Abstract
The scale and intensity of the attacks have been unprecedented even by post-independence Nigeria’s own tragic standards. Between July 2009, when the current campaign of violence against the Nigerian state was initiated, and January 2012, more than 935 people were killed and thousands wounded in 164 attacks by a shadowy Islamist sect.1 Moreover these attacks seem to be intensifying, with more than 253 people killed in 21 attacks in the first 3 weeks of January 2012.2 The Appendix, clearly demonstrates that between 30 December 2010 and 14 July 2014, more than 70 attacks took place.
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Notes
Human Rights Watch, ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram Attacks Indefensible’, Human Rights Watch 23 January 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/23/ nigeria-boko-haram-widens-terror-campaign (Accessed 31 January 2012).
Abimbola Adesoji, ‘The Boko Haram Uprising and Islamic Revivalism in Nigeria’, Africa Spectrum 45(2), 2010, 98.
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Abimbola O. Adesoji, ‘Between Maitatsane and Boko Haram: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Response of the Nigerian State’, Africa Today 57(4), 2010, 105.
Ioannis Mantzikos, ‘The Absence of the State in Northern Nigeria: The Case of Boko Haram’, African Renaissance 7(1), 2010, 57.
Amnesty International, Nigeria: Human Rights Agenda 2011–2015. London: Amnesty International, 2011, p. 30.
Omede J. Apeh, ‘Nigeria: Analysing the Security Challenges of the Goodluck Jonathan Administration’, Canadian Social Science 7(5), 2011, 98.
Scott Baldauf, ‘Nigeria Closes Its Borders Amid Unrest from Islamists, Strikers’, Christian Science Monitor 11 January 2012, p. 1.
Toni Johnson, ‘Boko Haram’, Council on Foreign Relations 27 December 2011, http://www.cfr.org/africa/boko-haram/p25739 (Accessed 21 January 2012), p. 5.
Oren Gruenbaum, ‘Commonwealth Update’, The Roundtable 98(404), October 2009, 519.
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Katherine Zimmerman, ‘From Somalia to Nigeria: Jihad’, The Weekly Standard 18 June 2011, http://www.criticalthreats.org/somalia/katherine-zimmerman-somalia-nigeria-jihad-june-18-2011 (Accessed 31 January 2012).
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Colin Freeman, ‘Nigeria’s Descent into Holy War’, The Telegraph 8 January 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/8999758/Nigeria (Accessed 9 January 2012).
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David Smith, ‘Boko Haram Suspects Held after Nigerian Shootout’, The Guardian 19 December 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ dec/19/boko-haram-suspects-nigeria-shootout?newsfeed=true (Accessed 28 January 2012).
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Monica Mark, ‘Uphill Battle for Nigeria’s Ailing Army’, Mail and Guardian 30(31), 1–7 August 2014, 19.
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Vanda Felbab-Brown & James J. Forest, ‘Nigeria’s Boko Haram Attacks Are Misunderstood as Regional Islamist Threat’, Christian Science Monitor 12 January 2012, p. 1.
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Afe Adogame, ‘How God Became a Nigerian: Religious Impulse and the Unfolding of a Nation’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 28(4), October 2010, 489.
These include the Jos riot of 1945, the Kano riot of 1953, the Tiv uprisings of 1959 and 1960–64, violence in the western region in 1962, Ethnic massacres within the Nigerian army which preceded the civil war in 1967, the civil war of 1967–70, the Maitatsine crisis of 1980, the Ife/Modakeke war of 1981, the Fagge crisis in Kano in 1982, the Tiv/Junkun conflict of 1990, the Reinhard Bonke crisis of 1991, the Zangon Kataf conflict of 1992, the Mangul Bokkos conflict of 1992–95, the Ugep/Idomi war of 1992, the 1994 Akaaluka conflict in Kano, the Tafawa Balewa crisis of 1995 and the recurrent ethno-religious conflict in Jos beginning in 2001. See Charles U. Adora, ‘Managing Tourism in Nigeria: The Security Option’, Management Science and Engineering 4(1), 2010, 21–22.
Quoted in Wale Adebanwi & Ebenezer Obadare, ‘Introducing Nigeria at Fifty: The Nation in Narration’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 28(4), October 2010, 382.
Said Adejumobi, ‘Identity, Citizenship and Conflict: The African Experience’, in Alade W. Fawole and Charles Ukeje (eds.) The Crisis of the State and Regionalism in West Africa. Dakar, Senegal: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), 2005, p. 19.
Austine Ikelegbe, ‘The Construction of a Leviathan: State Building, Identity Formation and Political Stability in Nigeria’, in W. Aade Fawole and Charles Ukeje (eds.) The Crisis of the State and Regionalism in West Africa. Dakar, Senegal: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), 2005, p. 71.
Peter Mandaville, Global Political Islam. London: Routledge, 2007, p. 17.
Adekunle Amuwo, ‘Between Elite Protectionism and Popular Resistance: The Political Economy of Nigeria’s Fractured State since Juridical Independence’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 28(4), October 2010, 426.
Matthews A. Ojo & Folaranmi T. Lateju, ‘Christian-Muslim Conflicts and Interfaith Bridge-Building Efforts in Nigeria’, The Review of Faith and International Affairs 8(1), Spring 2010, 31.
Emmanuel A. Ayandele, Nigerian Historical Studies. London: Frank Cass and Company, 1979, pp. 65, 72 and 163.
Remi Adekoya, ‘Nigeria’s Islamists Have the Government Dancing to Their Tune’, The Guardian 4 January 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commen-tisfree/2012/jan/04/nigeria-islamists-boko-haram? (Accessed 28 January 2012).
Eghosa Osaghae, ‘The Limits of Charismatic Authority and the Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 28(4), October 2010, 415.
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© 2015 Hussein Solomon
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Solomon, H. (2015). Nigeria’s Boko Haram: Contesting Ethnic, Religious and Regional Identities. In: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Africa. New Security Challenges Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137489890_5
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