THE EFFECT OF BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY IN NORTHEASTERN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Nigeria is politically divided into six geo-political zones. The northeast geo-political zone belongs to the Muslim north. This economically backward zone comprises of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states. The zone is home to Boko Haram terrorist group officially called JamāʻatAhl as-Sunnah lid-daʻwawal-Jihad meaning, “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad” (Ekereke 2013, p.5). Founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf, Boko Haram (which imply “western education is a sin”) first clashed with the Nigerian police in a 5-day battle in July, 2009 (Andrew 2012, p.1). This led to the death of the founder and emergence of Abubakar Shekau, as the leader of the group. Under Shekau’s leadership, Boko Haram has attacked churches, mosques, markets, schools, banks, barracks, and homes killing  thousands of people and displacing close to half a million in the Northeast (Crisis Group 2014, p. 2). This has had serious political and economic implications for the poverty-stricken northeast zone.Boko Haram operates as the world most deadly terrorist group, killing over 30,000 civilians and displaced 2,152,000 people in Nigeria, Chad and neighboring Cameroon (IDMC, 2015). In its bid to counter the group’s insurgency, the Nigerian government launched series of counterinsurgency operations between 2010 and 2015, with varying degree of human rights abuses on both sides (Vanguard, 2016). For instance, since the insurgency escalated in 2009, the Nigerian military arrested over 20,000 suspected terrorists and arbitrarily tortured 8000 people to death (Amnesty International, 2015). Similarly, Boko Haram has killed civilians and security personnel in cruel and horrific ways (Samer, 2015).

Terrorist activities have strategic implications for national economic development. It is believed that terrorist operations can disintegrate the country as well as halt economic growth (ICG 2010, p.4). Continuous terrorist attacks are capable of undermining scientific and technological security of Nigeria. Many analysts have described President Goodluck Jonathan’s economic reform as an effort that may yield no results due to the insecurity in the northeast (UNCTAD 2014; Utomi 2014; and Ajao, 2014). In other words, the problems with the nation’s economy are directly linked to insecurity in the northeast. For instance, President Gooduck Jonathan went to Australia for a summit with about 500 delegates and could not attract foreign investors due to insecurity in the northeastern part of the country. He also went to France with about 300 delegates and could not woo foreign investors to the country. This line of argument is supported by Pat Utomi who opined that the issue of investment is also about the issue of security. No investor will come to invest in Nigeria with the current security challenge (Pat Utomi 2014, web).

In Nigeria, places like Adamawa, ,Yobe, Borno, etc are  currently in immense humanitarian crisis caused by several factors that have forced victims to flee, thereby turning them into refugees, while others have succumbed to the conditions and are considered internally displaced persons, making the economy of the region to become underdeveloped. Writing about Boko Haram is a difficult task, as researchers have very limited access to first-hand information. Indeed, foreign and national researchers find it almost impossible to conduct fieldwork in north-eastern Nigeria, where their security cannot be guaranteed. Recently, as the core of the conflict has seemed to be moving away from Maiduguri, capital of Borno, to the confines of Nigeria, the shores of Lake Chad and along the Cameroonian border, available information on the conflict has become even scarcer. Such difficulties contrast with the pressing demand of the Nigerian public and the international community alike for intelligible analyses of the situation, particularly from an economic development perspective. The Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009, when the jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. In 2013, more than 1,000 died in the conflict. The violence escalated dramatically in 2014, with 10,849 deaths. The insurgency has since spread to Cameroon, Chad, and Niger thus becoming a major regional conflict Boko Haram conducted its operations more or less peacefully during the first seven years of its existence. That changed in 2009 when the Nigerian government launched an investigation into the group’s activities following reports that its members were arming themselves. Prior to that the government reportedly repeatedly ignored warnings about the increasingly militant character of the organization, including that of a military officer. When the government came into action, several members of the group were arrested in sparking deadly clashes with Nigerian security forces which led to the deaths of an estimated 700 people. During the fighting with the security forces Boko Haram fighters reportedly “used fuel-laden motorcycles” and “bows with poison arrows” to attack a police station. The group’s founder and then leader Mohammed Yusuf was also killed during this time while still in police custody. After Yusuf’s killing, Abubakar Shekau became the leader and still holds the position as of January 2015 .After the killing of Mohammed Yusuf, the group carried out its first terrorist attack in Borno in January 2010. It resulted in the killing of four people. Since then, the violence has only escalated in terms of both frequency and intensity. In September 2010, a Bauchi prison break freed more than 700 Boko Haram militants, replenishing their force. On 29 May 2011, a few hours after Good luck Jonathan was sworn in as president, several bombings purportedly by Boko Haram killed 15 and injured. On 16 June, Boko Haram claimed to have conducted the Abuja police headquarters bombing, the first known suicide attack in Nigeria. Two months later the United Nations building in Abuja was bombed, signifying the first time that Boko Haram attacked an international organization. In December, it carried out attacks in Damaturu killing over a hundred people, subsequently clashing with security forces in December, resulting in at least 68 deaths. Two days later on Christmas Day, Boko Haram attacked several Christian churches with bomb blasts and shootings. In January 2012, Abubakar Shekau, a former deputy to Yusuf, appeared in a video posted on YouTube. According to Reuters, Shekau took control of the group after Yusuf’s death in 2009. Authorities had previously believed that Shekau died during the violence in 2009. By early 2012, the group was responsible for over 900 deaths .On 15 April 2014, terrorists abducted about 276 female students from a college in Chibok in Borno state. The abduction was widely attributed to Boko Haram. It was reported that the group had taken the girls to neighboring Cameroon and Chad where they were to be sold into marriages at a price below a Dollar. The abduction of another eight girls was also reported later. These kidnappings raised public protests, with some protesters holding placards bearing the Twitter tag #bringbackourgirls which had caught international attention. Several countries pledged support to the Nigerian government and to help their military with intelligence gathering on the whereabouts of the girls and the operational camps of Boko Haram.The focus of this study is to take into account the contributions of both past and present government in combating the boko haram insurgency and to also see of some of policies made by the present government has actually helped in combating boko haram or to see if it worsen the problem and to also proffer solutions to help the present government and the incoming government to make decisions and policies that help in restoring peace and order. It is a historical fact that human society from time immemorial has been characterized by violence in various forms. In traditional societies violence existed in form of raids, tribal wars, slavery and insurgency among others. These were conducted as individuals and groups sought to enhance their power, status and influence over others or to register their grievances. Insurgency has existed throughout history but ebbed and flowed in strategic significance. Today the world has entered another period when insurgency is common and strategically significant.

Insurgency is a strategy used by groups which cannot realize their political aims through conventional means of seizure of power. Insurgency is characterized by continued, asymmetric violence, ambiguity, the use of complex terrain (jungles, mountains, urban areas), psychological warfare, and political mobilization which are designed to protect the insurgents and eventually affect the balance of power in their favor. Insurgents may attempt to capture power and replace the existing government (revolutionary insurgency) or they may have more limited objectives such as separation, independence or alteration of a specific policy. They avoid battle places where they are weakest and focus on those areas where they can operate on more equal footing. They try to postpone decisive action, avoid defeat, sustain themselves, expand their support, and hope that, over time, the power balance changes in their favor (Metz, 2004: 2). Generally, insurgencies are of two types. The first is what can be referred to as national insurgencies; the main antagonists are the insurgents and a sitting government which has some degree of legitimacy and support among the people. The differences between the insurgents and the government are based on economic class, ideology, identity (ethnicity, race, religion), or some other political factor. The government may have external supporters, but the conflict is clearly between the insurgents and a national government. National insurgencies are triangular in that they involve not only the two antagonists the insurgents and counterinsurgents but also a range of other actors who can shift the relationship between the antagonists by supporting one or the other. The most important of these other actors are the populace of the country but may also include external states, organizations, and groups. The insurgents and counterinsurgents pursue strategies which, in a sense, mirror image the other as they attempt to weaken the other party and simultaneously win over neutrals or those who are not committed to one side or the other (Metz, 2004:2).

The Boko Haram violence which commenced in 2003 in Yobe state was to resurface again in Maiduguri, Borno state on 26 July, 2009. Within a week the crisis spread to other states like Yobe, Kano, and Bauchi. The sect‘s Headquarters was destroyed and the leader of the group was killed alongside other members in an extra judicial manner. Even though the group called for the arrest and trial of the culprits, the government initially took no visible steps towards this direction. This inaction on the part of government was a recipe for several attacks from the sect who adore Mohammed Yusuf even in death due to his profound impact on them economically and spiritually. These are what the Nigerian government failed to do for them in first place. The Northern region of Nigeria particularly the North East has since 2009 not known peace due to the activities of the Boko Haram sect (among other security threats) which has unleashed series of terrorist attacks in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger and the Federal Capital Territory claiming an estimate of thirteen thousand lives between 2009 and 2013 (Olukolade, 2014), destroying properties not quantifiable in monetary terms and displacing an estimated two (2) million people (NTA News, 28, October, 2014).

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

While efforts have been made by scholars to investigate the problems of Boko Haram in Nigeria, none has done so within the purview of the economic development of the northeast states. It is, therefore, the intent of this study to examine the impact of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria with special reference to the northeast geopolitical zone. Hence, a specific goal will be to illuminate and explore the Boko Haram terrorist group and to look into how they exert their influence on the economic development of northeastern states of Nigeria. despite all efforts made by the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration declared  state of emergency in the three Northern  state that were the mostly affected areas on Monday 23 of May 2014 those states include Adamawa, Borno, Yobe.  The military headquarters was relocated to Maiduguri which is the hot spot of the insurgency. The Nigerian government under President Goodluck Jonathan, no doubt, mounted a COIN operation, known as operation Zaman Lafiya, (living in peace) but it was not strong enough to check the advance of Boko Haram. Unlike the Niger Delta COIN, in which non-military efforts was critically used along with protective military and security operations to achieve some measure of compromise, the insurgents in the northeast had always remained adamant to any overtures for negotiation. They have been most unidentifiable, elusive, and intransigent, making bunkum and risky any moves for dialogue. As a result of this, COIN in the northeast has been driven mainly by military and security operations.

The control of about 21,545 of Nigerian territory in 2014 by Boko Haram from zero ground in 2009 meant, that Operation Zaman Lafiya was a failure. In response to the groundswell of public criticism of the performance of the operation, Muhammad Buhari, on assumption of office as Nigeria’s elected president in May, 2015, quickly made modifications within the military, dismantled operation Zaman Lafiya, and put in motion the present COIN operation, code-named Operation Lafiya Dole,( operation peace by force) under the  command of Lt -General Tukur Buratai. Within three months – October to December, 2015 – the operation, marked by a consolidation of efforts from the military, the Department of State Services, Nigeria Police, and other security agencies, and military cooperation from neighboring countries through the Multinational Task Force, had given a good account of itself. In what can be seen as a blitzkrieg in the history of Nigerian warfare, Boko Haram was effectively pushed out of all its bases within the Nigerian territory. At 1:30 p.m., Thursday, 22 December, 2016 Operation Lafiya Dole reached its highest point with the capture of Camp Zero in Sambisa Forest, the last fortress and hideout of the routed insurgents. However, the fall of Camp Zero did not end of insurgency in the northeast Nigeria. While the Nigerian Air Force is continuing with its search, location, and destroy (SLD) operations against the insurgents, other armed forces and security operatives are working hard to contain sporadic suicide bombing and violence perpetrated by Boko Haram.   It is obvious from the foregoing, that Nigeria is mired in two geo-strategic insurgencies – one from the Lake Chad and the other from the Atlantic. This places Nigeria in the category of countries with what is known as multipolar insurgency. Also, by directing their aggression against the state, nationals of other countries, and international establishments and symbols, the two insurgencies in Nigeria are both domestic and international.

1. Has the relocation of the military headquarters to the North reduced the level of insurgency in Northeastern Nigeria?
2. Has the increase in defense allocation help in combating insurgency in Northeastern Nigeria?

1.3      OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study has two basic objectives: the general and specific

The general objective is to examine the effect of Boko Haram insurgency in Northeastern Nigeria. The specific objectives are to:

1. Examine if the relocation of the military headquarters to the North has reduced the level of insurgency in Northeastern Nigeria.
2. Examine if the increase in the defense allocation has helped in combating insurgency     in Northeastern Nigeria.

1.5      SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study has both theoretical and empirical significance

Theoretically, the findings from this study seek to benefit the government in knowing the challenge of the successful halting of insurgency in Nigeria and the proactive ways of tackling future occurrences. The study would also be beneficial to students especially those in political science, political stakeholders and researchers who are interested in the study of insurgency in Nigeria particularly Boko Haram insurgency in the north eastern part of the country.

Empirically, this research work will help in providing information on the internal factors that has continually hindered good governance in Nigeria, the political and military class will learn, through this study, the need for them to be patriotic and develop Nigeria. It is also useful to scholar’s especially diplomatic historians, political scientists, economists and international relations experts who are conducting research in related field.

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