Nigeria and Boko Haram: The Threat of Islamists

1. Nigeria and Boko Haram: The Threat of Islamists

4. What is Boko Haram? • Nigeria's militant Islamist group Boko Haram - which has caused havoc in Africa's most populous country through a wave of bombings, assassinations and now abductions - is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. • Its followers are said to be influenced by the Koranic phrase which says: "Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors". • Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it "haram", or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society. • This includes voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education. • Boko Haram regards the Nigerian state as being run by non-believers, even when the country had a Muslim president. • The group's official name is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad".

6. WHO • Boko Haram translates as “Western education is sin”. • Seeks the imposition of a strict Sharia Law system through out Nigeria. • Currently nine northern states follow Sharia Law, with an additional three implementing it. • Seeks the abolishment of Western-style education. • They have been condemned by the Muslim Council of Great Britain.

8. What is Boko Haram? • Boko Haram at a glance • Founded in 2002 • Official Arabic name, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad" • Initially focused on opposing Western education - gaining the nickname Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language • Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state • Founding leader Mohammed Yusuf (pictured above) killed in 2009 same year in police custody, succeeded by Abubakar Shekau • Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja • Some three million people affected • Declared terrorist group by US in 2013

9. The Islamic Fundamentalist group Boko Haram has been responsible for Church bombings, executions, and tortures throughout Northern Nigeria. Boko Haram advocates creating a Nigerian theocracy and separate state in the North Top left: Boko Haram militants Top right: victims of a recent Boko Haram bombing

10. Origins of Boko Haram

11. Origins • Religious insecurities • Being a Muslim in Nigeria used to bring power, prestige • Political insecurities • Politicized religious and ethnic identity • Conspiracy theories driven by fear and reinforced by a heavy-handed security response to protests • Economic insecurities • Socio-economic isolation Maiduguri, Borno state

12. Origins of Boko Haram • Religion splits Nigeria in half: The North is Muslim while the South is Christian • Bombings of churches and mosques occur frequently and tensions are highest during elections and near the middle belt • Islamic fundamentalism and radicalism has manifested itself in the North with the appearance of the political group Boko Haram

14. Origins: Historical Backdrop to Boko Haram • President Babangida’s foreign policy and Nigeria’s OIC membership -1986 • Adoption of Sharia by 9 Northern states (plus partial adoption by 3) since 1999, posing a serious challenge to constitutional separation of state and religion • December 1980 - rise of Maitatsine in the Northern commercial city of Kano – 5000 lives lost in uprising • Leader – Alhaji Mohammadu Marwa Maitatsine • Maitatsine considered as a rebel among mainstream Muslim clerics • Used adulterated version of the Koran, with his name in place of that of Prophet Mohammed • Preached against use of modern technologies such as motorcycles, automobiles, bicycles, radio, television, wristwatch, etc. • Killed in the Kano violence of 1980; his followers continued to spread his radical message among the urban poor across the northern region; 1985 last major Maitatsine uprising

15. History of Boko Haram • Sokoto Caliphate, Usman dan Fodio • Hausa-Fulani, Kanuri • Maitisine riots • “Nigerian Taliban” • Mohammed Yusuf • Salafist prayer and self-isolation • Promote Islam and Sharia law, Ibn Taymiyya • Refusal to obey traffic laws seen as refusal of authority provokes heavy handed response . . . • Yusuf publicly executed in the street

16. Origins and Rise of Boko Haram - 2009 Boko Haram (Western education is evil) surfaced as “Nigerian Taliban” during Obasanjo’s era 1999-2007 Founding leader Mohammed Yusuf, a high school drop out who studied the Koran in Niger and Chad and came back with radical religious views; Yusuf established a sect in 2001 under the name Yusufiyya in Maiduguri Yusuf coopted into Boko Haram between 2001 and 2009 when the sect sparked a bloody uprising in Maiduguri; the 2009 crisis earned the group the name Boko Haram which reflects its anti-Western ideology Following the 2009 religious uprising Yusuf was killed while in police custody Mallam Abubakar Shekau current spiritual leader of Boko Haram Blind commitment to violent fundamentalism and the islamization project

17. Goals and Doctrine of Boko Haram

18. Objectives • Impose Sharia Law • Establish Caliphate • Wage war

19. Boko Haram: Mission Jihadist conquest to ensure Northern political dominance through islamization of Nigeria Jihad translates to war against Western cultural influence – Western democracy, Western education and Christianity, modern governmental institutions and other symbols of Western influence Islamic fundamentalism as mobilizational tool The Almajiri System – abused and manipulated for narrow political ends 75 percent northern population poor; 60 percent live on less than 1 US dollar a day; 32 percent literacy rate in the north (68 % national rate)

22. Leadership of Boko Haram

23. You Tube Clip • Boko Haram: Who is Abubakar Shekau? - BBC News • BBC News • Published on Jun 27, 2014 • Running time of 2:34 • What do we know about the leader of Boko Haram? Abubakar Shekau has inspired his group of fighters to kill hundreds of people in Nigeria, where Yalda Hakim spoke to people who knew him.

24. Leader: Abubakar Shekau

25. Leader: Abubakar Shekau • AbubakarShekau is the leader of the Nigerian militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which been behind a deadly insurgency in the north-east of the country for the last five years. • Nigeria analyst AbdullahiTasiuAbubakar looks at the country's most-wanted man, who has been designated a terrorist by the US government. • Boko Haram's leader is said to be a fearless loner, a complex, paradoxical man - part-theologian, part-gangster. • Since he took over, Boko Haram has become more radical and carried out more killings.

27. Leader: Abubakar Shekau • Shekau speaks classical Arabic and Hausa, the language of northern Nigerian Muslims, and had a religious education. • As deputy to former Boko Haram leader Mohamed Yusuf, who was killed in 2009, Shekau delivered sermons littered with references to Islamic scholars. • He also expressed admiration for al Qaeda as a jihadist movement, although Boko Haram is not an affiliate of the group. • Shekau's rejection of the Christian calendar and of allegiance to the Nigerian flag resonates in a region where resentment of a corrupt and distant government runs deep. • And his frequent reference to the great Bornu Empire -- a Muslim kingdom that ruled northern Nigeria for some 500 years -- harks back to a golden age.

29. Leader: Abubakar Shekau • Perhaps the most shocking revelation about him was the video clip of him laughing as he admitted the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in April 2014, promising to sell them. • "I abducted your girls," he said. "I will sell them in the market, by Allah. I will sell them off and marry them off." • Fondly called imam or leader by his followers, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau was born in Shekau village in Nigeria's north-eastern state of Yobe. • Some say he is in his late 30s, others believe he is in his mid-40s - the uncertainty adds to the myths surrounding him. • The US government has offered a reward of up to $7m (£4.6m) for information about his location.

30. Leader: Shekau • 'Aping of Osama Bin Laden' • Shekau is fluent in his native Kanuri language, as well as Hausa and Arabic. He now also adds English sentences in the tapes his group releases to journalists. • When Muhammad Yusuf was killed, Shekau is said to have married one of his four wives and adopted their children - perhaps, say sources who do not want to be named, to preserve Boko Haram's cohesion or "purity". • The group has a highly decentralised structure - the unifying force appears to be ideology, though many believe that they are now more interested in vengeance than in ideology. • Shekau does not communicate directly with the group's foot soldiers - he is said to wield his power through a few select cell leaders, but even then contact is minimal. • "A lot of those calling themselves leaders in the group do not even have contact with him," MrSalkida says. • Shekau has neither the charismatic streak nor the oratorical skills of his predecessor - but he has an intense ideological commitment and ruthlessness, say people who study the group. • "He is the leader of the more militant wing of the group as testified by his aping of Osama Bin Laden in his video appearances," says AbubakarMu'azu from the University of Maiduguri.

31. Leader: Shekau • Shekau issued a chilling message in one of those appearances - which provides a major insight into what his leadership of the group will bring. • "I enjoy killing anyone that God commands me to kill - the way I enjoy killing chickens and rams," he said in the video clip released just after Boko Haram had carried out one of its deadliest attacks, in January 2012, killing more than 180 people in Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city.

32. Leader: Shekau • Shekau is also the group's spiritual leader - and, judging by video footage, he seems equally comfortable delivering sermons to his followers. • "He has a photographic memory and is well-versed in theology.” • His followers nickname him "Darul Tawheed", which translates as a specialist in Tawheed. • This is an orthodox doctrine of the uniqueness and oneness of Allah, which is the very cornerstone of Islam. • But Nigeria's mainstream Muslim clerics do not regard Shekau as a scholar and question his understanding of Islam. • They regularly condemn the bombings and drive-by shootings committed by his followers against anyone who disagrees with them.

34. Membership of Boko Haram

35. Operates as a Network • Network is believed to be expanded outside of Nigeria border • Believe to have different cells located in countries surrounding Nigeria • New technology and money sources • “State within the state”

37. Membership • Most members drawn from Islamic clerics and students, professionals, students of tertiary institutions in Borno and Yobe states (key Sharia states) • School drop-outs enrolled in Madrassa or Koranic schools • Northern politicians who represent “opportunistic face of Islam” • Dubious members of the state security agencies who help the group with training

38. Membership • It draws its fighters mainly from the Kanuri ethnic group, which is the largest in the three states. • Most Kanuris have distinctive facial scars and when added to their heavy Hausa accents, they are easily identifiable to others Nigerians.

39. Foreign Support of Boko Haram

40. Foreign support for BH • Ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Somalia’s al-Shabaab • Foreign terrorist groups provide funds, training and weapons to BH militants • West African countries such as Cameroun, Benin, Niger, Mauritania, and Chad provide sanctuary for BH militants

41. Weapons

42. Sources of Deadly Weapons • Smuggling • Robbery • Looting of armories or sales from servicemen • Influx of illegal alien arms through Nigeria’s porous borders • Illegal arms transfer enabled by poor surveillance and intelligence gathering of Nigeria’s security agencies

45. Current Strategy • Provoke sectarian violence • Provoke heavy handed government response • Mobilize Nigerian Muslims to revolt • Media strategy • Suicide bombings • Links with al Qaida? • Factions

47. Targets of Boko Haram Violence

49. Targets of recent BH violence • State security agencies – the police and army • Churches/Christians • Schools • Open markets • The media – particularly newspapers • Prominent government officials and private citizens • Moderate Muslims • United Nations • Government informants

50. BH far more brutal than other groups • BH resources – machete, AK-47, bombs, motorcycles, cars, suicide bombers, cell phones, internet, websites, media releases through the internet and newspapers • Far more violent than other groups, better organized and equipped and probably more motivated than government security operatives • Very effective at using force or threat of force to instill fear