When Boko Haram’s murderous campaign got to a
head in Nigeria, and the media is everyday awash
with, largely, uninformed commentaries, I kept
mum. I refrained from saying anything. It was the
period of confusion and blame game. The accusing
fingers were (still, are) being pointed across divides and everyone was coming up with
conspiracies that suits the person’s idiosyncrasies
and alliances. Saying anything at the time would
earn one a label; a bigot or a traitor. It was a good
thing for the terrorists. Confusion usually afflicts
people faced with new incomprehensible thing such as terrorism, in the scale of Boko Haram. It is
the confusion and the buck passing that the
terrorists, in turn, feed on to grow and defy
measures. It is a good thing that the theories are
now piping down, and the theorists on sabbatical. Background Boko Haram, like many trending isms, is a product
of globalisation. It is a global phenomenon that
borrows on many backgrounds and climates. The
idea of militant Islamism, has ideological roots in
the Middle East but was nurtured most ironically in
the mosques of London by preachers from the Middle East who moved to the United Kingdom in
the 1980s and the 1990s. It is in UK that many
would be terrorists, hot-headed young men,
imbibed the ideology whose complete circle ends
with full indoctrination in Yemen and elsewhere.
There is no pointer to the global nature of what is presently the world’s highest security risk than
this. The growth of Nigeria’s Boko Haram followed
almost similar pattern. The present anti-modernity version of extremism
we are witnessing in the Northern part of Nigeria
started when just two Nigerians; a certain
Mohammed Ali from Borno State and Abu Umar
from Kano met a Syrian preacher, Abu albasir al
Dardusi in Yemen. It was this preacher who indoctrinated them in the line of rejecting western
education and all symbols of modern governance,
based on corrupt interpretation of a single hadith.
Al Dardusi was one of the preachers who settled in
the UK. When the duo of Ali and Umar returned to Nigeria
they started converting people especially young
Sunni preachers who already had extreme
interpretation of Islam. Two smart and intelligent
local preachers, a certain Bello Doma and
Mohammed Yusuf were among their early converts. By his charisma, education and
followership strength, Yusuf quickly got frontline
prominence within the circle and, subsequently,
emerged the leader of the group. From 2001
onward the group passed evolutional stages in
nomenclature, structure and base. Disagreements on methodologies and other egoistic reasons also
lead to formation of factions within the larger
group which, however, reunited at a later time
when Ali was killed and Abu Umar captured. Most
of the known figures of the movement were
variously arrested and jailed. But ironically the consensus on jihad and decision to begin
offensive was reached while some of the ring
leaders were in custody in one of Nigeria’s major
prisons. Because many of the arrowheads were influential
clerics in their own rights, recruitment was initially
through persuasive preaching and sermons, as
well as one on one brainwashing encounters.
Some of the leaders would go on itinerant
preaching tours to towns and villages recruiting largely frustrated young men disenchanted about
life. At the initial stage, the groups survived on
contributions from members some of whom were
traders or engaged in menial jobs. In fact, many of
them sold off their assets to contribute money
towards keeping the movement alive. However, when the violent campaign commenced, and to
maintain growing number of recruits, the group
took to kidnapping for ransom, bank raid and
armed robbery. The money was also used in
inducing recruits and families of deceased
members. Of course, the level of illiteracy and endemic
poverty among the populace of Northern Nigeria
provided a fertile ground for Boko Haram to
quickly expand. This, as we shall come to see, also
played a role in fuelling the confusion and
conspiracy theories that come with the insurgency. Some of the early fatalities from Boko Haram
operations were some of their own teachers in the
past who voiced disagreement with the weird
theology of the terrorist group. They deliberately
used terror to intimidate all other preachers and
dissenting voices. With this tool of terror, opposition to their own ideological position from
theological standpoint became difficult as scholars
became afraid of the fate that befell some of their
colleagues. On the other hand, the group was
consolidating its own ideological incursion
through production and distribution of sermons and propaganda materials in print and electronic.
It was also at the same time reaching out to similar
groups in Africa and the Middle East, including al-
Shabab. This culminated in the allegiance paid to
Isis which was coordinated through the effort of
one Abu Basir al-Barnawi, a Boko Haram member from Nigeria. The Response As I pointed earlier, because Boko Haram was a
new phenomenon, it created a lot of confusion
both in security and government circles as well as
among the citizenry. Understanding the motif and
workings of it became a problem. Many took
advantage of it including politicians to throw blames at each other. In fact, the insurrection
became a potent mirror of Nigeria’s ethnic tensions
as conspiracies were tailored along ethno-
religious lines. Coincidentally, the Boko Haram’s
declaration of jihad came at the time when a
Muslim Northerner died in office and a Christian Southerner became the president. At various
points, the Northern Nigeria was blamed for
creating the Boko Haram to make the country
“ungovernable” for a president who was not from
there. Some had a theory that says it was the
government that was supporting the insurgents in order to diminish the numerical strength and,
ultimately, political influence of the northern part.
The Muslims contended that it was the work of the
Christians. The Christians blamed Muslims for it.
Even within the Muslim community there were
accusations among sects. The bucks keep passing. The military operation is not spared from these
disjointed criticism which confounded the
problems of an institution already bedevilled by
corruption and incompetent leadership. The
mutual suspicion created by the Boko Haram was
extended to the military with attention given to tribes and religions of officers and men in ascribing
motives to what the military has done, or failed to
do. While Boko Haram would wipe out an entire
village or stop commuter bus and execute all
occupants, the harshest criticism was spared for
the military on any slight operational lapse or excesses. International organisations, such as the
Human Rights Watch and, more recently, Amnesty
International also got entangled in the wave of the
anti-military/government conspiracy theories
which substantially affected their reports. This
demoralised the army and created international anathema for the military. However, this is not to
discount the fact that the military’s blunders and
panic in facing a new challenge also played role in
alienating it from the civilian population and gave
credence to most of the allegations. International response followed the pattern of the
local reaction largely in line with the narrative in
the press and the undue, even unguarded,
utterances by some otherwise respectable elders.
The West, especially the United State, was looking
for reason to escape engaging in military operations abroad. Thus, it was convenient for the
international community to take the position not to
help Nigeria, which has always been a hard sale
for international support in the first place. The
leadership then also failed to convince the world of
its competence and seriousness to fight the war. The West, particularly the United States was
looking for excuses and they got one in the lack of
consensus among Nigerians. These distractions
and lack of support make Nigeria lag behind while
the terrorists became emboldened and they began
annexing territories, with alarming cruelty against defenceless victims. Global Action to end Boko Haram Boko Haram as part of the global terror network,
has always been loosely connected to al-Shabab,
Alqaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) and Isis.
Most of their weapons came from Libya and Boko
Haram fighters have fought alongside Mujao in
Mali. Therefore, tackling a group like Boko Haram requires global action. It cannot be treated in
isolation of say, Alshsabab or Isis. Several
countries that passed through insurgency, at one
time or the other, have to be supported by the
world in containing the insurrection. Countries like
Pakistan, Yemen, Mali, Afghanistan and Somalia are still battling with their own versions of Boko
Haram. The global support for them has also being
overwhelming, helping in reversing the tide in
most cases, as seen in Mali more recently. Nigeria, on the other hand, got no support as it
was left alone to face the music. The political
pressure on the government and the pressure on
the military to deliver necessitated evolution of
other measures including the need to get weapons
by all means as well as involve civilian vigilantes. These measures helped greatly in liberating
captured territories, with the support of
neighbours, especially Chad – at a heavy financial
cost to Nigeria. In the last two months, the Nigerian military has
gotten back on track with better equipment and
other logistical support, leading to major successes
of flushing out the insurgents from most of the
towns and villages they hitherto occupied. What is
needed now is consolidation on the victories and further push out the terrorists from every inch of
Nigeria’s land. The dislodging of the terrorists from
their bases, as being witnessed currently, comes
with the challenge of suicide bombings and drive-
by attacks – the same pattern noticed in many
other countries. This may continue for a while until the training bases and recruitment opportunities
are denied of the terrorists. To achieve the latter
target, there is the need to come up with strong
community participation strategy. Religious leaders
and opinion moulders need to be brought on
board for the purpose of ideological warfare, as a long term strategy. Since we now have a new government with a
leader who is from the Muslim North, largely
affected by the insurgency, there are new
windows. The world should, for once, come
together and help Nigeria in all aspects necessary
to tackle this problem. We still need the weapons and the know-how to route the terrorists from
their remaining enclaves and to begin de-
radicalisation and reconstruction programmes in
earnest. The government needs to help urgently in
restoring the lives of the affected victims, in terms
of economic and social wellbeing. As the terrorists resort to suicide attacks, the security strategy also
has to shift significantly to intelligence-based
operations. For Nigerians, it is imperative to be united as one
nation and fight a common enemy. And in fighting
the enemy that is Boko Haram, Nigerians have to
realise that no one can do it for them other than
the security forces. We cannot afford to vilify our
military, as any condemnation of the fighting forces demoralises the military and empowers the
terrorists. We have to collectively fight to stop Boko
Haram. If we fail to end Boko Haram we are going
to be left with a failed, disintegrated state. Nigeria, like all nations faced with similar challenge
needs help. Terrorism is a fight beyond borders,
the response has to be beyond the shores of
Nigeria. And your true friend, as the saying goes, is
the one who is there at your hour of need. I
therefore anticipate something positive to come out of the G7 Summit that the Nigerian president is
invited to attend. This should be the turning point. *A talk on “Fight against Religious Extremism:
What Role for Diplomacy?” given at Global
Diplomacy Lab hosted by German Foreign Ministry
in Istanbul, Turkey.

Source saharareporters.com/2015/06/10/boko-haram-and-global-terror-network-nuhu-ribadu

Cc: Lalasticlala

How much will you pay me for reading this epistle according to nuhu?

That kind of letter Paul use to write to the Romans, Corrinthians, Thesselonians & Philippians..



Op or abii Ribadu ni, this is Nigeria; we like summary..

AwesomelyMade:
How much will you pay me for reading this epistle according to nuhu?

Lol. How am i sure you read it? Its educating o.

saharareporters.com/2015/06/10/boko-haram-and-global-terror-network-nuhu-ribadu

Haba! Summary is needed here na.