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- In the local Hausa dialect, Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden.”
- The group also refers to itself as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awatiWal-Jihad, meaning “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.”
- Boko Haram militants mainly inhabit areas in the northern states of Nigeria, specifically Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno and Kaduna.
- Originally, Boko Haram was referred to locally as the Nigerian Taliban because of their religious similarities to theTaliban.
- Boko Haram was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002. Yusuf was captured by the Nigerian police following the July 2009 Boko Haram uprising. He was summarily executed in public view outside the police headquarters in Maiduguri.
- Police officials had initially claimed that Yusuf was shot while trying to escape. The group has been led by Abu bakar Shekau since 2009, and the terrorist organization has been active since then in northeastern Nigeria..
- The influence of Boko Haram has gradually spread to neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
- In Nigeria alone, more than 27,000 people have been killed over the past nine years, and the violence has forced out some 1.8 million people from their homes.
- . The group advocates Sharia law and rejects Western education
- The insurgency led by the Boko Haram is especially strong in the area known as the Lake Chad region.
- This is a strategic area where the borders of four countries – Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, converge.
- Since 2015, these four countries have been collaborating militarily as part of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF)
- Boko Haram split in August 2016, when IS supported a group of militants who wanted to part ways with Shekau. They crowned Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the new governor of Islamic State-West Africa (IS-WA).
- Shekau has not accepted this change and continues to command militants loyal to him under the group’s previous name, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS). The Shekau faction of Boko Haram is notorious for using suicide bombers to attack military and civilian targets
- When President Buhari came to power in 2015, there was lot of hope that he would improve the economy and deal effectively with the extremism.
- Hope on both these fronts seems to be vanishing as Nigeria prepares for elections in February 2019.
- The economy of Nigeria largely dependent on export of oil was in turmoil after the international oil prices fell in 2016.
- While Buhari has been criticised for having termed Boko Haram as a ‘technically defeated’ outfit, he is also accused of providing poor training and inappropriate weapons to the army resulting in massive casualties.
- Some are even accusing the President of purposely doing this so that military could be discredited, to prevent any possible coup d’etat. In the 55 years of Nigeria’s postcolonial history, the country has been ruled by army generals for 40 years.
- One of the most notorious terrorist organizations in the world, the Boko Haram, has intensified its terror activities in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. Since July 2018, there have been at least 17 attacks on military bases in Nigeria, almost all of them in the region around Lake Chad.
- The Islamic State (IS) claimed its militants had killed 118 people in five operations in Nigeria and Chad between November 15 and 21. On November 18, in a daring attack, the IS-allied Boko Haram jihadists killed at least 43 soldiers when they overran a base in Metele village near the border with Niger.
- Boko Haram has proved to be much more resilient than Nigerian authorities had anticipated. Its resurgence might affect the holding of credible polls in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe in February 2019.
- These areas are too volatile and vulnerable to the Boko Haram banditry.
- Nigeria needs a long term strategy to defeat Boko Haram as the latest round of violence indicates that the terrorist organization is expected to survive beyond the February 2019 elections.
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