Ask any parent their worst nightmare, and you find abduction of their
children is high on the list. Many parents in Nigeria are currently living that
horrific reality: On April 14, under the cover of darkness, 230 schoolgirls were abducted
by Boko Haram – a clueless, Islamist terror group operating in Nigeria and
Cameroon (Abubaker et al, 2014). As the parents of these girls wait and pray
for their release, Nigeria’s government seems to be having great difficulty
grappling with a terrorist group that has gotten more brazen and radical. The
country’s army has, so far, proved that they lack the clout to implement a
coordinated, calibrated and effective response to Boko Haram’s activities in Northern
Nigeria.
What’s in the Name?
In the local language, the name “Boko Haram” translates to “Western
education is sin”(Giovanni, 2014). Founded by the Muslim cleric Mohammed Yusuf,
Boko Haram was influenced by a telling phrase from the Koran, which stated
thus: “Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the
transgressors”(Chotia, 2014). This means that taking part in any social and
political activities associated with the West is forbidden. Simply put, Boko
Haram is promoting a version of Islam which makes it “haram”, or forbidden for
every Muslim to participate in any political or social activity associated with
Western society, including secular
education, election, and wearing shirts and trousers, among others. Thus
it is not surprising that this terrorist group regards Nigerian state as being
run by non-believers, who should be removed from power at all costs.
It should be acknowledged here that 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” (Chotia, 2014). It is the residents of the north-eastern city of
Maiduguri(a city in Northern Nigeria), which is where the group’s headquarters
is located, who called them Boko Haram.
The big question, of course, is why Boko Haram chose northern Nigeria as
their stronghold. Historical evidence documents that there has always been
resistance among the area’s Muslim to Western education since the Sokoto Caliphate - which ruled part of what is now
northern Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon – fell under British control in 1903(Chotia, 2014). To this
day, the residents of that part of Nigeria still refuse to send their children
to what they believe to be government-run “Western Schools.” Unfortunately, the
politicians from the northern Nigeria compounded the problems by not seeing education as a priority for the
region. While there are some Muslim
families from across Nigeria who enrolled their children in public schools,
Boko Haram abhors education.
Yet by rejecting Western education, Boko Haram is merely exposing their
ignorance, for two reasons. First, Islam was once the north star of Western
science and education: Between the eight and the 13th centuries,
science thrived in Muslim lands while Europe stumbled through the Dark Ages.
During that time, the Abbasid caliphs showered money on education and learning.
The 11th century “Canon of
Medicine” by Avicenna, a Persian doctor(who is also a Muslim), was a standard
medical textbook used in European universities and by European doctors for
hundreds of years. In addition, Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, a ninth century Muslim
scholar, laid down the principles of Algebra, which is actually a word derived
from the name of his book “Kitab al-Jabr”. Another Muslim scholar, by name
Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham, transformed the study of light and optics, while Abu
Raihan al-Biruni(a Persian Muslim scholar) calculated the earth’s circumference
within 1%. Furthermore, Muslim scholars did much to preserve not only the
intellectual heritage of ancient Greece but also helped spark Europe’s
scientific revolution(Saliba, 2007; Economist, 2013). Besides, the weapons of
mass destruction being used by Boko Haram are the products of Western
education.
The second reason, which Boko Haram members are too ignorant to ignore,
is that some of the tenets and practices
of Islamic religion actually encourage
scientific learning. Many astronomers of the Renaissance era were motivated by
the Muslims’ skills in accurately calculating the beginning of
Ramadan(determined by the sighting of the new moon). Even the Islamic popular
Hadith(the sayings of Prophet Muhammad) exhort all Muslims to seek knowledge
everywhere, even as far as China(Saliba, 2007; Economist, 2013). And in this
modern era, the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Islamic Holiest country, is one
of the crusaders of modern education. In 2009, he opened King Abdullah’s
University of Science and Technology, which has an endowment that even rich
American universities would envy - $20 billion endowment.
Given these simple facts, it becomes very difficult to understand or
explain Boko Haram’s seemingly innate hostility to Western education and
science. The group is obviously suffering from an inherent conflict between
belief and reason – which is actually the hallmark of Islamic fundamentalism
worldwide.
Nigerian’s Lessons: The
Short Arm of the Law
If Nigeria’s experience of the past few years teaches us anything, it is
that its President, Mr Goodluck
Jonathan, has publicly shrugged off deaths of thousands of people, mainly in
the north-east of the country. Across the country, the general belief seems to
be that he portrays “death-by-Boko Haram” as the unfortunate but unavoidable
result of a fanatical insurgency for which his government cannot be blamed. But
the plight of the 230 school girls abducted from a school by Boko Haram has
served as a wake-up call for President Jonathan and his government since it has
put them under an international spotlight, exposing how their incompetence and
callousness is hurting Nigeria’s reputation at home and abroad(Economist,
2014b).
This surge of national horror due
to Boko Haram’s activities was particularly embarrassing for Nigeria, which
recently celebrated the international re-evaluation of its economy as being by far the biggest in
Africa, well ahead of South Africa,
during the the World Economic Forum held in Abuja(Nigeria’s
capital) on May 7, 2014(Copley & Sy,
2014). And in response to the outrage, which spread beyond Nigeria’s borders,
President Obama and other Western leaders who had, until April 14, been watching more or less silently from afar,
felt obliged to offer help to the country, which they believe to be in
political distress. The U.S. government, for instance, flew in experts in
intelligence, hostage negotiations and victims assistance in its effort to help find and return the
kidnapped girls(IBN Live, 2014) while the British offered to send surveillance
aircraft along with soldiers from its special forces. Leaders from other West African countries, led
by Ghana’s president, also pledged their support and solidarity for Nigeria.
On the positive side, it is really a welcome relief that there is no
slightest sympathy for Boko Haram and its
current maniacal leader, Abubaker Shekau. While the ongoing speculation
is that some of the girls may already
have been forced to marry their abductors for a bride-price equivalent to $12, as
Abubaker threatened in a video released on May 5th, the United
Nations made it clear to the group they would be committing war crimes if they
carried out their leader’s threats(Economist, 2014b).
Whisky for My Men, and Beer for My Horses
In the past, Nigeria’s government often refuse such help, perhaps because they are wary of perceived
encroachments on their sovereignty. As a
matter of fact, it is on record that the United States has operated drones from
a base in neighboring Niger since 2012(Economist, 2014b). So it is really very
unclear why, until this incident,
Nigeria’s government continued to decline American requests to be allowed to do the
same from Nigerian territory. One plausible explanation may be that while Nigerian’s government is proud
of its army – which is not only the
biggest in Africa, but also has a long
history of contributions to peace-keeping missions, with the most recent one
being in Mali – they are notably secretive as well as prickly about its
operations and the low standards of soldiery which foreign experts would see. For instance, the Nigerian army has dismally failed to
defeat Boko Haram in the north-eastern Nigeria despite the fact that President
Jonathan declared a state of emergency in that region a year ago.
Given that the Nigerian army has perpetrated numerous atrocities against
civilians suspected of harboring or lending sympathy to Boko Haram members,
most of whom thrive among the embittered
young Muslims in the north – the poorest part of Nigeria – it makes sense that
they are being criticized nationwide. For instance, the Nigerian army was
widely castigated after a Military counter-attack on March 14 following a failed attempt to escape from the jail by the suspected
members of Boko Haram who were detained
at a barracks in Maiduguri. During this counter attack, as much as 500 people
lost their lives, mainly at the hands of the Nigerian soldiers. This explains
why Western governments were leery about offering to join the fray: They are
concerned that such human right abuses by the Nigerian Army will make them to
be deemed complicit if they offer to join the fray as they did in other
countries with similar issues in the past (Tundo, 2014).
Another reason why foreign military advisers chose to keep their
distance is corruption, which is considered to be Nigeria’s greatest scourge.
According to an unconfirmed statements and testimonies from some Nigerian
soldiers, their commanders tend to pocket the bulk of their salaries, which
they sometimes keep in their private accounts in banks where they yield
interests. This acts of the commanders of the Nigerian army naturally do not
provide any incentive for the soldiers to fight a well-equipped guerrilla
movement(such as Boko Haram) that knows the rugged terrain and forests in
northern Nigeria. Thus for the Nigerian soldiers, it is not worth it to risk
death at the hands of Boko Haram for no reward. And given this prevailing
attitude and conditions, it can be an uphill task for outsiders to raise
Nigeria’ troops’ morale(or even improve their military skill) to a level that
can effectively flush out Boko Haram from Nigeria’s territory.
The Nigerian
government’s seeming indifference to the plight of the kidnapped girls’
families is perhaps the
worst aspect of its handling of the abduction. Here is
a cruel part: President Jonathan refused to address the matter in the public
until two weeks after the abduction. So Nigerians should be applauded for
staging protests in several cities across the country as a response to
President Jonathan administration’s sluggish response and its failure even to
clarify how many girls had been abducted.
How Nigeria Can – and Should – Destroy Boko
Haram
The latest crises caused by Nigeria’s Boko Haram simply highlights the
failure and weakness of the government of President Goodluck Jonathan. Now more
than ever, the Nigerian people should not make the mistake that all it takes to
eradicate Boko Haram insurgency is a strong president or a strong government,
for the simple fact that just because one have a hammer does not mean that
every problem is a nail. As a matter of fact, the weaknesses of President
Jonathan’s government are mere reflections of Nigeria’s corruption-infested
capitalist system – a system that lacks the necessary clout needed to spark a
period of urgently needed change in the country.
It should be noted here that for more than half of its history since
independence from Britain, elites from the north dominated Nigeria’s politics
and government. Unfortunately, very little has been done to develop formal
education, healthcare and employment opportunities in the whole of Nigeria,
especially in the northern part of the country. So why should it surprise
anyone that Boko Haram emerged in the north with the goal of questioning the legitimacy
of Western education, especially given that the corrupt elite is largely
western-educated?
Faced with death, most people will do almost anything, including committing
murder. Boko Haram are evidently aware of this kind of weakness in people of
northern region. Thus they offer more than religious vitriol: The group also condemned
social and economic injustice and corruption, and offered Sharia Law as the
solution. This kind of religious fundamentalist teachings tinged with some kind
of radicalism can draw support among the huge swathe of poor and mostly
uneducated youth in northern Nigeria since there is no alternative mass working
class active organizations or socialist ideas on offer. Besides, to the poor
and dispossessed youths who flocked to it, Boko Haram also offered shelter, food and
other means of sustenance.
Corruption and economic sabotage by the Nigerian politicians had ensured
that over 80 percent of Nigeria’s oil wealth is cornered by a few. Meanwhile,
as much as 100 million Nigerians are jobless(Okechukwu, 2014). The bottom line
here is that insurgencies like Boko Haram will end if, and only if, the root
cause – corruption and massive impoverishment of the populace – is tackled.
Examined against this background, it can be inferred with considerable
confidence that neither increased militarization of the northern part of the
country nor the intervention of the security experts and troops from the United
States and Europe will solve the problem of Boko Haram. We all are living
witnesses to the fact that all
militarization strategies adopted by Nigeria’s government – including the
declaration of a state of emergency in north-east Nigeria – has only achieved
one outcome: a large scale destruction of lives and properties as well as a
clampdown on the democratic rights of both the working masses and the lower
class citizens. As we are all aware, Nigeria government now routinely bans protests
and break up any “unauthorized gatherings,” under the guise of fighting
terrorism.
This is thus the chance and the time for the people of Nigeria to make
their politicians realize that the days of such lordly arrogance described
above must come to an end. In other
words, the only effective strategy for tackling both Boko Haram and corruption
in Nigeria is for the country’s labor unions and trade unions to mobilize
workers and the oppressed masses to take their destinies in their hands. They
can send a clear message that they need a country that is governed by laws, not
by people. The country’s labor movements can send the right signal to both the
corrupt ruling elite and Boko Haram that the people are prepared to defend
themselves against the onslaughts from both by organizing days of general strikes across the
states of the country. They can also take the lead in those areas threatened by
Boko Haram raids by sensitizing and mobilizing working class to begin to take
of the responsibility of securing their communities and neighborhoods. Given
that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic country, setting up democratic multi-tribal as
well as multi-religious self-defense committees can be an effective way of
doing this. There is no way a small gang that calls itself Boko Haram can be
stronger than 168 million people – which is Nigeria’s population. Power,
actually belong to the people, and Nigerians need to realize that. This
strategy has been proven to work - both the U.S. and France did this with great success in the
18th century – and Nigerians have reason to get on board. It is only
this way can Nigerians can ensure that the huge wealth of the country is used
to better the lives of its citizens, regardless of ethnicity or religion.
References
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Who Are Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamists? BBC
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