The Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009, when the militant Islamist and jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. Boko Haram targets both Muslims and Christians. Attacks are often directed at individuals perceived as supporting the Nigerian government or Islamic State after the split between them, including civil servants, local defense groups, Muslim leaders who oppose the group and other rebels like al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Most attacks are not based on the religion of the victims.
Boko Haram's initial uprising failed, and its leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed by the Nigerian government. He began the group in 2002 with a view of opposing western education with his followers. The movement consequently fractured into autonomous groups and started an insurgency, though rebel commander Abubakar Shekau managed to achieve a kind of primacy among the insurgents. Though challenged by internal rivals, such as Abu Usmatul al-Ansari's Salafist conservative faction and the Ansaru faction, Shekau became the insurgency's de facto leader and mostly kept the different Boko Haram factions from fighting each other, instead focusing on overthrowing the Nigerian government. Supported by other jihadist organizations including al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab, Shekau's tactics were marked by extreme brutality and explicit targeting of civilians.
After years of fighting, the insurgents became increasingly aggressive and began to seize large areas in northeastern Nigeria. The violence escalated dramatically in 2014 with 10,849 deaths, while Boko Haram drastically expanded its territories. At the same time, the insurgency spread to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, Mali, and Niger, thus becoming a major regional conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile, Shekau attempted to improve his international standing among jihadists by tacitly aligning with the Islamic State in March 2015, with Boko Haram becoming the "Islamic State's West Africa Province" (ISWAP).
The insurgents were driven back during the 2015 West African offensive by a Nigeria-led coalition of African and Western countries, forcing the Islamists to retreat into Sambisa Forest and bases at Lake Chad. Discontent about various issues consequently grew among Boko Haram. Dissidents among the movement allied themselves with ISWAP's central command and challenged Shekau's leadership, resulting in a violent split of the insurgents. Since then, Shekau and his group are generally referred to as "Boko Haram", whereas the dissidents continued to operate as ISWAP under Abu Musab al-Barnawi. The two factions consequently fought against each other while waging insurgencies against the local governments. After a period of reversals, Boko Haram and ISWAP launched offensives in 2018 and 2019, again growing in strength.
When Boko Haram's insurgency was at its peak in the mid-2010s, it was the world's deadliest terrorist organization in terms of the number of people it killed. In a bid to ensure dialog between the government and the deadly sect, the Jonathan administration set up a committee to grant amnesty to Boko Haram. Some details of the amnesty include the granting of pardons to Boko Haram fighters and also listening to different ethnic groups under the sect in a bid to end violence. This amnesty was rejected by the sect in an audio broadcast that was sent by its leader on the grounds that they are fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north and that it is the government that is committing atrocities against Muslims.
In May 2021, ISWAP attacked and overran Boko Haram militants in the Sambisa Forest and Shekau was killed during the fighting, reportedly using a suicide vest. In August, al-Barnawi was killed. After Shekau's death masses of Boko Haram militants surrendered while others defected to ISWAP. According to the Nigerian Defence Forces, by July 2023 over 100,000 rebels and their family members surrendered. A commander of the Joint Task Force expressed optimism that the Boko Haram crisis would end very soon, while advising the troops not to rest or give the terrorists a chance to recuperate, reorganise and start carrying out attacks, saying, "We are almost there, so let's maintain the momentum."
Background
Nigerian statehood Britain amalgamated both the northern and southern protectorates in 1914, about a decade after the defeat of the Sokoto Caliphate and other Islamic states by the British which were to constitute much of northern Nigeria. Sir Frederick Lugard assumed office as governor of both protectorates in 1912. The aftermath of the First World War saw Germany lose its colonies—one of which was Cameroon—to French, Belgian and British mandates. Cameroon was divided in French and British parts, the latter of which was further subdivided into southern and northern parts. Following a plebiscite in 1961, the Southern Cameroons elected to rejoin French Cameroon, while the Northern Cameroons opted to join Nigeria, a move which added to Nigeria's already large Muslim population. The territory made up much of what is now northeastern Nigeria.
Early religious conflict Religious conflict in Nigeria dates as far back as 1953, and in the case of the town of Tafawa Balewa, to 1948. The Igbo massacre of 1966 in the north that followed the 1966 counter-coup had as a dual cause the Igbo officers' coup and pre-existing (sectarian) tensions between the Igbos and the local Muslims. This was a major factor in the Biafran secession and the resulting Nigerian Civil War.
Maitatsine In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a major Islamic uprising led by Maitatsine (Mohammed Marwa) and his followers, Yan Tatsine that led to several thousand deaths. After Maitatsine's death in 1980, the movement continued for some five years more.
In the 1980s the erstwhile military ruler of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Babangida enrolled Nigeria in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. This was a move which aggravated religious tensions in the country, particularly among the Christian community.Holman, Michael (24 February 1986) "Nigeria, Politics; Religious Differences Intensify", Financial Times, In response, some in the Muslim community pointed out that certain other African member states have smaller proportions of Muslims, as well as Nigeria's diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Establishment of sharia
Since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, sharia has been instituted as a main body of civil and criminal law in 9 Muslim-majority and in some parts of 3 Muslim-plurality states, when Zamfara State Governor Ahmad Rufai Sani began the push for the institution of sharia at the state level of government. This was followed by controversy as to the would-be legal status of non-Muslims in the sharia system. A spate of Muslim-Christian riots soon emerged.
In the primarily Islamic northern states of Nigeria, a variety of Muslim groups and populations exist, who favour the nationwide introduction of sharia. The demands of these populations have been at least partially upheld by the Nigerian federal government in 12 states, first in Zamfara State in 1999. The implementation has been widely attributed as being caused by the insistence of Sani.
The 2002 death sentences of Amina Lawal and Safiya Hussaini attracted international attention to what many saw as the harsh regime of these laws. These sentences were later overturned; the first execution was carried out in 2002.
Blasphemy and apostasy
Twelve out of Nigeria's 36 states have Sunni Islam as the dominant religion. In 1999, those states chose to have sharia courts as well as customary courts. A sharia court may treat blasphemy as deserving of several punishments up to and including execution.Amnesty International. Report on Saudi Arabia 2007. Archived from the original. Amnesty International. Amnesty International Report on Saudi Arabia 2009 . Archived from the original. In many predominantly Muslim states, conversion from Islam to another religion is illegal and often a capital offence.Nigeria: Recent reports regarding the treatment of persons who convert from Islam to Christianity. Recent reports on Sharia law in relation to religious conversion , Ireland: Refugee Documentation Centre, 26 June 2012, Q15539; available at: . Accessed 18 July 2014.
Demographic balance According to a Nigerian study on demographics and religion, Muslims make up 50.5% of the population. Muslims mainly live in the north of the country; the majority of Nigerian Muslims are Sunnis. Christians are the second-largest religious group and make up 48.2% of the population. They predominate in the central and southern parts of the country."Religious Demographic Profile: Nigeria" . The Pew Forum, 2010.. Copied archive from original, (archive dated 21 April 2010). For reasons of avoiding political controversy, questions of religion were forgone in the 2006 Nigerian census.In the News: The Nigerian Census , Robert Lalasz. (April 2006)The Nigeria 2006 Census. Thursday, 5 January 2006.
History
Beginnings and 2009 uprising
Mohammed Yusuf began Boko Haramin 2002 with a view of opposing western education with his followers. 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 organisation, including that of a military officer.
Yusuf was arrested at his parent inlaws' house by the Nigerian military and subsequently handed over to the Nigerian police. When the government came into action, several members of the group were arrested in Bauchi, sparking deadly clashes with Nigerian security forces in Bauchi, Maiduguri, Potiskum, and Wudil, which led to the deaths of an estimated 700 people. Boko Haram fighters reportedly "used fuel-laden motorcycles" and "bows with poison arrows" to attack a police station. Yusuf was killed while in police custody. He was survived by four wives and 12 children, one of whom was Abu Musab al-Barnawi. After Yusuf's killing, Abubakar Shekau became the leader and held this position in January 2015.
The movement consequently fractured into autonomous groups and started an insurgency, though rebel commander Abubakar Shekau managed to achieve a kind of primacy among the insurgents. Though challenged by internal rivals, such as Abu Usmatul al-Ansari's Salafist conservative faction and the Ansaru faction, Shekau became the insurgency's de facto leader and mostly kept the different Boko Haram factions from fighting each other, instead focusing on overthrowing the Nigerian government. Supported by other jihadist organizations including al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab, Shekau's tactics were marked by extreme brutality and explicit targeting of civilians.
2010 resurgence Nearly six months after the death of Yusuf, the group carried out its first terrorist attack in Borno in January 2010, killing four people.Boko Haram strikes again in Borno, kills 4 . Nigerian Tribune, Thursday, 20 January 2011. Archived from the original. During the following few years, the violence escalated in terms of both frequency and intensity. On 7 September a prison break in Bauchi freed more than 700 Boko Haram militants, replenishing their force. On 24 December Boko Haram used four bombs to kill 32 people in Jos, Plateau State. On the same day, they killed six people in attacks against churches in Maiduguri.
2011