the
electorate in 2011 with “Boko Haram” roaming free
in Bauchi! I have previously noted that having fallen
out with the sect, then Borno governor Modu
Sherriff was also eager to see off Boko Haram.
When security forces turned on “Boko Haram”,
between July 26 and 29, they responded in a
surprising manner- in Maiduguri, they exacted
“revenge” in a perverse manner by turning on the
nearest Christians!
While under attack from the army and the police,
Muhammed Yusuf ordered his followers to capture
hundreds of Christians. The male captives had a
simple choice-renounce your faith or die! For the
females, it was renounce your faith or stay as
captives, meaning slavery, servitude or worse! The
worst treatment was reserved for Christian
clergymen- three pastors were beheaded with the
executioners shouting “Allah Akbar” in wild
celebrations accompanied by celebratory gunfire.
Pastor George Orjih of Goodnews Church Wulari,
Maiduguri was one of the three. Muhammed Yusuf
personally urged him to renounce his faith and live,
to which the Pastor rejected and instead actually
preached to Yusuf to accept the Christian salvation!
Incensed, Yusuf ordered his immediate slaughter!
Fortunately for most of the captives, the
government prevailed in that confrontation and
most of them were released after Yusuf’s capture.
Once it launched its Jihad in 2010, Boko Haram has
had four categories of targets-specific Islamic
clerics who disagreed with its teachings or
methods; government and security institutions and
personnel; institutions which they considered
abhorrent to Islam-particularly hotels and beer
parlours; and Christians and/Churches. It is easy to
understand why they would attack the first three
groups-opposing Islamic clerics could potentially
undermine their theology and legitimacy;
government and security agencies had attacked
and killed their leaders; the disdain Moslems are
supposed to have for alcohol and prostitution is
well-known. The resort to targeting Churches and
Christians who till then had played no part
whatsoever in this essentially intra-Muslim quarrel
was inexplicable- the then president, governors of
all states in which BH were attacked, the then
National Security Adviser, etc., all being Muslims.
The trend of BH were attacking Churches and
Christians has since accelerated, rather than
decline culminating in the Christmas Day 2010
attacks on Churches in Jos; 2011 bombing of the
Madalla Church and killings in Yobe, Adamawa,
Gombe, Borno, Bauchi, Niger and Plateau States.
As previously stated, one can observe a clear
transition from BH when it was pre-occupied with
local politics in the North-East and Kano, and the
newer version which seems to have a national or
even international agenda (evidenced by the attack
on the UN headquarters). It is clear that BH has
been influenced by Nigerian politics in general, and
the North-South power struggle that ensued after
Yar’adua’s death in particular. Indeed, it is possible
to interpret their January 2, 2012 ultimatum on
Southerners to leave the North in explicit political
terms-perhaps an attempt to reverse the April 2011
scenario in which a Christian Southerner obtained
twenty-five per cent of the votes or more in most
Northern States! One could also draw a parallel
between the objectives of this ultimatum and the
post-election violence which erupted across
Northern Nigeria last April. Northern politicians such
as Adamu Ciroma, Lawal Kaita, Yahaya Kwande,
Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar had made
statements which may have contributed towards
creating and environment conducive to or indifferent
to political violence. Changes in Boko Haram’s
methods and activities (such as suicide bombing)
also suggest a link-up with Al Qaeda.
The body language of some Northern leaders (such
as Borno elders who spoke out only whenever
government took military action and the initially
tepid response of the Northern establishment) while
not establishing complicity with BH, indicated at
least mixed emotions! The Arewa Consultative
Forum (ACF) very recently issued a shocking
statement claiming falsely that BH’s ultimatum was
in response to an earlier one issued by the “South-
South” in effect justifying same! The most blatant
justification of BH has however been the one by
CBN governor Sanusi Lamido who claimed to the
Financial Times, that the phenomenon was a
consequence of divergent federal resource flows to
the South-South and North-East since 13 per cent
derivations principle in 1999! Sanusi ignored any
facts that contradicted his logic-Cross-River and
Edo States (both in South-South) which get next-to-
nothing from derivation should then be consumed by
terrorism; South-West and North-Central States
who do not benefit from derivation haven’t shown
the same tendency; the South- East zone actually
receives lower federal allocations than North-East;
and how does Sanusi explain the pre-1999 religious
riots in the North (when Northern States took the
highest allocations based on population figures)
including the Maitstsine crisis, or the 1995
beheading of Gideon Akaluka in Kano?
I recommend that anyone interested in resolving the
crisis of poverty, unemployment and ignorance in
the North, should seek the solution in education,
skills acquisition, focus on economic development
and avoidance of extremist religious philosophy!
The BH crisis has its roots in a dangerous
combination of extremist religious ideology abysmal
social conditions and political brinkmanship!!!
The evolution of Boko Haram (3)
This columnist has written at least six articles
dedicated to “Boko Haram”-“The Evolution of Boko
Haram” Parts 1 and 2 on February 1 and 8, 2012;
“Johnnie Carson, the US and Boko Haram” on April
18, 2012; “The Malian Jihad” on January 23, 2012;
“The Politics of Boko Haram” on April 10, 2013; and
“Amnesty and Emergency” on May 22, 2013 and
other articles treating the issue in part and on social
media. Through all these, my position hasn’t
changed-the phenomenon has religious, political,
social, military and global dimensions and
appeasement is unlikely to resolve the crises.
Boko Haram (BH) is motivated by extremist
religious ideology and seeks to overawe Nigeria’s
secular constitution in favour of an Islamic
Caliphate governed under fundamentalist Sharia.
Socio-economic conditions in the North generally
and North-East in particular facilitate religious
demagoguery poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and
ignorance, decades of tolerance for sectarian
politics combined with hegemonic aspirations and
an inclination to deploy violence for political ends,
and a large, “un-parented” and uneducated youth
population bereft of skills and employability whose
only social conditioning has been through a
bankrupt “Almajiri” system. National politics, since
1999, particularly since the demise of late President
Yar’adua and the regionalised 2011 presidential
contest encouraged a climate suitable for
transmutation of what was till 2011, a localized band
of religious miscreants with links to regional
politicians into a national terrorist organization with
the objective of destroying an unwanted presidency.
Given these facts, the debate over whether Boko
Haram is religious, political or otherwise is silly,
nonsensical and pointless! The group is explicitly
religious, has patently political objectives, exploits
abject socio-economic conditions and weak
governance, and is able to leverage a politico-
religious narrative of marginalization of faith and
religion!
The US and Western nations have been in denial
regarding BH and made utterly faulty and escapist
diagnosis and prescriptions for resolving the
matter-Johnnie Carson wanted Nigeria to appoint
more “Northerners” to “important” positions
(unaware (?) that except the Presidency (which they
had until then disproportionately dominated),
Northern Muslims occupied many of the most
important positions in the land-Vice President,
ruling party chair, Chief Justice, Representatives
Speaker, CBN Governor, Ministers of Defence, FCT,
Foreign Affairs and Education, NSA, Inspector
General, Attorney General, Head of Service, Court of
Appeal President etc.) and to create a Ministry of
Northern Affairs; Hillary Clinton refused to designate
Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)
on the faulty logic that doing so would alienate the
North (curious given the official Northern positions
that the group represented neither Islam nor the
North); and Obama and Cameron tried their best to
pretend not to notice BH even when it bombed the
UN office in Abuja, Churches, newspaper houses
and markets!
Till date we retain several wrong assumptions
about Boko Haram-that most of the terrorists are
infiltrators from neighbouring countries-Niger,
Chad, Cameroun, Mali, even Somalia etc.-but the
more empirical observation may in fact be that
Nigeria is now the epicentre of a West and Central
African terrorist network that may in fact destabilize
other countries. I will not be surprised to find for
instance, that the inspiration, funding and logistics
for the failed Jihads in Mali and the Central African
Republic may have partly or substantially emanated
from Nigeria, No one doubts that BH has now linked
up with Al-Qaeda and Somalia’s Al-Shabab! Another
error has been discussing “Boko Haram”,
“Ansarul” (the Malian-related, more internationally-
focused brand of Boko Haram) and “Fulani
Herdsmen” (the domestic terrorism franchise for
the Middle-Belt of Nigeria) as though they were
separate groups! Recent evidence confirms as I
have always suspected that all are one and the
same! Two other facts are evident-the Nigerian
state would be wise to investigate the linkages to
Sudan in Nigerian terrorism. The media expose by a
retired ambassador, Bola Dada and the recent
escape of Nyanya bombing suspect, Aminu Sadiq
Ogwuche to that country suggests that Sudan plays
a significant role in nurturing Nigeria’s Islamic
fundamentalists!!! More troubling is the likelihood
that elements in the armed forces and security
services may be involved in sabotaging operational
strategies and information in the war against BH!
Nigerian soldiers evidently believe so, going by the
mutiny against the now withdrawn GOC in
Maiduguri, Major General Ahmadu Mohammed!!!
The internationalization of the ‘war’ against BH in
the aftermath of the Chibok school girls’ abduction
and involvement of US, France (which thankfully
achieved of US, France (which thankfully achieved a
breakthrough in regional cooperation incorporating
Nigeria. Cameroun, Chad, Benin and Niger), Britain,
China and Israel may be useful in addressing the
problem. On the other hand, the development may
signal the weakening of the Nigerian state and its
possible decline!
The critical question Nigeria and the international
community avoids confronting is “who provides the
funding and logistics for Boko Haram, Fulani
Herdsmen and other terrorists groups operating in
Nigeria?” Does anyone really believe that “Imam
Shekau” is the “leader” of the group that has been
tormenting our nation for the past three years? (I
am inclined to the DSS position that Shekau is a
“title” and “identity” just like “Abu Qaqa” and is
really a dispensable image rather than substantive
leader) How does Shekau, who operates in the
border regions of the North-East record and upload
his videos and transmit them to AFP? How do the
Hilux vans, rocket launchers and arms and
ammunition deployed by Boko Haram get to Shekau
and his men? We know where the foot soldiers of
Boko Haram are, but who are the brains and wallets
of Boko Haram, and where are they?
While we ponder these question, Nigeria’s President
Jonathan confirms that Boko Haram has now killed
twelve thousand innocent citizens!!!
Source: kingdomnewsng.com/articles/142-the-evolution-of-boko-haram-parts-1-3

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