The Nigerian terrorist movement has its roots in the 1970s when Islamic preaching against all Western influences became widespread. It adopted violent action to the point of the murderous tendency of today for various reasons, not least the corruption and the incapacity of those who were in power.
Last update: 2025-01-21 14:51:49
Most of the analyses of Boko Haram have concentrated on its rise over the last three years. However, I believe that it is important to ask ourselves about the reasons for this rise, what relations it has with other groups and movements, what its sources of inspiration are, why its activity is to be found first and foremost in certain states of Nigeria, (in particular Borno and Yobe), and why the principal targets of its violence are the state and its security forces, Christians and Western education.
To answer these questions one should locate Boko Haram in the wake of the movement of Muhammad Marwa, who was known as Maitatsine. In the 1970s he began an intensive activity of Islamic preaching in northern
In the meanwhile globalisation, the international contacts of many Nigerians (above all through pilgrimages to Mecca) and the growth of foreign funding for preaching were transforming northern Nigeria into a boiling pot of various Islamic tendencies which had a strong hold on the minds of poor and illiterate Muslims. In this context there emerged the figure of Mallam Mohammed Yusuf who at the end of the 1990s founded a movement known as Jamâ‘at Ahl al-Sunna li-l-da‘wa wa-l-Jihâd (the Association of Sunnis for Preaching and the Jihad), which today is known as Boko Haram. Yusuf, who was a very charismatic preacher, invited his followers to fight against the dominance of Western culture that was transmitted in schools and to oppose non-Islamic or anti-Islamic economic and political systems, to fight for the restoration of the sharia and to eliminate injustice and corruption. At the outset it appears that Yusuf was not in favour of the use of violence for the attainment of these goals.
At the Origins of the Option for Violence
The reasons that led Boko Haram to the use of violence are complex but it is possible to point to some of them. First of all, if the federal government had had better knowledge of the question it would have been able to do some things differently. At the outset too many errors were made. For example, the federal government believed for a long time that Boko Haram was a plot organised by Muslims in the North to destabilise the government of the Christian president, Jonathan. This idea was widely held in the Pentecostal leadership of the Christian community, according to which Boko Haram was the final expression of the inevitable conflict between the dark forces of Islam and the light of Christ. The attack on the Catholic church of Madalla and other churches in the North of the country confirmed this idea. Given the scarce knowledge of the president and some of his senior aides about the complex nature of the North, the idea of a dark Muslim conspiracy seemed plausible.[1] Some people held a different view. I myself explained in various articles and public talks[2] that what we were faced with was a challenge to our coexistence and not a war of religion between Christians and Muslims, as was commonly thought. But these ideas were strange to many people and we were accused of not supporting the Church and not caring about the destiny of the Christians.
Secondly, the federal government saw Boko Haram as a law and order affair and decided to intervene militarily. Once again some of us pointed out that this was not the correct way of acting because military intervention involved certain problems – the price in terms of innocent lives was too high and many people, perhaps relatives of members of Boko Haram, were arrested without trial and at times killed by the security forces, as happened for example to the father-in-law of Yusuf. In addition, Boko Haram, given that it had to fight a war for which it was not prepared, began to attack police stations in search of weapons and became increasingly violent.
Relations with Abroad
One should also realise that the federal government did not understand the international dimension of Boko Haram. As early as the 1990s some young Muslim Nigerians had entered into contact with al-Qa’ida. This was the epoch when Osama Bin Laden was established in the
In addition, during the first days of the revolt the armed forces antagonised many communities, engaging in arbitrary arrests, committing murder and rape, and torturing innocent civilians. It is not surprising, therefore, that the birth of what became known as the Civilian Joint Task Force, which was made up of young men of the area, was able to win the trust of the communities and secured a number of striking victories against the insurgents. Indeed, there are allegations that the members of Boko Haram are more frightened of the Civilian Joint Task Force than of the soldiers of the Nigerian army. Obviously, it is to be hoped that this body does not become tomorrow’s monster now that the state government provides for the training of its members and supplies them with weapons to be used instead of their bows, arrows, machetes and sticks.
By adopting a purely military approach and not making a correct diagnosis, the federal government ended up by financing the rebellionThe murderous approach of Boko Haram defies any rational argument and it is therefore difficult to attempt a clear explanation of the situation we are faced with. All that we can say is that
It does not seem that the government has paid particular attention to serious and professional analyses of the members of Boko Haram and the reasons that led them to jihadist militancy. It appears, however, that the government has been understandably more interested in winning the war. But it is impossible to win a war or find a cure without an accurate diagnosis. So what path should we take?
What is the Solution?
Nigeria is called to engage in a sort of examination of its conscience. The government must examine seriously the conditions which led to the birth of Boko Haram. The murderous violence of Boko Haram has been fostered by a low level of control of our borders and by the complicity of the Muslim elites. We need a system of protection for our borders that is not subject to criminal complicity and corruption which, indeed, are widespread in the immigration services. The boundaries with
It is evident that what is happening today is the result of years of corruption and the bad management of state resources which have condemned our citizens to a life of misery and squalor. In the narrative of Boko Haram you can hear constant references to justice and the application of the sharia as a remedy for the wrongs of the country. But this, obviously enough, is only one way of channelling the frustration that by now is widespread in the country. Not least because poverty is a pre-condition but not a sufficient condition for the rise of violence. In our situation, the frustration that was accumulated amongst poor Muslims because of the lies and deceptions of their elites did not find adequate and peaceful safety valves. The Muslims of the North for a long time managed the affairs of the country and held key positions in public life. But rather than providing services to their people they continued to concentrate on hypocritical actions such as the building of mosques, the organisation of pilgrimages and the display of their own religious devotion. After the return of the government to civilian rule at the end of the 1990s, they openly announced the adoption and the application of the sharia. These aims have far from disappeared. What Boko Haram is bringing onto the stage with its goal of establishing an Islamic state is the outcome of the cumulative impact of these frustrations.
It is important for the government to concentrate on the creation of a united nation, in particular by applying the constitutional principle of the rights of citizenship for all Nigerians
The political leaders that have followed one another have done very little to form a united nation with the result that the gap between communities has continued to grow, above all with the collapse of infrastructures which have made moving around the country impossible. Muslims have the feeling that they are constrained for space by people whom they see as foreigners, in particular the Christian community. The non-Muslims in the North of Nigeria have continued to prosper amidst difficulties and this development has generated jealousy on the part of their Muslim neighbours.
It is important, therefore, for the government to concentrate on the creation of a united nation, in particular by applying the constitutional principle of the rights of citizenship for all Nigerians. The federal government must act urgently to face up to the problems of corruption, ending impunity in public life and laying the bases for good government. The increasingly high levels of poverty and inequalities are morally unacceptable and
The federal government has offered contrasting signs. It has launched at least three initiatives but without there being any follow-up. At the moment a new committee is at work but God alone knows what will emerge from its conclusions. The obsession of the government with the use of force and the defeat of Boko Haram may explain its apparent lack of interest in an adequate diagnosis. One may think here of the illuminating research carried out by groups such as International Alert, International Crisis Group and many foreign embassies in
A Country that Needs Reconstruction
First of all, the hardcore members of Boko Haram are opposed to Western education, which, in fact, provides the tools and the skills for incorporation into a modern state. Their obsession with the sharia as a preliminary condition for any negotiation is an important obstacle to any solution.
Secondly, the relations between the federal government and the governments of the states involved in the revolt are very bad, not least because the governors of these states belong to political parties which at a federal level are in opposition.
The greatest task that our nation has before it is thus the construction of a country in which differences do not obstruct the celebration of our shared humanity. The objectives and the ideals of our religions are our best cardThirdly, the governors of the North, both past and present, have been completely inert in the face of the developments that have taken place in their states. Differently from their counterparts in the South, the states of the North of the country have lower indicators of development in many important sectors such as health care, security, instruction, infrastructures…This is not so much a problem of money but of how money is spent. As I have already observed in this article, many governors believe that instruction in the Koran, the building of mosques, and pilgrimages are more important that instruction of a Western kind and the acquisition of skills which they hold to be contrary to Islam.
The greatest task that our nation has before it is thus the construction of a country in which differences do not obstruct the celebration of our shared humanity. The objectives and the ideals of our religions are our best card. Our challenge is to save religion and its sacred teachings from the abuses of fanatics and extremists, whether they are politicians or criminal jihadists.
[1] The president did not have previous national experience. Most of the senior security chiefs, except the inspector general of police, were Christians from the south, with a limited knowledge of Islam and the region of the North.
[2] Matthew Kukah, ‘Be Still and Know that I am God: An appeal to Nigerians’, 22 January 2012.
[3] ‘Curbing Violence in