Book Description

In the world where terrorist groups are forming new alliances to increase their brutal assaults across countries while pursuing their bigger agenda of Caliphates in spaces they conquered and occupied, Boko Haram - An Agenda of a Failed Nigeria State examines the origin of the Jihadist group that since 2009 has terrorized Northeast Nigeria and has left more than 13, 000 Nigerians and foreign workers dead. Boko Haram was founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf. Boko Haram's name means "Western Education is Evil" in the Hausa language spoken in Maiduguri, Northeastern Nigeria where the terrorist group has its headquarters. Since taking over the leadership of Boko Haram, Yusuf's successor Abubakar Shekua has extended its radicalism and terrorism beyond any violence Nigeria has witnessed since its civil war in 1967. It has attacked Christian churches, mosques motor parks, entertainment centers, soccer viewing centers, police posts, military barracks, and government offices. It has also attacked the heart of the capital city Abuja, Lagos and the United Nations building. On April 14, 2014, the world woke up to the sad news that more than 300 schools girls were abducted from their dormitory at the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Maiduguri in Northern Nigeria. While the girls are yet to be found, Boko Haram has since abducted more than 500 women and children from the same location. As Boko Haram fled its occupied territories, Nigeria military joined forces with Niger, Chad, and Cameroun soldiers to rout the terrorist group from their hideouts in Sambisa forests and discovered that they slaughtered some of the captured women. While Boko Haram has intensified its assaults, its allegiance with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIA) is unquestionable. Its repeated beheadings of their victims and its sophisticated use of social media like ISIS are indications that the group still poses a serious threat, not just to Nigeria, but to the global community. As a reminder, this book was put together before Nigeria's presidential election that witnessed the change in leadership from President Jonathan Goodluck to General Mohammadu Buhari. This book reveals that Nigeria/s historical, political and religious landscape that brought about Boko Haram is not likely to change with new political leadership. Boko Haram wants to carve out a separate Islamic state in Nigeria and the election of General Buhari, a Muslim from the North will not likely change Boko Haram's agenda of a Nigeria's failed State now or in the future. Change in regime in Nigeria will not stop Haram from pursuing its goal - especially as it has political and financial support within Nigeria's religious and political elite - mainly from the North. General Buhari winning the presidential election may facilitate Nigeria's instability because any failed attempt by Mohammadu Buhari to meet his political promises of fighting and stamping out Boko Haram may support the allegation by his political opponents that he (General Buhari) was a staunch supporter of the terrorist group. This becomes more of a serious concern as he is a Muslim, and Boko Haram - who reports indicate have supporters in government from the North - still has its intact agenda of creating a Caliphate in Nigeria.