“Boko Haram”… the Salafi jihadism cancer in Nigeria

- An al-Qaeda example in Africa that seeks to achieve the “Islamic caliphate dream” through the establishment of an Islamic state in Nigeria.

Salafi jihadism in Nigeria dates back to the second half of the seventies of the last century with the establishment of Islamic movement Izala that sought to encounter Bid’a (innovation in religious matters) and superstitions.

In 1995, Abubakar Lawan founded the Ahlulsunna wal’hijra group, known as the Muslim Youth Organization. As time passed, the group witnessed various transformation, becoming the Taliban of Nigeria, Al-Muhajiroun, Al-Yusifiyya, and finally Boko Haram in 2002.

The Hausa name, Boko Haram, is usually translated as “western education is forbidden.”

There were a number of factors that contributed to the growth of the Boko Haram organization; this include weakness and corruption of the Nigerian government, failure in addressing and containing issues of the Muslim community, and limiting the economy file to the grip of a small minority.

Boko Haram is funded by some politicians and economists in Nigeria to achieve their political aspirations, not to mention some Islamic charitable associations in Europe that support the group as well.

The militant organization of Boko Haram operates on a regional and international scale, much wider than its activities in Nigeria.

A coalition of some West Africa countries, including Chad, allied with the Nigerian government in 2015 to fight Boko Haram.

So far, however, efforts by the coalition failed to come up against Boko Haram. Instead, the militant organization responded to the coalition by adopting new strategies in their operations.

In April 2014, Boko Haram militants abducted more than 270 girls from their secondary school in northeast Nigeria’s Chibok, and in the same year, the organization attacked a predominantly Christian community of Sabon Gari, a local government area in Kaduna State, Nigeria.

The relation between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government was not always conflicting, as it witnessed rounds of negotiations between the organization and the government, under the auspices of Saudi Arabia and Chad; the first round took place between 2010 and 2011, then a second round went about in 2012 and 2013.

Boko Haram had certain demands during the negotiations, but it often focused on the release of Boko Haram prisoners and halting the security pursuit of its members.

Negotiations with the militant organization officially stopped after the United States placed a bounty on Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, and leader of the group Al-Murabitoun Mokhtar Belmokhtar, and the Nigerian government promised cash rewards for credible information on their hideouts and declared Boko Haram a terrorist organization. This provoked the organization to halt negotiations and return to armed confrontation against the state and the society.

Boko Haram exists in Somalia, Cameroon, Niger, Chad, Libya and Mali to train its militias, while it executes indirect operations in Algeria, Senegal, Sudan, Central African Republic and Mauritania.

The regional activity of Boko Haram has divided into two branches; the first focuses on cooperative relations that initiate through cooperation with its counterparts, which adopt the same ideology, such as Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Youth Movement) and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, an existence that experts name "Triangle of African Extremism".

The second branch has an aggressive trait that launch offensive activities against governments of neighboring countries, especially Cameroon, for the boiling conflict on the Cameroon-Nigeria border.

The militant organization of Boko Haram run on a set of ideological principles, including:

1-      Governance and excommunicating human-made laws and democracy, deeming them other religions contradicting Islam.

2-      A belief that they are the “victorious sect” that were evangelized in judgment day prophecies.

3-      Prohibiting western teachings and the necessity of the establishment of an Islamic state and pledging allegiance to the Imam (an Islamic leadership position who serves as the community leader”.

4-      Al-wala' wa-l-bara’ (loyalty and disavowal) and hostility against “violators”, whether westerners or other doctrines such as Sufism or Shia.

The ideological frame of Boko Haram shows much similarities with the ideology and brutal strategies followed by other extreme jihadist groups. Boko Haram acts as one of al-Qaeda groups that are currently spreading in Africa.

Boko Haram seeks to achieve the dream of building an Islamic caliphate, this is evident in its declaration of establishing an Islamic State in Nigeria.

The concern of Nigeria, and its neighboring countries, namely Cameroon, Niger and Chad, which cannot be concealed, started in Aug. 24, 2014 when Shekau announced the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in Borno, north-eastern Nigeria.

There is also a clear difference between Boko Haram and Daesh, as Daesh recruited tens of thousands of foreign fighters in the past years, including recruits from western countries. Boko Haram, on the other hand, rejects the existence of westerners among its rows.

Moreover, Daesh relies on social media and the internet to attract youngsters, while Boko Haram relies on the traditional methods of recruitment, which made Daesh spread on a wider scaler than Boko Haram.

So, it is already clear that Boko Haram does not differ much from al-Qaeda and Daesh, putting into consideration their ideologies and principles; they all a common goal, which is to establish an Islamic caliphate, through the same method, which is “violence”.