Why Nigeria Continues to Fail to Defeat Boko Haram?

UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

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MAKONA          SIMBARASHE

The failure by Nigeria to deal decisively with Boko Haram can be explained in more ways than one. Boko Haram an Islamic militant group since 2002 when it was formed was not much known in Nigeria as well as outside Nigeria. In 2009 the Nigeria government became aware of the political threat that can be caused by this armed group and attempts to dissolve it was made leading to the killing of its former leader Mohammad Yusuf. However the group re-emerged under new leadership of Abubakar Shekau, since 2009 Boko Haram have taken several campaigns of terror in the north mostly and other parts of Nigeria. In 2014, they became known around the world after kidnapping 267 school girls from a school in Chibok. Political scientist and historians have suggested that, Nigeria’s complicated ethnic and religious mix, political connections between the insurgents and other top ranking government officials, imbalance between north and south, high levels of corruption within the military and government, Nigerian military limitation as well as connections between Boko Haram and other external Islamic militants as possible explanations behind Nigeria’s failure. In short, Nigerian government lunched various anti-terror campaigns in the northern part of Nigeria but it failed to fully deal with the militants although successes were notable.

Nigeria as a geographical landscape within it have very complicated ethnic and religious mix. Guardian Africa network on Wednesday 14 May 2014 noted that a massive elephant in the room is that the vast majority of the army’s fighting troops have historically been recruited from ethnic groups in northern Nigeria^[1]. Such ethnic groups include the Kanuri to which most Boko Haram members belong. Unleashing the army on militants means soldiers may be ordered to commit fratricide against communities they come from, who they are not hostile to, and leaves the army vulnerable to infiltration. In April 2014 while general officer commanding 7th Division of the Nigerian Army Major General Ahmudu Mohammed was addressing his troops in Maiduguri, the capital of the northern state of Borno some disgruntled soldiers opened fire at him, but he narrowly escaped death as his aides shielded him and drove him out of danger^[2]. Also, an attack by Nigeria's former president Goodluck Jonathan a Christian from the south on a northern Islamic group with unrestrained force in the year before a presidential election, surely result in lost votes amid accusations of being heavy handed with people of another faith^[3]. Consequently, sensitive ethno-regional issues make it difficult for Nigerian government to fight Boko Haram.

Political scientists highlighted that, it would be naive to think that the kidnapping of 267 school girls from a school in chibok happened in a vacuum, or that the Boko Haram has no connection to the powers that be in Nigeria's Game of Thrones-style politics. Spikes in violence and insecurity took place on a suspiciously recurring basis in the 12-18 months preceding Nigerian presidential elections. This tends to be the time that politicians allegedly deploy armed militia to harass, intimidate, or even assassinate their rivals^[4]. In 2012, a senior member, Kabiru Sokoto, was found in a state governor’s house after escaping from police captivity. The year before, a Nigerian senator was arrested on suspicion of aiding the group after claims that he telephoned a militant more than 70 times in one month^[5]. The extremist group is also automatically linked to all kidnappings, violence, and assassinations committed in northern Nigeria – even acts of armed banditry and political assassinations are attributed to it, whether the group claims responsibility for them or not. Major function of a good government is to guarantee the security of lives and property. This explains why the early philosophers observe that people give up part of their rights to a sovereign leader who is charged with the responsibility of ensuring their security^[6]. The inability, the apparent disinterest of politicians in Abuja made fear and panic in the northern east turn to funny. Atere Clement Olusegun  and Alao, Oluwafisayo noted that it took international campaigns such as the bringbackourgirls to get President Jonathan to call the crime by its name months after girls were abducted as well as to recognize that the girl’s parents were not enemies but victims^[7]. Considering the fact that Boko Haram as a religious fundamentalist group is not isolated from politics and political fights therefore it makes it difficult for Nigeria to decisively deal with the group.

Historical events which unfold over the past 60-70 years started the slide into poverty and inequality between the Muslim north and Christian south which eventually led to the formation of Boko Haram. Before Nigeria’s independence in 1960, British colonial authorities ruled the north where most Muslims live and south of Nigeria where most Christians live separately. Western schools started by Christian missionaries flourished in the south, but Muslim leaders were reluctant to allow Christian mission schools to open in the north. The long-term result is a massive economic and educational imbalance between the north and south which persists up to today. In many southern states more than 90% of women are literate. The corresponding percentage is below 5% in some states in the far north. Less than 10% of Nigerian university applicants come from the 12 Muslim majority states in northern Nigeria where Boko Haram’s insurgency rages^[8]. Boko Haram draws its members from the legions of uneducated, unemployed, poor and disenchanted young northern men. It has been alleged that the Almajirai itinerant students of Koranic schools are Boko Haram foot-soldiers because they are beggars, have no access to modern education and are easy to indoctrinate to carry out suicide attacks. Such an argument assumes that there is a causal connection between poverty or illiteracy and participation in terrorism. However studies show that this is not always the case Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos notes that poor governance, frustration and a sense of injustice among those who live at Nigeria’s peripheries, be it geographically or socio-economically, were certainly important in the establishment of Boko Haram^[9]. Sharia law was seen as a way to restore social justice, and the radical lectures of Mohammed Yusuf appealed to youth from Maiduguri and smaller towns as well as remote villages.