The End Of Boko Haram?

The End of Boko Haram?

Over the past 12 months, organized raids by the extremist group, Boko Haram, have been few in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger where the group is operating. This had led politicians to conclude that Boko Haram is at the end of its own story. Meanwhile, some say that the group has ran out of options and it has now resigned its faith to the use of brainwashing children who carry bombs into public places. Child warfare experts have claimed that these children are not even aware of the enormity of what they are carrying.

When President Muhammadu Buhari was being sworn in on May 29th last year, as Nigeria’s fourth President since the advent of civilian rule in 1999. There were high expectations that the former military ruler would use his military might and trample on Boko Haram. To support this notion, during a state visit to Benin, President Buhari said that Boko Haram will be defeated by the end of the year (2015). With the gains made by the military, such as recapturing towns under militant control, many thought Buhari’s prophecy would come to pass. However, 2015 has come and gone, and now in 2016, Boko Haram continues to strike.

In one of his press meetings in the beginning of 2016, Cameroon’s Communication Minister, Issa Tchiroma Bakari said that Boko Haram has been weakened, and it is a matter of time before the group is defeated. However, he said that the group has caused more than a thousand deaths in Cameroon alone. In addition, Boko Haram has not just killed, but its attacks have led to the closure of hundreds of schools in Far North of Cameroon.

The international community has come to the aid of these countries, which led to the formation of a multi-national joint taskforce against Boko Haram. However, support for the international community has not been limited to this.

The Protracted Struggle

President Paul Biya of Cameroon, during one of his outings said that the Boko Haram uprising is part of the global terrorism struggle and the international community should come to the aid of the countries that are directly facing the uprising. As a follow-up, many countries, such as the US sent approximately 300 soldiers to help with intelligence gathering. France, China, and Russia have also come in with military hardware, and in January 2016, there was a donation of weapons to Cameroon by the French government that amounted to roughly 600,000 USD.

Despite the presence of the various militaries from the countries that were directly affected by Boko Haram, the multi-national joint taskforce is also operating. This portrays the level of faith they have in the arms struggle and the supremacy of violence overall. The governments of these countries have also made their people believe in military might as a way of attaining peace, and that very soon it will be over as Boko Haram will be annihilated and peace restored. Nevertheless, there still seems to be no end. Instead, the attacks, especially, the use of suicide bombs, have become very frequent. For instance, hardly a week goes by without an incident in the North. As well, during the week of January 24-3, 2015, suicide attacks hit Cameroon twice, and one of these attacks was coordinated and it involved 4 people. During the same week in Nigeria, suspected members of the group raided the celebrated village of Chibok where scores of people were killed.

Furthermore, in the making of an extremist, they are made aware of the fact that a violent response will follow every action of theirs. One of the most prolific writers of the Muslim world, who the American writer Paul Berman called the Karl Max of all groups that combined to form Al-Qaeda, Sayyid Qutb wrote before his death that a city is built by the blood of martyrs; blood that waters its streets. Moreover, violence on a man who carries a suicide vest is like shooting the dead. This is because if person will go to the extent of putting their lives before bombs, it means that no amount of violence will ever cause them to refrain from their activities.

To give more information, Sayyid Qutb was close to being executed in 1966 by the Nasser regime in Egypt, when some diplomats promised him a safe haven in their country, but he turned down the offers. His sister even begged him to say “sorry” to the Egyptian President in order for him to be pardoned and released, but he refused. Instead, he said that he was nurturing about 3,000 of followers and that he wanted to show them an example of martyrdom. Therefore, as long as members of Boko Haram bear in mind the ideology of martyrdom, no violent response will stop them.

A War Without End: Merry Go ‘Round

Open conflicts, such as Boko Haram, usually involves more than one side and each having incompatible goals, which often results in violence. Similar to Paulo Freire in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed, for the oppressed to be liberated, it takes only a revolution or a rebellion, as opposed to an armed struggle. As such, if members of Boko Haram are fighting today, it is because they have some grievances that were not treated well and made them feel oppressed at the beginning. This, then, pushed them to seek out other strategies, such as radical elements and take up arms.

However, very little has been said about these grievances. Instead, the issue of creating an Islamic Caliphate has eclipsed everything, to the extent that even the media is now portraying its best journalism skills when reporting on the war.

Those who are part of the problem are the ones who can propose long-lasting solutions for a win-win end. As well, politicians are arguing that they cannot manage or solve a conflict by excluding or wiping out one group. In addition, even when mediators are brought in, they act as a midwife who helps a woman to deliver the child, and in this case, they will only assist the protagonists to deliver their own solution.

Famous Nigerian scholar, Abimbola Adesoji said that in spite of the gap in time, Boko Haram is merely building on the roots of Maitatsine. Prior to the independence of Nigeria, a certain Cameroonian by the name, Muhammed “Marwa” crossed into Nigeria and started raising a following that is based on very strict Islamic rules. He cursed everyone who was associated with the West, and a result, he was nicknamed Maitatsine, which became the name of the revolution he started in December 1980. Maitatsine had similar demands, and recruited followers from the many frustrated and idle boys of the North, who had nothing to lose in life. He was eventually killed that same December, but the uprising continued until 1985, when it was violently crushed by the, then Nigerian government. The conflict was suppressed, but it remained unresolved, and so, about 10 years later in 1995, Boko Haram started building on the roots of Maitatsine. They also recruited members from Almajiris in the North, where there were millions of very frustrated people. Boko Haram was building on the same unemployment, endemic corruption, and lack of development in the North. They were also taking advantage of their recruits’ feelings of persistent misery, abandonment by the government, the enclave nature of the area, and a fall in moral standards. These factors were referred to and used to warrant the implementation of a strict version of Sharia Law as a remedy.

At first, the group’s members gathered and worshipped at Muhammadu Ndimi’s Mosque in Maiduguri. Yusuf was a preacher and leader of the youth wing, and he rose to supreme leadership when the previous leader of the group, Mallam Lawal travelled to Saudi Arabia for further studies. Muhammed Yusuf was well known and was also involved in official efforts to implement Sharia in some Northern states. He rubbed shoulders with some Northern politicians at the time. In addition, even after his death, the new leader, Abubakar Shekau, on several occasions opted to dialogue with the Nigerian government, which failed to respect its promises. As well, in an effort to find a resolution, former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjoh, held talks with the group’s members, who agreed to lay down their arms if the government would investigate and bring those who engaged in the extra-judicial killing of their former leader, stop the arrests, and compensate the families of those killed. However, the government failed.

Then, in May of 2013, 10 Boko Haram commanders, with the blessings of Shekau, held talks with members of the Nigerian Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee in Cote d’Ivoire. There was an apparent peace agreement, but before it could be implemented the US government placed rewards on the heads of Boko Haram leaders, and the next day, the Nigerian government followed suit.

If the dialogue had been taken seriously, the Boko Haram story would not have escalated to what we see today. However, engaging in dialogue is not a lost cause, and it can still be initiated. This is because even if Boko Haram disappears today, another warlord or extremist, would want to seize that name and launch fresh attacks. In any such situation, there are remnants that, even after the demise of the organization, it will regroup and start all over again, similar to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Therefore, although there was a lull in militant activities and the world thought it was the end of Boko Haram, specifically after they were removed from power in 2001. However, the real violence started months after when a majority of people were already celebrating. With that said, for a solution to the conflict to be genuine and full in place, it should take into consideration the point of view of Boko Haram, rather than just the governments involved, which is what Colombia is currently doing with FARC fighters.

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