Boko Haram: History Of Terrorism In Nigeria

By Georgia Johnny

The Boko Haram Timeline

TERRORISM in Nigeria was relatively unknown during the 80s and 90s. Although there were regular occurrences of violence across the country mostly caused by sectorial indifferences but there were minimal. None had reached the scale of being called Terrorism. While other countries were battling full blown terrorism, Nigeria was a safe heaven. It was also accepting refugees from these countries.

But in 2009, Boko Haram went suicidal. The group whose name in Hausa means ‘Western education is a sin’, has been in existence since 2001 but they were minimally used for election violence and were also involved in a sectorial disturbances.

It was in 2009 when the Nigeria Armed Forces killed the leader of the group Mohammed Yusuf resulting in series of attacks by the group ranking them now as the deadliest terrorist group in the world.

After the death of its founder and inspirational leader Mohammed Yusuf, the group quickly got a new face in the person of Abubakar Shekau. It also recruited spokespersons which included Abdul Qaqa and Abu Zaid signaling its intent to become a force of its own.

Though the group started just as an Islamic group, its ideology has changed a little as the group is not only out for non-Muslims. Also it is now engaging the government in what could be called a conventional war.

Book Haram has its headquarters in Gwoza, Borno State Nigeria and also uses the Sambisa Forest, so dreaded the military never dared venture into it, as its safe heaven. Though the military are finally chasing them out of the forest resulting in the group fleeing into neighboring countries where they are also wreaking havoc.

Since the group became a full-fledged terrorist group, they have killed about 20,000 people, displacing close to 2.3 million others from their home mostly in the North Eastern part of Nigeria.

Some of the major attacks by Boko Haram included:

An attack on the Nigeria Police Headquarters in Abuja on July 16, 2011.
A bombing of a beer garden in Maiduguri in which 25 people died while 12 others were injured.
It fury continued on August 12, 2011 when it murdered a prominent Muslim cleric Liman Bana
August 26, 2011 Boko Haram carried out a high profile attack on a UN building in Abuja that killed at least 21 and wounding 60.
December of the same year, it launched an attack in Damaturi, the capital of Yobe State. Making 2011 a horror year for the country.
· February 8, 2012, another high profile suicide mission was carried out by Boko Haram at the Army Headquarters in Kaduna.
· February 16, 2012, it launched a prison break in Central Nigeria where 130 prisoners were released.

Form 2013, the group changed its focus from suicide missions to combating the military and taking over territories. At a point in 2014, about 18 territories in the North east were under the country of Boko haram making them a mini- Islamic state. The group now claims to be affiliated with ISIL- Islamic State of Iraq and Levent.

On the 14 of April 2014, the terrorist group shocked the world when it abducted 276 female students of Government Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State Nigeria. The then Federal Government led by President Goodluck Jonathan did not believe the story of the abduction. Not until there was a World Wide cry for the release of the girls which took a Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirl did the Federal government got serious with trying to get back the girls.

The group released a video not long after the sad event showing the girls in a remote area inside the Sambisa forest reciting the Quran with the leader of the group Abubakar Shekau threatening he was going to marry the girls off.

Book Haram kept on carrying out attacks and taking over territories across the North East that it was so obvious the Army was overwhelmed. Some of the Soldiers were interviewed on a foreign cable TV CNN, where they anonymously confessed of being under motivated and under equipped. An allegation that was constantly denied by the Military.

On the 17^th of October 2014, a date that coincided with the 6 months anniversary of the Chibok girls’ abduction the Federal Government of Nigeria claimed to have reached a truce with the sect and that the abducted girls will be released soon. It ended being a false hope as Boko haram came out to debunk the news.

With the general election on the horizon, pressure was mounting on the Federal Government about the terrorist attacks and also the Chibok girls. With the opposition party using it as it major campaign weapon. The Federal government was forced to postpone the elections for 6 weeks, promising to halt the attacks of Boko haram in the North East and also promising to bring back the Chibok girls.

A move that angered the main opposition party and some Civil rights groups saying the government wasn’t being sincere since it’s not possible to carry out a successful raid under 6 weeks.

The Federal government went ahead anyway, lunching major offensives with warplanes and ground troops with help from its neighboring countries. The joint troops successfully forced the insurgents out of most of the claimed territories. The Government also claimed to have killed the leader of the group Abubakar Shekau. Boko Haram refuted the claims instantly although he (Shekau) has not been seen in a video since then.

Although the frequent attacks of Boko Haram has reduced since then, the group seems to have switched back to suicide missions but this time using young girls making some many people to wonder just if its not the the Chibok girls been used for such deadly mission.

WRITER’S REMARK: although the perception seem to point to the fact that we are winning the war against the deadly terrorist group, we need to trade a little bit caution. With the group now fully affiliated with ISIL by changing its logo to that of ISIL, it shows they have no intention of giving up. The president of Nigeria has also promised to end the scourge before the end of the year which is a good thing. Some people have argued it’s not visible but whatever side of the argument u stand, ending this war against Boko Haram should be the responsibility of all Nigerians and the world at large.

Let’s also keep up with the campaign of getting the Chibok girls freed. #BringBackOurGirls