Boko Haram: The ISIS of Africa
By Makhan Saikia
20 February 2016
Unlike other Islamic terrorist organisations, Boko Haram aims to establish a full-fledged Islamic state under the guidance of Sharia only in Nigeria and adjacent countries than aspiring for a global Jehad. However, the larger rhetoric of the group says that a secular polity, which is based on western precepts, preaches idolatry i.e. state worship and it is punishable by death
Boko Haram came into existence under the leadership of an Islamic cleric named Mohammed Yusuf in Maiduguri, the capital city of the north-eastern state of Borno in Nigeria. It is a popular name for a radical Islamic movement which declares itself as the “Sunni Community for the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teaching and Jehad” or “Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jehad”. It primarily operates in the Nigerian provinces of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
Unlike the other affiliates of al Qaeda, Boko Haram aims to establish a full-fledged Islamic state under the guidance of Sharia only in Nigeria and adjacent countries than aspiring for a global Jehad. Yusuf, its founder, was a trained Salafist, an adherent of a school of thought often related to Jehad. He was largely inspired by Ibn Taymiyyah, a 14th century legal scholar, who was widely known for preaching Islamic fundamentalism. It has been found that Taymiyyah’s philosophy has influenced most of the Islamic radical groups and organisations across West Asia. When translated colloquially, Boko Haram means “western education is sin”. And the group vows to fight and rejects outright western concepts such as evolution and Big Bang Theory. Boko Haram follows the Wahhabi understanding of “Tawhid” meaning “the oneness of God or monotheism”.
The larger rhetoric of the group says that a secular polity, which is based on western precepts, preaches idolatry i.e. state worship and it is punishable by death. Currently, it is led by Abubakar Shekau after Yusuf was killed by the security forces in 2009. Till then, Boko Haram remained non-violent, but with the extra-judicial killings of hundreds of its followers in the hands of Government forces, it re-emerged as the most violent terrorist organisation, surpassing even the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS).
Apart from Boko Haram, one of its splinter groups, Ansaru, which is based in the States of Kano and Kaduna in Nigeria, launches attacks on churches and State officials but avoids indiscriminate killings of Muslims. However, like any other religious terror organisations, both are spearheading anti-modern goals of bringing back society into an idealised version of the past which further enhances regressive and anti-modern tendencies.
As analyst Chris Ngwodo rightly argues that “the emergence of Boko Haram signifies the maturation of long festering extremist impulses that run deep in the social reality of northern Nigeria. But the group itself is an effect and not a cause; it is a symptom of decades of failed Government and elite delinquency finally ripening into social chaos”. Also, Boko Haram slowly ignites a potential conflict between the Salafi fundamentalist groups and the traditional Muslim elites of Nigeria who are basically more tolerant Sufi Muslims. Therefore, these insurgents are constantly targeting the Sultan of Sokoto and the Shehu of Borno, the traditional Islamic establishments of Nigeria.
The way the group is expanding its activities in Africa it is strongly felt that it has received external funds and arms. It seems the insurgents have closer ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) of North-West Africa, Somali’s al-Shabab and al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula. On record, Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center Nicholas Rasmussen testified before a hearing of the US Senate Intelligence Committee on February 2015 that the formal communications between Boko Haram and the ISIS are being established.
Today, Nigeria is the most populous nation in the Sub-Saharan region and the biggest economy of the continent. Recently, Nigeria has been included in the MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) economies which can bring back the country into the fast development ladder and this regeneration of hope might help in handling the disparate insurgent and anti-national elements soon. Hence this “Naija optimism” can be taken further to propel the engine of growth in the African continent.
In the meantime, the Nigerian Government should adopt a carrot & stick policy which in local terms can be called as a fusion of “Koboko (Hausa word for whip) and pieces of the national cake (a Nigerian phrase for patronage or co-option into the system). For this to move forward, the federal Government at Abuja must strengthen the provincial Governments in the Boko Haram-affected areas so that they can handle the terror at their end. This might bring out local solutions which can be well-accepted for these States or it might at least slowly quell the fire of insurgency among the vast unemployed and disillusioned youth. Beyond these, the creation of a Ministry of Northern Affairs in the lines of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to deal with the pressing problems of the North, particularly of the Muslims, could be a good start to prevent Boko Haram activities immediately.
Indeed, a separate ministry to promote people-oriented development would surely help winning the trust of the locals and can drive away the anti-Abuja feeling getting ground for quite some time in the North. Many experts on Nigeria feel that conducting speedy and fair trials, under Islamic laws for activists of Boko Haram or its sponsors or considering an amnesty for more moderate members of the group may re-create hope among the millions of Muslims in northern region about the intentions of the Government.
However, this longstanding crisis has led Nigeria to a nation-building dilemma wherein the Christian dominated South and the Muslim-majority North seem to be permanently at loggerheads. There has been a call for a “National Conference” by various groups who champion the idea that all Nigerians must live under one national identity. However, this “build Nigeria as one nation” project is not moving further as regional animosity combined with religious and ethnic hatred is deepening so badly that one fine day Nigeria might get divided. “There is a feeling that this de-Nigerianisation process is accelerated by leaps and bounds. No individual or political authority enjoys universally perceived legitimacy across the main fault lines and therefore the country is in desperate need of creating true Nigerians. If this trend continues, there is a high risk of a growing number of individuals and groups impairing or even attacking the Nigerian State” (Adibe). It is highly alarming and Nigeria might slip back to a chaotic state sooner or later if the current crisis persists.
When it comes to international response to fight this menace in Africa, America has shown no appetite at all. Only in 2013, the US State Department designated Boko Haram and Ansaru as “foreign terrorist organisations” which will eventually help the Government investigate and prosecute the terror suspects of the group. Beyond this, the US State Department has categorically urged the Nigerian Government to handle the terror organisation “through a combination of law enforcement, political, and development efforts, as well as military engagement”. On the other hand, the UN designated Boko Haram as an al-Qaeda affiliate in 2014. Though many foreign governments have offered to help the Nigerian Government to eradicate the menace of Boko Haram, particularly after the kidnapping of about 200 schoolgirls from Chibok, the response from Abuja is lethargic and disheartening. Moreover the latest credible evidence shows that human rights abuse by the Nigerian security forces even create difficulties for external agencies and Governments committed to advancing human rights.
An Amnesty International Report in 2014 underlines the fact that “the Government’s seemingly indiscriminate killing of alleged Boko Haram members and many others who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time appears to be a driver of popular support for or acquiescence to Boko Haram”. Keeping in mind the intensification of the violence of Boko Haram, Abuja along with international agencies must focus on humanitarian assistance directed towards the basic human needs of millions of internally displaced people as a result of the struggle between the group and the federal Government. Also a global humanitarian assistance must be made available to the neighbouring nations of Nigeria which are providing shelter to many refugees. Beyond humanitarian assistance to mitigate the woes of teeming millions who are reeling under war, poverty and an uncertain future, to check the ground reality, the West must come up strategically first to contain and then to eliminate the Islamic terror from Nigeria, the 26th largest economy in the world.
Campbell rightly notes, “It is already widely assumed in West Africa that the West is at war with Islam. The western response to Boko Haram and the wider Nigerian crisis will demand greater western sensitivity and understanding of the religious dimension to the crisis in West Africa in general and Boko Haram in particular.” The 17th century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes prophesised about a kind of “State of Nature” where “life would be nasty, brutish and short” and “a war of all against all”. Hope, resource rich Nigeria will not slip into such a state.
Makhan Saikia is an independent political analyst based in Delhi
Source: dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped/boko-haram-the-isis-of-africa.html
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/boko-haram-isis-africa/d/106410