STRUGGLES OF THE NIGERIAN PEOPLES- BOKO HARAM

With the Boko Haram insurgency gradually becoming a daily occurrence, everyone seems to be putting on his or her thinking cap on how to douse the conflagration. The knotty issue of the abducted Chibok students as well as the  murder of two emirs of Gombe and Gwosa, Alhaji Sehu Usman Abubakar and Alhaji Idrisa Tirnita respectively allegedly by the Boko Haram militants, have sent a more
dangerous signal to the world regarding the capability of the sect to wreck maximum havoc on the stability of the North- Eastern region of Nigeria. The Federal Government usual acclaimed uninspiring reaction to each attack, still greeted the murder of the two topmost traditional rulers. Hours after the incident, President Goodluck Jonathan, in a
statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr Ruben Abati, said that “the brazen attack and the wanton slaying of the respected traditional ruler reinforces the vital need for all patriotic Nigerians, irrespective of where they come from, their religious or political loyalties to come together and work with urgency and complete unity of purpose to quickly end the murderous attacks by terrorists and insurgents that continue to threaten the security, cohesion and wellbeing of the nation.” President pledged that the Armed Forces and security agencies will continue to receive all the empowerment and support they require from the Federal Government to speedily give maximum effect to his orders that they take all necessary action to stop the insurgency in the country.”
FG action or inaction to the problem, notwithstanding, Boko Haram insurgency is a political instrument, of which the international community had taken a cognizance. Saturday Newswatch uncovered that six countries had been put under surveillance as Terrorist threats in Africa. These countries include Nigeria, The Sahel, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and
East Africa. After the killing of Boko Haram’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf in 2009, his deputy, Abubakar Shekau took over and provided a
leadership for the group, using a number of tactics including bombings (suicide and timed explosions), targeted assassinations, drive-by shootings, and mass killings (using guns, knives, and machetes) in highly populated areas. Churches and mosques are not spared in their attacks. The foot soldiers of the group consist of the unemployed youth and kid beggars drawn from Quranic schools. According to Emily Mellgard, a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations working with Ambassador John Campbell on the Africa programme, “Boko Haram ideology is malleable though, so a shift toward a more international perspective at some point in the future — under different leadership, or following a particularly transformative catalyst
— is not out of the question.” This latest killing of the emirs underscores the complex nature
of the insurgency dressed in a garb of terrorism. Unlike conventional warfare, terrorism, according to Karin Mings, an International Relations scholar in his book, Essentials of International Relations, is a violence designed to instill fear in a population, a state and the international community to make a political statement.
Much of terrorist activity has its root in the Middle East- in the Palestinians quest for self-determination and their own internal conflicts over strategy; in the hostility among various
Islamic; and in the resurgence of Islamic Fundamentalism.

Source- TUNDE BUSARI

STRUGGLES OF THE NIGERIAN PEOPLES- BOKO HARAM

Boko Haram started as an Islamic sect but a strong aversion for western education. In the last two years, Nigerians now sleep and wake in fear, for no one, including the security agencies, can accurately predict where the next attack would be lunched. It became more disturbing with the attack of Abuja, thereby exposing the vulnerability of the seat of power. Despite Federal Government seemingly helpless situation in resolving the matter, especially with the continuous detention of chibok students, some notable Nigerians, especially those with wealth of experience on security matter, have broken their silence on the matter with a view to sharing their informed view on how the problem could be solved. Major-General David Jemibewon (rtd) enjoined the Army to threat cautiously, especially on the recovery of the unfortunate student. Jemibewon said failure to heed the advice and opt for fire-for-fire response would not only be counter- productive, it would also cost the innocent girls their lives. “Again, we must realise that with these girls adopted in Chibok, if we apply full military force in an attempt to liberate
them, they would be killed. At the end, you will ask yourself, what have I achieved?” Jembewon urged the Federal Government to see the insurgency more of a national tragedy than accident and step up effort to support all security agencies in the land including the army, navy, air force, National Security and Civil Defence Corps, Department of Secret Service, police, and others. During the Nigerian civil war, he recalled, some people came up with the Troop Comfort Fund, which raised some fund used to provide food and other needs.

Source- TUNDE BUSARI

Boko Haram Boko Haram

Boko Haram Boko Haram
Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad (official name)
ﺟﻤﺎﻋﺔ ﺃﻫﻞ ﺍﻟﺴﻨﺔ ﻟﻠﺪﻋﻮﺓ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻬ.          
Participant in the Boko Haram insurgency
Active 2002–present Ideology Wahhabism
Salafism Islamic fundamentalism

Leaders
Mohammed Yusuf (founder) (KIA)
Abubakar Shekau (current leader)

Area of operations
Nigeria , Cameroon , Niger , Chad
Strength
7,000–10,000 Part of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Opponents
Nigeria Cameroon Niger Chad Benin (announced)  Nigerian territory under the control of Boko Haram as of 21 February 2015, shown in dark grey Boko Haram ("Western education is forbidden"), officially
called Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal-Jihad ( Arabic:
ﺟﻤﺎﻋﺔ ﺃﻫﻞ ﺍﻟﺴﻨﺔ ﻟﻠﺪﻋﻮﺓ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻬﺎﺩ , Jamā‘at Ahl as-Sunnah li
Da‘wah wa’l-Jihād , "Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad"), is an Islamist terrorist movement based in north-east Nigeria , also active in Chad, Niger and
northern Cameroon.[4] The group is led by Abubakar Shekau . Estimates of membership vary between a few hundred and 10,000. The group had been linked to al-Qaeda and in 2014 expressed support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant , pledging formal allegiance to it in 2015.  Boko Haram killed more than 5,000 civilians between July
2009 and June 2014, including at least 2,000 in the first half of 2014, in attacks occurring mainly in north-east, north-central and central
Nigeria. Corruption in the security services and
human rights abuses committed by them have hampered efforts to counter the unrest. Since 2009 Boko Haram have abducted more than 500 men, [17][18] women and children, including the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in April 2014. 650,000 people had fled the conflict zone by August 2014, an increase of 200,000 since May; by the end of the year 1.5 million had fled.  After its founding in 2002, Boko Haram's increasing radicalisation led to a violent uprising in July 2009 in which its leader was executed. Its unexpected resurgence, following a mass prison break in September 2010, was accompanied by increasingly sophisticated attacks, initially against soft targets , and progressing in 2011 to include suicide bombings of police buildings and the United Nations office in Abuja . The government's establishment of a state of emergency at the
beginning of 2012, extended in the following year to cover the entire north-east of the country, resulted in a marked increase
in both security force abuses and militant attacks. The Nigerian military proved ineffective in countering the insurgency, hampered by an entrenched culture of official
corruption. Since mid-2014, the militants have been in control of swathes of territory in and around their home state of Borno , estimated at 50,000 square kilometres (20,000 sq mi)
in January 2015, but have not captured the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri, where the group was originally based.

Name
The official name is ﺟﻤﺎﻋﺔ ﺃﻫﻞ ﺍﻟﺴﻨﺔ ﻟﻠﺪﻋﻮﺓ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻬﺎﺩ Jamā‘atu
Ahli is-Sunnah lid-Da‘wati wal-Jihād , meaning "People
Committed to the Prophet's Teachings for Propagation and Jihad". [23] The group was also originally known informally as
'Yusifiyya', after its first leader, Mohammed Yusuf . The name "Boko Haram" is usually translated as "Western education is forbidden". Haram is from the Arabic ﺣَﺮَﺍﻡ ḥarām, "forbidden"; and the Hausa word boko [the first vowel is long, the second pronounced in a low tone], originally meaning "fake", has come to mean [25] and is widely translated as
"Western education" and thought to be a possible corruption of the English word "book". [26][27] Boko Haram has also been
translated as "Western influence is a sin" [28] and "Westernization is sacrilege". [14]
Some Nigerians dismiss Western education as ilimin boko ("education fake") and draw a distinction between makaranta alkorani (religious school), based on the Qur'an where
students learn to write and recite Arabic, and makaranta boko — government schools imparting secular education in the colonial English (official) language.

FAILED STATE WATCH Nigeria Struggles to Keep It Together

After the supposed truce declared by President Goodluck Jonathan came to naught, Boko Haram gloated that it had married off the schoolgirls whose kidnapping (briefly) caught
the world’s attention. Meanwhile, the group reportedly broke 144 prisoners out of a Nigerian jail and was behind yet another suicide bombing, which took 29 lives at a Shi’a religious ritual. It has conquered another city, Mubi, and shows no sign of slowing its advances. As a sober BBC report asks, where can Nigeria’s government go from here? Its summary of the situation is nothing less
than grim: “it appears the government is now fighting not just for the territorial integrity of the nation but also for the very existence of the Nigerian state.” As Boko Haram seizes
territory it is also stocking itself with weapons and supplies, to add to what is reputed to be a fearsome arsenal.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s soldiers have been reported to flee towns under attack alongside the civilians. Add to that the rumors that Boko Haram has infiltrated the army and there is little encouragement to be had. It may get worse once February’s Presidential elections roll around: Nigeria’s general elections are expected to be held in February and there is every indication that the process will be bloody if it goes ahead in the north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, where Boko Haram has its strongholds. It is also unlikely that civilians there will be convinced to cast their votes in a democratic system that is antithetical to Boko Haram’s central objective – to instil its radical form of Islamic
rule. Nigerian journalist Ahmad Salkida – who has recently had rare access to the group – says that the sect believes its “brand of Sharia is superior to the [Nigerian] constitution”.
As Council on Foreign Relations fellow John Campbell notes, these elections could be a replay of the 2011 contest, with President Goodluck Jonathan likely contending yet again with former military chief Muhammad Buhari, who won the Muslim states while Jonathan took the rest. Those elections were
accompanied by a surge in violence—and there is every chance that these will be, too. As Campbell puts it: […E]lections are an aspect of elite politics remote from the concerns and aspirations of the Nigerian people. For many
Nigerians, they may not matter very much except as a spur to ethnic, religious, and regional identities. Hence, the question is whether the February 2015 elections will further exacerbate ethnic and religious tensions, and perhaps encourage increased support for Boko Haram and other radical
movements.

Nigeria never had the sort of political stability that might see it through a threat of this magnitude. While it may be too early to declare the country a failed state, it is heading into the new year with significant damage and small hope of full repair.

Sourse-The American Interest