The myth about Boko Haram

A little fact-checking, however, demonstrates that the myth, actively encouraged by the government in Nigeria today, that Boko Haram was created by the North to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from governing the country, is preposterous. The fairy tale is that after Jonathan was declared winner of the presidential election in 2011, some prominent Northerners, hurt […]

A little fact-checking, however, demonstrates that the myth, actively encouraged by the government in Nigeria today, that Boko Haram was created by the North to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from governing the country, is preposterous. The fairy tale is that after Jonathan was declared winner of the presidential election in 2011, some prominent Northerners, hurt by the loss of political power, allegedly created the murderous Boko Haram in fulfilment of their vow to make the country ungovernable for him.
However, by the president’s own admission, Boko Haram came into existence in 2002. In his counter letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Jonathan says: “The Boko Haram crisis dates back to 2002. Goodluck Jonathan was not the President of the country then.” The truth is that Goodluck Jonathan wasn’t even the vice president then and had certainly never thought of being one at all. In 2002, Jonathan was no more than a deputy governor. It is also a miracle that Boko Haram’s base is found in the North East, Bornu State in particular, whereas those alleged to have vowed to make Nigeria ungovernable are from the North West. If the North, that is the far North now, is truly unhappy with President Jonathan, there’s no reason on earth why Boko Haram should be localised in Bornu and Yobe States alone.
President Umaru Yar’adua who fell off from power wasn’t even from the North East; he was from the North West, in which case, the people of Katsina, Kano, Sokoto etc, should have taken up arms and formed the vanguard of Boko Haram to disturb the peace!
The second myth is that Northern leaders are at the service of and support Boko Haram. This is sheer load of rubbish. How many people in Nigeria will subscribe to the Law of Moses, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth etc, envisaged in an Islamic state? Northern leaders, some with a lot of wealth (including oil wells) and other un-Islamic privileges, unwilling to even give out the charity prescribed by Islam, do not, in all honesty, have appetite for Abubakar Shekau’s Islamic state. Northern leaders cannot wish or push for anything more than the political Sharia as presently enshrined in the constitution.
The third myth requires you to believe that progress is being made in the fight against Boko Haram; nothing can be further from the truth. There have possibly been more serious military confrontations with the dangerous group in the last few months, but the reality is that many more people have been slaughtered, including Nigerian servicemen. The lowest point of Nigerian government’s fight with Boko Haram was the armed group’s successful kidnap of hundreds of schoolgirls about three months ago.
Since then, there had been a mutiny by the soldiers of the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri as well as a flurry of meetings in France, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana etc on how to tackle terrorism and Boko Haram in particular, but to date Boko Haram has held on to their most prized captives, the Chibok girls.
Another myth is that the Opposition is one with Boko Haram because they glorify the havoc the group wrecks on our people. From mere allegations of taking joy in the terrorist attacks, the Nigerian authorities are now frantically looking for concrete evidence to link the Opposition to Boko Haram, a group that predates the formation of the main opposition party. It will be interesting if the government can convincingly prove that the Opposition is in cahoots with these terrorists daily killing our people and destroying property. In that eventuality, the government will have the full support of the people to bring the entire weight of the law on those responsible.
But until then, a lot of citizens think it is mere bluster on the part of the government to smear the Opposition and make them appear unelectable in the eyes of the voters as 2015 approaches. It is just inconceivable that the same Opposition seeking to take power from the ruling party will collaborate with Boko Haram to terrorise the citizens.
Recall also that the then National Security Adviser, General Awoye Azazi, had located the emerging spate of terrorism in the struggle for political power inside the ruling party. Now, we’ve descended into and have become victims of gnawing fear, chaos and conspiracies, such that every shooting, bombing, assassination and what not, is blamed on Boko Haram.
There is another wonder about the operations of the Boko Haram. How comes that Boko Haram is able to move on motorcycles, Hilux Toyota vehicles and in armoured vehicles, initiating massive attacks on Nigerian territory under emergency rule? How comes that since 2002 when “Boko Haram crisis” began, we’ve been unable to unmask their sponsors?
Most amazing is the fact that almost all of the bloody fire fight between our security forces and the Boko Haram elements along the frontier is taking place at the border between us and Cameroun. Why, just why, don’t we have such confrontations between the Boko Haram and our servicemen at the borders between Chad and Nigeria or Nigeria/Niger since Borno State shares boundary with all these three countries? Or is Boko Haram in love with the Nigeria/Cameroun border?