Boko Haram and Its Political Use of Islam

Abstract

On the night of 14 April 2014, a group of militants attacked theGovernment Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria. They brokeinto the school, pretending to be guards and telling the girls to get outand come with them. A large number of students were taken away intrucks, possibly into the Konduga area of the Sambisa Forest whereBoko Haram is known to have fortified camps. Houses in Chibok werealso burnt down in the incident (Perkins 2014)According to the police approximately 276 children were taken inthe attack of which 53 had escaped (Premium Times 2 May 2014). However, other reports were that 329 girls were kidnapped, 53 hadescaped and 276 were still missing (Mclean 2014). The students arebeing forced into Islam and into marriage with members of BokoHaram, with a reputed ‘bride price’ of 12 dollars each. Many of thestudents were taken to the neighboring countries of Chad andCameroon (Heaton 2014). On 5 May, a video in which Boko Haramleader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the kidnappingsemerged. On 9 May, former Boko Haram negotiator, Shehu Sani statedthat the group wanted to swap the abducted girls for its jailedmembers (IANS 10 May 2014). On 12 May, Boko Haram released avideo showing about 130 kidnapped girls, each clad in a hijab and along Islamic chador, while it demanded prisoner exchange (Thornhill2014). On 24 June, it was reported that 91 more women and childrenwere abducted in other areas of Borno State (Pflanz 2014). Furthermore, the militant group kidnapped the wife of Cameroon's viceprime minister, Amadou Ali, and killed at least three other people inan attack at the northern border town of Kolofata, In May, BokoHaram also kidnapped 10 Chinese workers from northern Cameroon(Al-Jazeera 27 July 2014). In addition to these kidnappings, Boko Haram has massacredcivilians. On 5 May, at least 300 residents of the nearby town ofGamboru Ngala were killed in an attack by the militants after Nigeriansecurity forces had left the town to search for the kidnapped students(Faul 2014). On 22 July of 2014, the militant group again attacked thenearby villages killing at least 51 people including 11 parents of theabducted girls (Al-Jazeera 22 July 2014). The unprecedented kidnappings and attacks on civilians shocked theinternational community as well as the Nigerian government andpeople. On 14 May 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan declared a stateof emergency in the states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa in a bid tofight the activities of Boko Haram. However, the governmentresponses have been criticized by Nigerians as delayed and ineffective. Parents and others took to social media to complain about thegovernment's perceived slow and inadequate response. The Economist"labeled President Goodluck Jonathan as incompetent," saying thatJonathan and the Nigerian military "cannot be trusted any longer toguarantee security for Nigerians," adding that “the worst aspect of theNigerian government’s handling of the abduction is its seemingindifference to the plight of the girls’ families (The Punch 10 May2014). The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNICEFcondemned the abduction. On 22 May 2014 Boko Harām was officiallydeclared a terrorist group affiliated to al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda in theIslamic Maghreb by the United Nations Security Council. Internationalsanctions including asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo wereimposed against the Islamist extremist group. The United Kingdom, theUnited States, France, Canada and Israel have agreed to send expertsto Nigeria to assist in the search for the students. With the above-mentioned situation in mind, this study explores howmuch Boko Haram has utilized the religion of Islam to justify theiratrocities. This research assumes that the militant group may not becategorized as a religiously oriented political group even though itclaims ‘Islamic’ identity as the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, SheikhAbdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh, a Sunni Islam cleric, describedBoko Harām as misguided and intent on smearing the name of Islam(Aziken 8 May 2014). This paper hypothesizes that Boko Haram hascommitted the above-mentioned kidnappings and attacks from its ownpolitical and criminal purposes, not from its religious fervor. In orderto demonstrate the political use of Islam by Boko Haram, this studyanalyzed the speeches and communiqués made by the group.