Abstract
Since 2009 when Boko Haram launched its first attack in Nigeria, the terrorist sect has remained a significant security and economic threat to the countries of the Lake Chad region. While moderate successes were recorded between 2015 and 2016, with the government maintaining that the insurgent sect has been technically defeated, empirical evidence suggests otherwise. Using the historical approach as its research methodology, this paper analyses the factors responsible for the sect’s resurgence, and Nigeria’s response. It argues that Nigeria’s failure to nip the insurgency in the bud is attributable to two main factors: the emergence, growing, and unchecked influence of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISAWP) in the Lake Chad region, and the unresolved ill-equipped state of the Nigerian military. The paper submits that any serious attempt aimed at arresting this trend must begin by addressing these issues.
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There are at least 5 commandments which the Almighty Allah in Soorat al-Maa’idah 5 (49), expects every faithful Muslim to obey. Among them is the command to rule according to what Allaah has revealed: “And so judge between them by what Allah has revealed”. For more on this see: “The kufr of one who rules according to other than what Allah revealed”, https://islamqa.info/en/answers/974/the-kufr-of-one-who-rules-according-to-other-than-what-allaah-revealed (Accessed 7 November 2019).
Abubakar Shekau is the emir of Boko Haram and a U.S.-designated terrorist. Shekau subsequently worked with Mohammed Yusuf, an Islamic preacher who went on to found and lead Boko Haram. Shekau shared Yusuf’s commitment to restructuring society in accordance with sharia law and was named as his successor after Yusuf was killed by Nigerian security forces in July 2009. He is reputed to be responsible for most of the bombings on the civilian population and other state assets between 2009 and 2016, including the abduction of 276 female students of Chibok government school, Chibok, Maiduguri, Nigeria, between 14 and 15 April 2014.
Khalid al-Barnawi and Mamman Nur are uniquely capable of expanding Boko Haram’s international connections to al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Shabab, the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). Al-Barnawi is said to be a son of Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram who the police extra-judicially murdered in 2009. Mamman Nur was a veteran jihadist who had been with Boko Haram for years, and some viewed him as the real power within ISAWP.
See for example: Stalemate: Boko Haram’s New Strategy requires it to commit fewer attacks. https://www.sbmintel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/201910_Boko-Haram.pdf.
Ibid.
Ibid.
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Amao, O. A decade of terror: revisiting Nigeria’s interminable Boko Haram insurgency. Secur J 33, 357–375 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-020-00232-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-020-00232-8