The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad[2][3] (Arabic: جماعة اهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد Jamā'a Ahl al-sunnah li-da'wa wa al-jihād) — better known by its Hausa name Boko Haram (pronounced [bōːkòː hàrâm], "Western education is sinful")[4] — is an Islamic jihadist militant organisation based in the northeast of Nigeria,[5] north Cameroon and Niger.[6][7][8][9] Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2001,[10] the organisation seeks to establish a "pure" Islamic state ruled by sharia law,[11] putting a stop to what it deems "Westernization."[12][13]
The group is known for attacking Christians and government targets,[12] bombing churches, attacking schools and police stations,[14][15] but has also assassinated members of the Islamic establishment.[16] Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths between 2001 and 2013 and roughly 3,600 killed, including 1,600 civilians between 2009 and 2013.[][18][19][20][21][22]
The group exerts influence in the northeastern Nigerian states of Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Yobe and Kano. In this region, a state of emergency has been declared. The group does not have a clear structure or evident chain of command[23] and has been called "diffuse"[16] with a "cell-like structure" facilitating factions and splits[11]. It is reportedly divided into three factions[12] with a splinter group known as Ansaru.
Whether it has links to terror groups outside Nigeria is disputed. According to one US military commander, Boko Haram is likely linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM),[24][25] but others have found no evidence of material international support[26], and attacks by the group on international targets have so far been rare.[11] The United States Department of State has offered a $7 million reward for Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau's capture.[27] In the UK, Boko Haram has been banned from operating.[28]
Many of the group's senior radicals were reportedly partially inspired by the late Islamic preacher known as Maitatsine.[29][30] Others believe the group is motivated by inter-ethnic disputes as much as religion, and that its founder Yusuf believed there was a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” by Plateau State governor Jonah Jang against the Hausa and Fulani people
The group has adopted its official name to be "the Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad",[31] which is the English translation from Arabic[32] Jamā'at ahl as-sunnah li-d-da'wa wa-l-jihād (جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد).
In the town of Maiduguri, where the group was formed, the residents dubbed it Boko Haram. The term "Boko Haram" comes from the Hausa word boko figuratively meaning "western education" (literally "alphabet", from English "book") and the Arabic word haram figuratively meaning "sin" (literally, "forbidden").[33][34][35][36] The name, loosely translated from Hausa, means "western education is forbidden". The group earned this name by its strong opposition to anything Western, which it sees as corrupting Muslims.[37] However, this interpretation of the name is disputed, and locals who speak the Hausa language are unsure what it means.[38]
Ideology
Boko Haram was founded as an indigenous group, turning itself into a Jihadist group in 2009.[5] It proposes that interaction with the Western world is forbidden, and also supports opposition to the Muslim establishment and the government of Nigeria.[39]
The members of the group do not interact with the local Muslim population[40] and have carried out assassinations in the past of anyone who criticises it, including Muslim clerics.[37]
In a 2009 BBC interview, Mohammed Yusuf, then leader of the group, stated his belief that the concept of a spherical Earth is contrary to Islamic teaching and should be rejected, along with Darwinian evolution and the concept of rain originating from water evaporated by the sun.[41] Before his death, Yusuf reiterated the group's objective of changing the current education system and rejecting democracy.[42] Nigerian academic Hussain Zakaria told BBC News that the controversial cleric had a graduate education, spoke proficient English, lived a lavish lifestyle and drove a Mercedes-Benz.[41]
In the wake of the 2009 crackdown on its members and its subsequent reemergence, the growing frequency and geographical range of attacks attributed to Boko Haram have led some political and religious leaders in the north to the conclusion that the group has now expanded beyond its original religious composition to include not only Islamic militants, but criminal elements and disgruntled politicians as well. For instance Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima said of Boko Haram: “[they have] become a franchise that anyone can buy into. It's something like a Bermuda Triangle.”[43]
Criticism
Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, the Niger State governor, has criticized the group, saying, "Islam is known to be a religion of peace and does not accept violence and crime in any form" and Boko Haram doesn't represent Islam.[44]
The Sultan of Sokoto Sa'adu Abubakar, the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims, has called the sect "anti-Islamic" and, as reported by the website AllAfrica.com, "an embarrassment to Islam."[45]
The Coalition of Muslim Clerics in Nigeria (CMCN) have called on the Boko Haram to disarm and embrace peace.[46]
The Islamic Circle of North America,[47] the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada,[48] the Muslim Council of Britain,[49] the Organization of Islamic Cooperation[50] and the Council on American Islamic Relations[51] have all condemned the group.
History
Background
Main articles: Islam in Nigeria and Colonial Nigeria
Before colonisation and subsequent annexation into the British Empire, the Bornu Empire ruled the territory where Boko Haram is currently active. It was a sovereign sultanate run according to the principles of the Constitution of Medina, with a majority Kanuri Muslim population. The Bornu Sultanate emerged after the overthrow of the Kanem-Bornu Empire ruled by the Sayfawa dynasty for over 2000 years.[citation needed] The Bornu Sultanate of the Kanuri is distinct from the Sokoto Caliphate of the Hausa/Fulani established in 1802 by the military conquest of Usman dan Fodio.[5] Both the Bornu Sultanate and Sokoto Caliphate came under control of the British in 1903. However, owing to activities of early Christian missionaries who used Western education as a tool for evangelism, it is viewed with suspicion by the local population.[37] Increased dissatisfaction gave rise to many fundamentalists among the Kanuri and other peoples of northeast Nigeria.
One of the most famous such fundamentalists was Mohammed Marwa, also known as Maitatsine, who was at the height of his notoriety during the 1970s and 1980s. He was sent into exile by the Nigerian authorities, he refused to believe Muhammad was the Prophet and instigated riots in the country which resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. Some analysts view Boko Haram as an extension of the Maitatsine riots.[52]
Origin
In 1995, the group was said to be operating under the name Shabaab, Muslim Youth Organisation with Mallam Lawal as the leader. When Lawal left to continue his education, Mohammed Yusuf took over leadership of the group. Yusuf’s leadership allegedly opened the group to political influence and popularity.[53]
Yusuf officially founded the group in 2002 in the city of Maiduguri with the aim of establishing a Shari'a government in Borno State under then-Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.[52] He established a religious complex that included a mosque and a school where many poor families from across Nigeria and from neighbouring countries enrolled their children.[37]
The centre had ulterior political goals and soon it was also working as a recruiting ground for future jihadis to fight the state.[37] The group includes members who come from neighbouring Chad and Niger and speak only Arabic.[54]
In 2004 the complex was relocated to Yusuf's home state of Yobe in the village Kanamma near the Niger border.[42]
Human Rights Watch researcher Eric Guttschuss told IRIN News that Yusuf successfully attracted followers from unemployed youth "by speaking out against police and political corruption." Abdulkarim Mohammed, a researcher on Boko Haram, added that violent uprisings in Nigeria are ultimately due to "the fallout of frustration with corruption and the attendant social malaise of poverty and unemployment."[55] Chris Kwaja, a Nigerian university lecturer and researcher, asserts that “religious dimensions of the conflict have been misconstrued as the primary driver of violence when, in fact, disenfranchisement and inequality are the root causes”. Nigeria, he points out, has laws giving regional political leaders the power to qualify people as 'indigenes' (original inhabitants) or not. It determines whether citizens can participate in politics, own land, obtain a job, or attend school. The system is abused widely to ensure political support and to exclude others. Muslims have been denied indigene-ship certificates disproportionately often.[56] Nigeria's progressive opposition leader Buba Galadima says: "What is really a group engaged in class warfare is being portrayed in government propaganda as terrorists in order to win counter-terrorism assistance from the West."[57]
Strategy and recruiting
In March 2012, it was reported that Boko Haram had taken a strategy to simulate convoys of high-profile Nigerians to access target buildings that are secured with fortifications. Boko Haram has also reportedly attacked Christian worship centres to "trigger reprisal in all parts of the country", distracting authorities so they can unleash attacks elsewhere.
The group is also known for using motorcycles as a vehicle to assassinating government officials and security officers. This has led to motorcycle bans in the city of Maiduguri.[113]
It was gathered that the group uses the Internet to propagate its activities and enhance its radicalisation and circulation of extremist ideologies. Boko Haram is reportedly planning to greatly increase its following in many states. Talk of Naija reported that Boko Haram has been involved in a recruitment drive, and they are allegedly targeting Muslims between ages of 17 and 30, and have also been recruiting freed prisoners through prison breaks. The group is also known to assign non-Kanuris on suicide missions.[53]
Funding
Funding sources for Boka Haram are not certain.[24][26] In the past, Nigerian officials have been criticised for being unable to trace much of the funding that Boko Haram has received.[120]
It is believed to be partially funded by bank robberies.[16]
It is also believed to be funded by other radical Islamist Terrorist groups. In February 2012, recently arrested officials revealed that "while the organisation initially relied on donations from members, its links with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, AQIM, opened it up to more funding from groups in Saudi Arabia and the UK". They went on to say that other sources of funding included the Al Muntada Trust Fund and the Islamic World Society.[121]
The group also extorts local governments for so-called "protection money". A spokesman of Boko Haram claimed that Kano state governor Ibrahim Shekarau and Bauchi state governor Isa Yuguda had paid them monthly.[122][123]
Death of Abu Qaqa
On 19 September 2012, reports materialised in the press that the group’s spokesperson, Abu Qaqa, had been killed in a battle with Nigerian military personnel. However, the group has not confirmed this to date.[124] The military has previously claimed to have arrested Abu Qaqa but this was denied by Boko Haram, who said the wrong man had been detained. According to the joint military task force, they had stopped a car suspected to be transporting senior Boko Haram commanders in Kano.[125] A source close to the military said one of the people in the car tried to escape and was shot, later dying in hospital.[126] The source said some of the people in the car informed the military that this person was Abu Qaqa.[126] However, analysts note that Abu Qaqa is an alias and therefore establishing his true identity will be difficult.[126].[11]
.jpg)
0 Comments