In 1995, the group was said to be operating under the name Shabaab, Muslim Youth Organisation. It operated fromthe Indimi Mosque, located along Damboa Road,Maiduguri,Borno State and had one Mallam Lawal as leader and another Mallam Usman assecretary.
It was learnt that in 1999,Lawal left Nigeria for further studies at the University of Medina, Saudi Arabia, there by yielding the leadership of the group to the man known as Mustapha Modu Jon, commonly called Mohammed Yusuf.
Yusuf’s leadership was said to have opened the group to political influences andincreased popularity.
Although Yusuf’s religious activism was linked to Kano,where he had brushes with popular Islamic clerics, he was said to have laid the foundation for the growth of the organisation.

Details about the late Yusuf,however, indicated that he hailed from Gingir village in Jakusko Local Government Area of Yobe State. He was born on 29 January 1970,married four wives and had 12 children.
“By 2000, Yusuf had won the respect and confidence of some clerics and youths at Indimi Mosque. He started presiding over some mosque activities and along the line, he upstaged all the teachers to emerge aleader. Many youths who followed him saw the older clerics as secular and anti-Sharia.
“His followers are largely illiterate youths who engaged in petty trading or had dropped out of school,” a source said.
ESTABLISHMENT OF MUHAMMAD YUSUF.
He then established his own mosque in an area called Railway Quarters in Maiduguri,while also extending his preaching to the mosques located at Kandahar, UnguwarDoki (near Monday Market) and Millionaire’s Quarters.

Investigators were also told that by early 2004, the Islamic sect had grown in states of presence with Borno, Yobe and Bauchi being notable and thatsome of the converted youths abandoned their studies to join the group. The ready-made army of followers were,however, said to be the Almajiri.
It was after 2004 that the sect leaders were said to have established links with the Algerian Salafist Group, now known as Al-Qaeda in Islamic Magreb, (AQIM), which gave them training on combat and use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
From trainings acquired inAQIM, it was gathered that members of Boko Haram were able to show dexterity in handling of weapons and manufacture of what is called“dirty bombs” through IEDs
NEW STRATEGY.

It was gathered that investigations by operatives have revealed that following recent arrests of high profile members of the sect as well as the fortification of most high targets, including headquarters of security outfits, a strategy has been put in place to ensure precision of attack.
Said a source close to the administration, “recent discoveries have shown that due to the fortification ofpremises of important buildin gsset aside as targets by BokoHaram, strategy has been putin place to simulate convoys of high profile Nigerians so as togain access to target buildings.”
The plan, according to sources, is to use convoys with sirens to infiltrate head quarters of security agencies and local governmenarea offices of such agenciesto unleash terror.

Another strategy is to attack christian worship centers involatile Northern states, thiswill trigger reprisal in all partsof the country, therefore the security will be highly involvedin containing the situation that will enable Boko Haram toun leash deadlier attacks totheir targets easily and achieve their aim of causing general chaos and anarchy.
RECRUITMENT.
As a result of the comments said to have been attributed toa top Nigerian security source that the Boko Haram would soon run out of suicide bombers, investigators werealso said to have confirmed fresh recruitment drives.
It was gathered that the group now uses internet to propagateits activities and enhance its radicalisation and circulation of extremist ideologies.
Already, it was said that the sect is planning to double its huge following in such states as Kano, Bauchi, Adamawa,Yobe, Sokoto, Plateau, Kadunaand Katsina.

The recruitment drive is saidto be targeted at muslims between ages of 17 and 30, asource said, adding that the group has also been recruitingits followers through prison breaks when freed prisoners are brainwashed to become members