In Nigeria, Boko Haram Is Not the Problem
AFRICA, 9 Jan 2012
Jean Herskovits – The New York Times
Governments and newspapers around the world attributed the horrific Christmas Day bombings of churches in Nigeria to “Boko Haram” — a shadowy group that is routinely described as an extremist Islamist organization based in the northeast corner of Nigeria. Indeed, since the May inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the Niger Delta in the country’s south, Boko Haram has been blamed for virtually every outbreak of violence in Nigeria.
But the news media and American policy makers are chasing an elusive and ill-defined threat; there is no proof that a well-organized, ideologically coherent terrorist group called Boko Haram even exists today. Evidence suggests instead that, while the original core of the group remains active, criminal gangs have adopted the name Boko Haram to claim responsibility for attacks when it suits them.
The United States must not be drawn into a Nigerian “war on terror” — rhetorical or real — that would make us appear biased toward a Christian president. Getting involved in an escalating sectarian conflict that threatens the country’s unity could turn Nigerian Muslims against America without addressing any of the underlying problems that are fueling instability and sectarian strife in Nigeria.
Since August, when Gen. Carter F. Ham, the commander of the United States Africa Command, warned that Boko Haram had links to Al Qaeda affiliates, the perceived threat has grown. Shortly after General Ham’s warning, the United Nations’ headquarters in Abuja was bombed, and simplistic explanations blaming Boko Haram for Nigeria’s mounting security crisis became routine. Someone who claims to be a spokesman for Boko Haram — with a name no one recognizes and whom no one has been able to identify or meet with — has issued threats and statements claiming responsibility for attacks. Remarkably, the Nigerian government and the international news media have simply accepted what he says.
In late November, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Homeland Security issued a report with the provocative title: “Boko Haram: Emerging Threat to the U.S. Homeland.” The report makes no such case, but nevertheless proposes that the organization be added to America’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. The State Department’s Africa bureau disagrees, but pressure from Congress and several government agencies is mounting.
Boko Haram began in 2002 as a peaceful Islamic splinter group. Then politicians began exploiting it for electoral purposes. But it was not until 2009 that Boko Haram turned to violence, especially after its leader, a young Muslim cleric named Mohammed Yusuf, was killed while in police custody. Video footage of Mr. Yusuf’s interrogation soon went viral, but no one was tried and punished for the crime. Seeking revenge, Boko Haram targeted the police, the military and local politicians — all of them Muslims.
It was clear in 2009, as it is now, that the root cause of violence and anger in both the north and south of Nigeria is endemic poverty and hopelessness. Influential Nigerians from Maiduguri, where Boko Haram is centered, pleaded with Mr. Jonathan’s government in June and July not to respond to Boko Haram with force alone. Likewise, the American ambassador, Terence P. McCulley, has emphasized, both privately and publicly, that the government must address socio-economic deprivation, which is most severe in the north. No one seems to be listening.
Instead, approximately 25 percent of Nigeria’s budget for 2012 is allocated for security, even though the military and police routinely respond to attacks with indiscriminate force and killing. Indeed, according to many Nigerians I’ve talked to from the northeast, the army is more feared than Boko Haram.
Meanwhile, Boko Haram has evolved into a franchise that includes criminal groups claiming its identity. Revealingly, Nigeria’s State Security Services issued a statement on Nov. 30, identifying members of four “criminal syndicates” that send threatening text messages in the name of Boko Haram. Southern Nigerians — not northern Muslims — ran three of these four syndicates, including the one that led the American Embassy and other foreign missions to issue warnings that emptied Abuja’s high-end hotels. And last week, the security services arrested a Christian southerner wearing northern Muslim garb as he set fire to a church in the Niger Delta. In Nigeria, religious terrorism is not always what it seems.
None of this excuses Boko Haram’s killing of innocents. But it does raise questions about a rush to judgment that obscures Nigeria’s complex reality.
Many Nigerians already believe that the United States unconditionally supports Mr. Jonathan’s government, despite its failings. They believe this because Washington praised the April elections that international observers found credible, but that many Nigerians, especially in the north, did not. Likewise, Washington’s financial support for Nigeria’s security forces, despite their documented human rights abuses, further inflames Muslim Nigerians in the north.
Mr. Jonathan’s recent actions have not helped matters. He told Nigerians last week, “The issue of bombing is one of the burdens we must live with.” On New Year’s Eve, he declared a state of emergency in parts of four northern states, leading to increased military activity there. And on New Year’s Day, he removed a subsidy on petroleum products, more than doubling the price of fuel. In a country where 90 percent of the population lives on $2 or less a day, anger is rising nationwide as the costs of transport and food increase dramatically.
Since Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999, many politicians have used ethnic and regional differences and, most disastrously, religion for their own purposes. Northern Muslims — indeed, all Nigerians — are desperate for a government that responds to their most basic needs: personal security and hope for improvement in their lives. They are outraged over government policies and expenditures that undermine both.
The United States should not allow itself to be drawn into this quicksand by focusing on Boko Haram alone. Washington is already seen by many northern Muslims — including a large number of longtime admirers of America — as biased toward a Christian president from the south. The United States must work to avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy that makes us into their enemy. Placing Boko Haram on the foreign terrorist list would cement such views and make more Nigerians fear and distrust America.
_______________________
Jean Herskovits, a professor of history at the State University of New York, Purchase, has written on Nigerian politics since 1970.
DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
There are Boko Haram members in government -Jonathan
Abuja, Nigeria
Monday, January 9, 2012
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has admitted publicly for the first time that members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, have infiltrated his government at various levels.
Speaking at an inter-denomination church service to mark the 2012 Armed Forces Remembrance Day at the National Christian Centre Abuja, he revealed that the extremists were now present in the executive, legislative and judiciary arms of government and even in the armed forces. He said this was part of why it had been difficult for security agencies to deal with the menace, which has led to the death of many people. Describing the present situation in the country as worse than civil war experience, Jonathan noted that “this is a particular time when the country has major security challenges. There are explosions every day, people are dying and are being killed daily without any reason.
“It is a period we also call on the armed forces, including those that have retired, to join hands with their colleagues that are still in service and government to see how collectively we can protect our nation.”I believe we will overcome our immediate challenges. The situation we have in our hands is even worse than the civil war that we fought.” Continuing, he said, “during the civil war, we knew and we could even predict where the enemy was coming from, you can even know the route they were coming from, you can even know what calibre of weapons they would use and so on. “But the challenge we have today is more complicated. I remember when I held a meeting with elders from the North-East and some parts of the North-West, where the Boko Haram phenomenon is more prevalent; somebody said that the situation is bad that even if one’s son is a member, one will not even know.
“That means that if the person will plant a bomb behind your house, you won’t know. Some of them are in the executive arm of government; some of them are in the legislative arm of government while some of them are even in the judiciary. “Some are also in the armed forces, the police and other security agencies. Some continue to dip their hands and eat with you and you won’t even know the person who will point a gun at you or plant a bomb behind your house. That is how complex the situation is. “Our security services are trying because, as the president, I know what they are doing. Nigerians may not appreciate their efforts, especially when you know that we are underpoliced. We have a police force that is about 300,000 in number. “Countries that have the kind of challenge that we have today who have about 20 per cent of our population have five times more than that number. That number would have been okay some years back but definitely not the number that can cope with the security challenges we have now.”
FG bars protesters from Eagle Square
In another development, the Federal Government has barred the organised labour and civil society groups protesting against the removal oil subsidy from staging demonstration at Eagle Square. This is just as it has urged all public servants to ignore the today’s nationwide strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Indications to this emerged in Abuja, as all routes leading to the Federal Secretariat have been cordoned off by heavily armed policemen ahead of today’s planned mass protest by NLC and civil society organisations. The National Industrial Court had restrained the NLC and TUC from embarking on the strike, but the organised labour said it would not back down. Accordingly, the Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Isa Bello Sali, has directed all civil servants to ignore the strike and continue to perform their normal duties by reporting to the office as usual.
ACN governors sue for peace
Also, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) controlled states, on Saturday, called on the protesters to eschew violence and also demanded fiscal federalism. Describing subsidy as a financial and economic tool, but not an end in itself, the governors, at the end of the meeting, said the call for fiscal federalism became imperative because of the alleged lopsidedness in the revenue allocation formula.