Who is the deadliest terror group in the world? IS? Hamas? Al-Qaeda? Many names might spring to mind, but for much of the 2010s there was one correct answer: Boko Haram.

Today on A Day In History, we will look at how this small Nigerian terror group became one of the deadliest groups in the world through bombings, massacres, and kidnappings, all while waging a war against the government. If you appreciate videos like this, don’t forget to like and subscribe, and check out our other videos.

The Birth of Boko Haram

Boko Haram emerged in the early 2000s from existing Islamist groups in Nigeria.

Since the 1980s, the dominant Yan Izala movement has shaped Islamist politics in the country. It had strong grassroots support thanks to its itinerant preachers and teachers who spread its message of rejecting un-Islamic ideas and beliefs. These groups took aim at so-called Western institutions and practices, many of them left over from British colonization, and wanted to root them out of Nigerian society. This included things like Western-style education, medical science, democracy, Christianity, and secularism. However, Yan Izala refused to engage in more militant activism in pursuit of this goal, which caused a number of splinter groups to emerge in the late 90s and early 2000s.

One of those groups was named Ahl Al-Sunna Wa-l-Jama’a Wa-l-Hijra, meaning ‘Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad’ in English. Sunnah is the Muslim term for the traditions and practices established by the Prophet Muhammad, Dawah is the sacred duty to convert others to Islam, while Jihad, which probably needs no introduction, meant in this context an active fight to expand Islam and destroy its enemies. Before long, the Nigerian media had another nickname for them: Boko Haram, a name which can be translated as ‘Western civilisation is forbidden.’

Boko Haram was fully established as an independent group by a former Yan Izala member named Muhammad Yusuf in 2003. Yusuf took a harder line against Western ideas than other Muslim leaders and set himself up as an antagonist to the secular Nigerian state.

This boiled over to violence in December 2003 when some of Yusuf’s followers clashed with Nigerian security forces in the town of Kannamma. This had a radicalizing effect on his followers and convinced many of them that the government was its enemy. There were several attacks by Boko Haram on police stations around the country in 2004, which led the Nigerian government to crack down and kill over two dozen Boko Haram members and forced its leaders to flee the country.

#bokoharam #history #isis

Sources:

Brandon Kendhammer and Carmen McCain, Boko Haram, (2018)
Jason Warner and Hilary Matfess, ‘Boko Haram’s Demographic Profile in Suicide Bombing’, Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point, (2017)
Kunle Daramola, ‘Another Chibok Girl Rescued in Cameroon - Nine Years After Abduction’, The Cable, 12th August 2023, [ Ссылка ]
Roman Loimeier, ‘Boko Haram: The Development of a Militant Religious Movement in Nigeria’, Africa Spectrum, (2012)
Virginia Comolli, Boko Haram: Nigeria’s Islamist Insurgency, (2015)
‘Boko Haram Kills 37 in Nigeria’s Yobe State - Police’, 2nd November 2023, [ Ссылка ]
‘Nigeria Polio Vaccinators Shot Dead in Kano’, 8th February 2013, [ Ссылка ]
‘Schools, University Empty After Deadly Nigeria Attack’, Daily Times , 28th February 2014, [ Ссылка ]

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