A Brief History Of Boko Haram+ Flash Back Of Interview With Founder, His Last Words(MUST READ)

Past and present: Boko Haram leaders Mohammed Yusuf(late), Abubakar Shekau(Present)

With the consistent bombings and Chibok abductions by members of the Boko Haram sect, I became curious about how this dreaded sect came into existence.
I did some research and found different sources, but A short history on Boko Haram, published by Sahara reporters and an interview granted by the sects former leader Mohammed Yusuf-before he was summarily executed- caught my attention, hence thought to share with other curious minds like me. Although lengthy, this report is quite insightful. Read it all below:

Nigeria has a long history of communal conflicts, many of which were only suppressed under military rule. Despite the heavy handed tactics of the dictators, some of these conflicts came to the fore, the best example being the Maitatsine conflict which was eventually wiped out in the early 1990s .
A lot of these conflicts and the groups that aid them found more freedom after the return to civilian rule.
One of these groups is Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad, which became the Boko Haram sect. This group started in and around Maiduguri in the early part of the last decade. Starting out as a radical group at the Ndimi Mosque in Maiduguri about 2002, they saw society, particularly the government of Mala Kachalla as irredeemably corrupt. So, in the middle of 2002, the group, under its founder, Mohammed Ali, embarked on a hijra to Kanama in Yobe state.

In Islam, a hijra is a journey from the bad world to go and be closer to God. The Prophet undertook one, from Mecca to Medina. Usman dan Fodio also undertook his own hijra, to Gudu, when Yunfa wanted to kill him. This should give us some context.

Back to topic, and this period at Kanama, is probably where they had their first foreign contact. While there, more members joined, some of these new members, the kids of influential Northerners, such as the son of Yobe's governor at the time, Bukar Abba Ibrahim. Bukar Abba Ibrahim is now a senator, and his son's involvement meant that the group was in a typically Nigerian style, more or less immune from punishment.

Towards the end of 2003, the group had a communal clash with the Kanama community over fishing rights which led to police involvement. In the crisis which followed, they defeated the police, which in turn led to the Army getting involved, and the group was defeated, the founder, Mohammed Ali, was killed, and the group "scattered", a few of the survivors, including a chap called Shekau, went north to training camps in the Sahara desert.

The other survivors of the Battle of Kanama returned to Maiduguri and reintegrated into the Ndimi Mosque, where they were now led by Mohammed Yusuf, who started the process of starting a new mosque without molestation. The land on which the new mosque was built was donated by Baba Fugu Mohammed, Mohammed Yusuf's father-in-law. Baba Fugu Mohammed, was an influential, but moderate figure, who while never a full member, was to be murdered by the group. His crime, was attempting to negotiate with former President Obasanjo after things got out of hand.

Between this time (early 2004, and 2009), Boko Haram was largely left alone, and grew as a movement. In that time, they started a farm, provided employment for their members, provided welfare for those members who could not work, gave training to those who could, in short, they provided an alternative to the government of the day, and this very viability attracted more members, and a lot of zakat donations from prominent members of the Northern elite.

The only incident which brought them to prominence was in 2007, when Sheikh Ja'afar Mahmoud Adam was murdered. Ja'afar had started criticising them, and predicted that someday, because of their extremist ideologies, they would clash with the government. It is generally believed that Mohammed Yusuf ordered his murder

For another two years after the Ja'afar assassination, they were left largely alone, growing, and attracting more followers. Then, in February 2009, the government of Ali Modu Sheriff banned riding bikes without the use of helmets. This seemingly innocuous event, is what led to the meltdown. 

Five months later in July, a prominent member of Boko Haram died, and a large number of them were on the way to bury him. They were stopped by the police who quizzed them about their lack of helmets as the new law dictated. An argument began, and in the process, shots got fired. People on both sides got injured and things went out of hand. Boko Haram attacked in Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states, killing several policemen. In Maiduguri, they took over town, and controlled it for three days, doing what they pleased, until the army was called in to help. Eventually, the army regained control, and arrested a lot of Boko Haram members, including Mohammed Yusuf.

However, when Mohammed Yusuf was handed over to the police, he died. According to the police, "while trying to escape". Boko Haram on their part, say that he was murdered extra-judicially, in cold blood.To be frank, there is evidence that Mohammed Yusuf's arrest and an eventual trial would have exposed some prominent people. One of the Boko Haram members killed in that time was a former Borno state commissioner, Buji Foi, who was shot in the back by policemen. The video is available online till this day. Asides Yusuf and Foi, a large number of people were also killed in cold blood by the police.

After this, Abubakar Shekau, who had returned to Nigeria in the time being and had become Mohammed Yusuf's right hand man relocated to Northern Cameroon. Shekau decided that there could be no negotiations with such a government, and set about reorganising the group. He adapted the Al-Qaeda model, and broke the group into cells which are largely independent of each other.

This is currently Boko Haram's structure; a cellular structure, and no centralised command, and seemingly no unity of purpose. This "lack of unity" makes them particularly difficult to negotiate with, as you cannot tell who exactly represents the group. When someone attempts to negotiate on behalf of the group, think Baba Fugu Mohammed, he is quickly hunted down and killed. So, as things stand, the extremist elements within Boko Haram are the ones fully in control of the narrative.

Before the founder of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (“People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”), Mohammed Yusuf, was killed on July 30, 2009, he was interviewed by Nigerian security operatives after being captured in Maiduguri, Borno State. The carnage in Maiduguri then would be child’s play compared to what is taking place today. Reproduced below is a transcript of the interview conducted in Hausa (credit to Daily Trust newspaper for the translation).
Interrogator: We went to your house yesterday and we saw a lot of animals, syringes and materials used for making bombs, what were you keeping all that for? Yusuf: Like I told you, to protect myself… Interrogator: (Cuts in)…to protect yourself how? Isn´t there the authorities, the law enforcement agencies?
Yusuf: The authorities, the law enforcement agents are the same people fighting me…
Interrogator: What did you do?
Yusuf: I don´t know what I did… I am only propagating my religion Islam.
Interrogator: But I am also a Muslim…
Yusuf: I don´t know why you refuse to accept my own (Islam)
Interrogator: Why should you say Boko is Haram (sinful)?
Yusuf: Of course it is Haram
Interrogator: Why did you say that?
Yusuf: The reasons are so many…
Interrogator: The trouser you are wearing…
Yusuf: (cuts in)…it is pure cotton and cotton belongs to Allah
Interrogator: But Allah said in the Qur’an iqra (read), that people should seek knowledge…
Yusuf: That’s correct, but not the knowledge that contravenes the teachings of Islam. All knowledge that contradicts Islam is prohibited by the Almighty…sihiri (sorcery or magic) is knowledge, but Allah hath forbidden it; shirk (Polytheism or sharing or associating partners to Allah) is knowledge, but Allah has forbidden it; astronomy is knowledge, but Allah has forbidden it…
Interrogator: At your place we found computers, syringes…are all that no products of knowledge?
Yusuf: They are purely technological things, not Boko…and westernisation is different.
Interrogator: How comes you are eating good food – look at you, looking healthy – you are driving good cars, and wearing good clothes while you are forcing your followers to sell their belongings and live mostly on dabino (dates) and water?
Yusuf: That is not true. Everybody is living according to his means. Even you are different. Whoever you see driving good cars is because he can afford them, and whoever you see living in want also means he doesn’t have the wherewithal. Interrogator: Why did you abandon your mosque and your compound?
Yusuf: Because you went and opened fire there…
Interrogator: But you sent your people there to die in the fire?
Yusuf: No my people have left the place.
Interrogator: What about those who came to fight for you…where and where do you have followers?
Yusuf: You have chased all of them away.
Interrogator: Apart from Maiduguri…
Yusuf: There are some in Bauchi but police chased them away even before now; there are some in Gombe, police went to their house and chased away; there are some in Yola, Adamawa, police attacked them, same with those in Jalingo, Taraba State. It was after chasing them away that they turned to us here in Maudguri. Interrogator: What happened to your hand?
Yusuf: I fell Interrogator: In this town (Maiduguri), how many areas do you have?
Yusuf: The headquarters is right here.
Interrogator: What about other branches?
Yusuf: We have in Gwange, Bulunkutu…
Interrogator: Where they intercepted weapons the other day, right?
Yusuf: (Laughs) Intercepted weapons?
Interrogator: What about your 2IC (second in command)…because they said you have soldiers, police, etc?
Yusuf: That is not true… Interrogator: But don’t you have a 2IC, who acts in your absence? Yusuf: I have… Interrogator: What is his name?
Yusuf: Malam Abubakar Shekau
Interrogator: Where is he now?
Yusuf: I don’t know.
Interrogator: Who and who escaped with you?
Yusuf: I did not run with anybody
Interrogator: Who are your sponsors, here at home or abroad?
Yusuf: Nobody
Interrogator: No, tell us the truth…
Yusuf: Insha Allah, I won’t lie to you…
Interrogator: You have a farm around Benishek?
Yusuf: Yes
Interrogator: Now you have made us kill people that are innocent. What do you have to say?
Yusuf: You bear responsibility on all those you killed.
Interrogator: What about those killed by your followers?
Yusuf: My followers did not kill anybody
Interrogator: What about those killed among your followers?
Yusuf: Those killed among my followers, whoever killed them are those who committed crime.
Interrogator: Where are you from originally?
Yusuf: I hail from Yobe State.
Interrogator: Where in Yobe State?
Yusuf: Jakusko
Interrogator: What about your father?
Yusuf: He is also from Jakusko.
Interrogator: What about your mother?
Yusuf: She is from Gashua
Interrogator: Have you ever travelled abroad?
Yusuf: Only Hajj (Pilgrimage)
Interrogator: What year was that?
Yusuf: 2003 and 2004.

Editor’s Note: Yusuf was killed after the interrogation in what police said was an exchange of gunfire, although it later emerged he was summarily executed.

Yusuf after he was executed.

Since he took over months after Yusuf's death in 2009, Abubakar Shekau has masterminded waves of horrific attacks in Nigeria.

“With Shekau at the helm,” the International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report last month, “Boko Haram has grown more ruthless, violent and destructive.”

Shekau’s extremism is perhaps best highlighted by the decision of Ansaru — a Boko Haram offshoot which has kidnapped foreigners and published their execution online — to cut ties.

Ansaru “distanced itself from the rest of Boko Haram because it disapproved of its indiscriminate killings and Shekau’s lack of tact,” the ICG report said, citing security sources and people with close ties to both militant groups.

There were significant outbursts of violence under Yusuf but the group was nominally committed to spreading sharia (Islamic law) across northern Nigeria, a goal some in the deeply conservative region support.

Yusuf’s ideology and anti-corruption preachings have been largely buried by Shekau’s repeated attacks on defenceless civilians, including mass kidnappings and the slaughter of scores of students in their sleep, analysts say.

Even before Yusuf’s death, Shekau had accused him of “being too soft”, according to the ICG, and Shekau signalled the new direction he meant to take Boko Haram roughly a year after taking charge.

Major attacks in Nigeria’s capital Abuja in 2012, including a bombing at the United Nations headquarters that killed scores, raised concern that Boko Haram’s new leaders had received jihadist training abroad, perhaps in Algeria or Somalia.

The specific details of those foreign links have been much debated by experts but little has been confirmed.

Since 2011, the Islamists have attacked churches, mosques, politicians, police and the military, among various other targets.

Experts also say that Shekau seems to have turned the groups initial cause into a politically motivated one, but chooses to use Islam as a mask, albeit transparent in propagating evil.