Boko Haram Demystified

One of the reasons why the war against Boko Haram in Nigeria has not been won is that both the leaders and ordinary Nigerians have failed to understand what the group represents.

Initially it was viewed as a plot hatched by the North to make President Goodluck Jonathan's government ungovernable especially with the acrimonious fight for presidency in 2011 elections between Jonathan who is from the predominantly Christian South of the country and northern political establishment that is predominantly Muslim.

The matter was not helped by rhetoric from some northern leaders who allegedly threatened that those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable. Situate this with anti-Christian messages and bombing of churches and the ground was set for mutual suspicion between North and South and Muslims and Christians.

Not even attempt on the life of General Muhammadu Buhari, who eventually emerged Nigeria's democratically elected president in 2015 general election by Boko Haram could convince skeptics that Boko Haram was not just against Christians but against all Nigerians who does not share their ideology. To buttress how divisive Boko Haram war is in Nigeria is the widely held belief in the north, especially among Muslims that Jonathan was alleged sponsor of Boko Haram aimed at destroying the economy of the north.

Tales were told on how helicopters were dropping supplies to the insurgents by alleged government agents in the middle of the night, yet with ubiquity of smart phones with sophisticated camera none of those who made the allegations could provide proof. In the end these kinds of stories generated hate for Jonathan and he lost the last election on the strength of North's rejection of his mandate.

 Similarly in the South East and South-South, Buhari was viewed as being sympathetic to Boko Haram especially when he was reported to have said that while Niger Delta militants were granted amnesty, Boko Haram members were being killed by the military and was said to favour dialogue with the sect. Like Jonathan in the North, Buhari lost woefully in the South East and South-South on the strength of that perception of him by the two zones of Southern Nigeria.

It is however instructive that since President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in on May 29, 2015 Boko Haram has intensified its attacks showing that it was not a respecter of whoever happens to be the occupant of Presidential Villa, Abuja, irrespective of his religion. Boko Haram is fixated in its own ideology which is not yet clear to most Nigerians.

What is clear is that Muslims and Christians in Nigeria have a big challenge in their hands. How they handle it will determine whether Nigeria would fulfil its destiny in Africa and in the world or will become another Somalia. Another Somalia would be very tragic given the hope Africans placed on Nigeria.