NIGERIA: The Madness Called Boko Haram

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NIGERIA: The Madness Called Boko Haram 

http://www.codewit.com/nigeria-news/22950-nigeria-the-madness-called-boko-haram

• October 18, 2014
• Written by Agency Reporter
• Published in Nigeria News

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 Boko Haram followers are said to be influenced by the Koranic phrase which says, "Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors".

The sect promotes a version of Islam which makes it "haram", or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society. This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education. Boko Haram regards the Nigerian state as being run by non-believers, even when the country had a Muslim president.

The group's official name is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means
"People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad". But residents in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, where the group hitherto had its headquarters, dubbed it Boko Haram. Loosely translated from the region's Hausa language, this means "Western education is forbidden."

The charismatic Muslim cleric, Mohammed Yusuf, formed Boko Haram in Maiduguri in 2002. He set up a religious complex, which included a mosque and an Islamic school.

Many poor Muslim families from across Nigeria, as well as neighbouring countries, enrolled their children in the school.

But Boko Haram was not only interested in education. Its political goal was to create an Islamic state, and the school became a recruiting ground for jihadis.

In 2009, Boko Haram carried out a spate of attacks on police stations and other government buildings in Maiduguri. This led to shoot-outs on Maiduguri's streets. Hundreds of Boko Haram supporters were killed and thousands of residents fled the city.

Security forces eventually seized the group's headquarters, capturing its fighters and killing Yusuf. His body was shown on state television and the security forces declared Boko Haram finished.

But its fighters regrouped under a new leader, Abubakar Shekau, and stepped up their insurgency.

In 2010, the US designated it a terrorist organisation, amid fears that it had developed links with other militant groups, such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, to wage a global jihad.

Boko Haram's trademark was originally the use of gunmen on motorbikes, killing police, politicians and anyone who criticises it, including clerics from other Muslim traditions and Christian preachers.

The group has also staged more audacious attacks in northern and central Nigeria, including bombing churches, bus ranks, bars, military barracks and even the police and UN headquarters in Abuja.

Amid growing concern about the escalating violence, President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in May 2013 in the three northern states where Boko Haram is the strongest - Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

It draws its fighters mainly from the Kanuri ethnic group, which is the largest in the three states.

Most Kanuris have distinctive facial scars and when added to their heavy Hausa accents, they are easily identifiable to others Nigerians.

As a result, the militants operate mainly in the north-east, where the terrain is also familiar to them.

The deployment of troops drove many of them out of Maiduguri, their main urban base and they retreated to the vast Sambisa forest, along the border with Cameroon.

From there, the group's fighters have launched mass attacks on villages, looting, killing and burning properties in what appeared to be a warning to rural people not to collaborate with the security forces, as residents of Maiduguri had done.

Boko Haram has also stepped up its campaign against Western education, which it believes corrupts the moral values of Muslims, especially girls, by attacking two boarding schools - in Yobe in March and in Chibok in April.

It abducted more than 270 schoolgirls during the Chibok raid, saying it would treat them as slaves and marry them off - a reference to an ancient Islamic belief that women captured in conflict are part of the "war booty".

It made a similar threat in May 2013, when it released a video, saying it had taken women and children - including teenage girls - hostage in response to the arrest of its members' wives and children. There was later a prison swap, with both sides releasing the women and children.

At the same time, Boko Haram has continued with its urban bombing campaign, targeting Abuja on 14 April, when at least 70 people were killed in an explosion near a car park and on 2 May when 19 people died.

This shows that not only does Boko Haram have a fighting force of thousands of men, but also cells that specialise in bombings.
Source: BBC.CO.UK