The fear of bombs is the beginning of wisdom.

Instructively, the history of terroriism and religious fanatism in Nigeria, could be traced from Maitasine riots of the early eigthies. The religious sect was founded by late Malam Muhammadu Marwa alias Allah Ta-Tsine or Maitatsine.

With an ideology that was opposed to most aspects of modernization and to all Western influence. The group unleashed acts of terrorism against the state.

The sect also decried such technological commonplace as radios, wrist watches, automobiles, motorcycles, and even bicycles. Those who use these things or who read books other than the Qur'an were viewed as hell-bound.

The first Maitasine violence in Kano shocked many Nigerians to their marrow. In that crisis, 4,177 lives were lost. The Kano incident stands out for being the first religious crisis that took a huge toll on human lives and property.

Although there had been series of religious tensions and skirmishes across the country, one of which was the crisis witnessed in May 1980 in Zaria during which property belonging to mainly Christians were destroyed by some Muslims, few people could have imagined that differences in religion could lead to such wanton destruction of lives and property as witnessed in December 1980. But that was the scenario.

Members of the sect called the Maitatsine led by one Muhammadu Marwa, shot their way to notoriety when, seven months after the Zaria disturbances, they took to the streets proclaiming their brand of Islam to be superior to every other one, including Christianity, and in the process, initiated an SinParty of violence that claimed human lives and property.


Nonetheless, the December 1980 death of Maitasine in the hands of the military, marked the end of the sect.

However, three decades after this crisis, another group emerged from Northern Nigerian again. With almost a similar ideology, the group was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri by Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf.

In 2004 it moved to Kanamma, Yobe State, where it set up a base called "Afghanistan" used to attack nearby police outposts, killing police officers.

In Bauchi, the group was reported as refusing to mix with local people. The group includes members who come from neighbouring Chad and speak only in Arabic. Like its forebearer, Boko Haram did not leave any one in doubt, that it was poised to enlist Nigeria on the list of terrorist nations.

For instance, in July 2009, the Nigerian police started investigating the group following reports that the group was arming itself. Several leaders were arrested in Bauchi, sparking deadly clashes with Nigerian security forces which led to the deaths of an estimated 700 people

Major attacks
Prior to the clashes, many Muslim leaders and at least one military official had warned the authorities about Boko Haram. Those warnings were reportedly ignored. In Yobe state, fighters reportedly "used fuel-laden motorcycles" and "bows with poison arrows" to attack a police station.[ On 30 July, allegations were made that Yusuf himself was killed by Nigerian security forces after being taken into custody.

January 2010: Boko Haram struck in Borno State killing four people in Dala Alemderi ward in Maiduguri metropolis.

On September 7, 2010: Boko Haram freed over 700 inmates from a prison in Bauchi State.

December 2010: Boko Haram were blamed for a market bombing, following which 92 of its members were arrested by police.

January 28, 2011: The ANPP in Borno gubernatorial candidate was assassinated, along with his brother and four police officers.

March 29: The Police thwarted a plot to bomb an election rally in Maiduguri, Borno State. The threat was allegedly blamed on Boko Haram.

April 1: Suspected Boko Haram members attacked a police station in Bauchi (map). On April 9, a polling center in Maiduguri was bombed.

April 15: The Maiduguri office of the Independent National Electoral Commission was bombed, and several people were shot in a separate incident on the same day. Authorities suspected Boko Haram.

April 20: Boko Haram killed a Muslim cleric and ambushed several police officers in Maiduguri.

April 22: Boko Haram freed 14 prisoners during a jailbreak in Yola, Adamawa State.

February 8, 2011: Boko Haram gave conditions for peace. The radicals demanded that the Borno State Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, should step down from office with immediate effect and also allow members to reclaim their mosque in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

9th May 2011: Boko Haram rejected an offer for amnesty made by the governor-elect of Borno state, Kashim Shettima

Aside this, Nigeria also witnessed spate of bombings in the past. For instance the then Niger Delta militancy also had its share of terrorist acts. As the conflict escalated, it led to a very disturbing national (even sub regional) security concerns.

The regional water ways in the Gulf of Guinea became increasingly risky for any form of business. Niger Delta militants were reportedly enlisted in a failed attempt to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema led government of Equatorial Guinea on the 17th of February 2009.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201106170473.html

SamIkenna: Its laughable when folks say: Buhari crushed maitasine. Well, newsflash: Maitasine crushed maitasine, plain and simple. GEJ is a minority christian in charge of an army that's fighting islamic terror organization, therefore it makes sense to replace GEJ with a muslem who knows how to fight his 'brothers.' However, the first problem with the line above is that its proponents always fail to realize not everyone prays to Allah, while the second is that once we give in to such blackmail, political, religious, or sentimental, we would have committed the entire Nigerian minorities as well as non-muslem citizens to political irrelevance.

Instead of endlessly hounding GEJ and his team, I believe its time to look core-northern muslems in the eye and ask them why they always love terror. Think about this: you're always helping a buddy who, on daily basis, is bitten by a rattle snake (the same rattle snake all the time) don't you think simple logic demands that you ask your buddy why he loves playing with a dangerous snake? I mean, if he can't live without a rattle snake why not, at the very least, try a different one.

Wahabism has been destroying the north long before most of us were born and its still destroying it today. I ask - when will the north get a different rattle snake? Blaming GEJ or defeating BH is but a temporary the solution, it sure doesn't solve the root cause of your terror-filled history.

When I was a kid my Dad always told me I was the architect of my fortune. I understood it then and I understand it now and to that end I say: Core-northern people, as much as I feel your pains, you brought this mess on yourselves. Nigeria is big, diverse, and incurably apathetic so there's little GEJ do for you. You're simply on your own. And if you're in doubt go figure how many states are willing to draft their citizens or commit 5% of their monthly allocation to help you fight this war. Nigerians took a cut during Biafran war and that's because Biafra held huge oil fields. You have relatively nothing and you hold not so much and as such highly expendable.

egift: [s][/s]

Nonsense rants

lakpalakpa: Jonadaaft's poor handling of Boko haram is deliberate, he needs the sect alive in order to have a blackmail tool for his perceived enemies and opponents.

SamIkenna: There's always a bus from any location in Nigeria to Bama, Gwoza, Sambisa, and Maiduguri. Join the military and fight this war or, better still, join civilian JTF. There's a work for all you who say let's go them only in NL.

BrokenTV:
He is your Commander in Chief right now or are you no longer a Nigeria, it doesn't match just go to Borno and show us the stuff you are made off and stop being the coward that spent all his days on Nairaland spewing trash.

egift:

@Bold: Keep hiding behind your Broken Television

nduchucks: Who dug this up? That was almost 4years ago!!

Istead of dealing with BH, our Commander-In-Chief and his agents have allowed the group to become the most powerful insurgent group in West Africa and beyound.

Now let's see:

(1) Asari was arrested in Benin Republic for alleged links to BH; the President intervened on his behalf and flew him back to Abuja in a Presidential plane, we are told.

(2)Ihejirika is accused of being a BH sponsor, one of the the President's agency absolved him completely in a Kangaroo investigation

(3)One Wakil, who is of Igbo parentage presented herself as a mother figure of Boko Haram adherents.

on and on and on.

There may be a pattern here. SMH

SamIkenna:

The pattern shows a confused region on a mental siege blaming everyone for her woes. Blaming everyone except, of course, herself.

nduchucks:

I can bet my last million naira that you are an intellectual of the Igbo extraction. ko kwa?