Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad (Book Haram): Their origin, their demand, their operations, the dangers and the way-out
Origin:
Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad, erroneously called and known as Boko Haram in Nigeria, is an Islamic movement that is existing in the northern part of Nigeria. The movement – Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad (Boko Haram) has had several name change since its formation in 2002. It is also named after its late leader, Mohammed Yusuf…Yusufiyyah. The movement is seeking the implementation of pristine Islamic law in accordance with the Quran and Hadith of the Holy Prophet Muhammed (SWS), or commonly referred to as the Shariah law in the North-Western and North-Eastern parts of Nigeria.
The term “Boko Haram” comes from the Hausa and Arabic words book, meaning “pagan, European or western, or any other civilisation or way of life that is not in accordance with Islam.” The Arabic word ‘Haram’ means prohibited, forbidden or sinful.
Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad (Boko Haram) was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri by Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf. In 2004, the movement embarked on Hijra to Kanamma, Yobe State. Local Muslims complained about the version of Islam practiced by the movement and informed the police that a Shia or Maitatsine-type movement has come to their locality.
Acting on the information, the police moved in to dislodge the movement; this resulted in a clash with members of the movement that led to attack and burning of police stations and loss of lives from both sides.
At the time of this clash, Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the movement, was in Saudi Arabia. On his return to Nigeria, he submitted himself to the Nigeria Police and was detained by the police and he was later transferred to the State Security Services (SSS), where he was interrogated, detained and later released.
The movement is opposed to western democracy and the secular educational system. According to them, Western democracy does not have the solution to the problems of the world. That it is only the rule of the Quran and Sunnah that can bring about world peace, development and protection of Muslims. The movement called on the Nigeria government to open up the political space and allow different political beliefs and ideologies to participate evenly in the decision making process of the state, which they believe is within their right in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in which are enshrined the fundamental rights of the citizens to freedom of belief and association.
The movement was accused of preventing free mixing of male and female and trying to enforce (its version of Shariah law), this led to conflict between members of the movement, local people and police in Bauchi State.
It is believed that the movement’s membership goes beyond the borders of Nigeria to neigbouring countries like Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Sudan.
Unending conflicts with the Nigerian authorities:
Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad, at its inception was a pro-Saudi Salfist Movement. I had met Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, as the Imam of the Indimi Mosque in Maiduguri, in 1996. The Mosque was the centre of Saudi influence in the Tariqah dominated Maiduguri. Delegations from the Islamic University of Medina used to come to recruit students on scholarship from the Mosque. During Ramadam, Sheikh Jafar used to come from Kano to conduct the tafsir.
The movement was more or less harmless at that time and was propagating the purification of Islam. It was the hostilities from the Ulamas and other Muslim clerics, with the connivance of the security agents, which led to the radicalization of the movement.
This is not the first time in Northern Nigeria. Movements of this kind have been stigmatized by the local Ulamas and security agencies. Before now, the Izala Movement and Islamic Movement of Nigeria, led by Shiekh Ibrahim Zakzaky, were also stigmatized; government and security agencies went into avoidable conflicts with these movements. Today, the Izala Movement has become more orthodox and acceptable, with prominent government officials belonging to the movement.
Days of conflict:
In July 2009, the Nigerian police attacked the movement in Bauchi on the unsubstantiated claim that the movement was arming itself. This sparked off a deadly clash which led to the death of thousands of people. Prior to these clashes, it was alleged that Muslim leaders, as they have done before in the case of Izala and Islamic Movement of Nigeria, have urged the Nigerian authorities to do something quickly about this movement and its activities. Today, we are mourning from avoidable death and nursing our wounds. Government should not be under the control and influence of persons whose interest is to protect their own interest at the expense of general wellbeing and interest of the people.
On the 30th of July, 2009 the Nigerian security forces descended on the headquarters of the movement in Maiduguri, killing several persons, capturing Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the movement, his father-in-law, a former local government chairman and commissioner of Religious Affairs in Borno State and several other members of the movement. They were taken to the office of Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, governor of the state at that time. After been driven round the town in handcuffs in open Hilux vans, they were handed over to the Borno State commissioner of police, where they were publicly interrogated before the media. The commissioner of police handed them over to his men…they were led outside and publicly executed alongside hundreds of other members. The video clip of their execution has been shown globally by the Aljezera Cable Network.
On January 10, 2010, Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad claimed responsibility for an attack that led to the death four persons in Dala Alemderi ward in Maiduguri metropolis.
On September 7, 2010, the movement also claimed responsibility for a jail-break that led to the forceful release of 700 inmates from a prison in Bauchi State.
In December 2010, Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad was blamed for a market bombing, following which 92 of its members were arrested by police and up till now, the whereabouts of the arrested members of the movement is still unknown.
On Friday January 28, 2011, ANPP gubernatorial candidate was assassinated, along with his brother and four others. The movement claimed responsibility.
On March 29, police allegedly thwarted a plot to bomb an All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) election rally in Maiduguri, and blamed the alleged plot on the movement.
On April 1, 2011, (the day before the original date of the National Assembly elections), suspected members of Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad (Boko Haram) attacked a police station in Bauchi.
On April 9, 2011, a polling centre in Maiduguri was bombed. On April 15, the Maiduguri office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was bombed, and several people were shot in a separate incident on the same day. Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad (Boko Haram) was suspected to be responsible for it.
On April 20, 2011, the movement killed a Muslim cleric and ambushed several police officers in Maiduguri.
On April 22, 2011, Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad freed 14 prisoners during a jail-break in Yola, Adamawa State.
The movement was blamed for series of bombings in Abuja, Niger and Borno States on May 29, 2011, that left 15 dead.
The latest and most successful attack of the movement was the bombing of the Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja on June 17, 2011.
Demands of Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad (Boko Haram):
The movement has given the following preconditions for dialogue with the Borno State and Federal Government of Nigeria.
1. Their prime demand is the restoration of Kanem-Bornu Empire and Utmaniyyah Caliphate, and various Islamic states in Northern Nigeria which where existing before the British invasion and conquest and the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. After the bombing incident at the police headquarters in Abuja, one of the spokesmen of the movement, Abu Zaid, had stated this as one of their key demands.
2. They demand the arrest and trial of the former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sherrif, alongside officers and men of the Nigeria military and police, who were responsible for the extra-judicial murder of their leader and members.
3. The reclamation of their mosque and properties.
4. The respect of their fundamental rights of freedom of association and belief.
5. Public apology from the governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, and the former governor of Gombe, Senator Mohammad Danjuma Goje.
Dangers of not meeting their demands:
The rise of Islamic movements after the collapse of Othoman Empire, brought this movement in direct conflict with the conquering Judeo-Christian European states. In the Indian sub-continent, there was the Caliphate movement, while in the Maghreb and Arab homeland the al-Ihwan al-Muslimun (Muslim Brotherhood), with its headquarters in Egypt, which called on Muslims all over the world to rise up for Jihad against the European occupiers of Muslim homelands. This led to several pitch battles and conflicts with the leadership of these movements who felt betrayed by the new colonial prompted leadership in the Islamic world.
After the Second World War, a new wave of agitation started in the Islamic world against the immoral and forceful removal of Arab Palestine from their homeland to make way for displaced Jews from Europe. These have led to constant conflicts between the West and the Islamic World, which has led to the formation of more radical movements like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Taliban, Jamaat-e-Islami and now al-Qaeda and her affiliate movements that have spread all over the world.
These movements have prosecuted war against the West, Zionist Israel, and local puppet regimes in the Islamic world. The West has fraudulently expanded the territories of this war, recruiting and enlisting the support of vulnerable regimes in the Islamic world, Africa and Asia. Nigeria should not allow itself to fall into this unending quagmire. Nigeria should resist any attempt by the West, especially United States of America, to internationalize her domestic problems. The members of this movement– Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad (Boko Haram) – are Nigerians whom the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, has sworn to protect; our problem is a local problem for which we must find home-grown solution. Today United States of America and her allies have destroyed Iraq, they are in the process of destroying Pakistan and Libya…they were in Somalia… are still in Afghanistan. In all these countries, they have caused more deaths and destructions than the internal conflict.
The dangers inherent in the government not finding home-grown solution very quickly will internationalize the conflict as members of the movement have openly stated their affiliation to al-Qaeda which is not far from the truth as majority of the leaders of the movement had fought in Algeria, Afghanistan and Somalia. The movement in a recent publication had stated that some of their members have just returned from Somalia to strengthen the movement.
Therefore, if the government fails to find these home-grown solutions, members of the movement will become emboldened whenever they carry out successful attacks and expand the territories of the conflict to other parts of Nigeria. It will also provide opportunity for persons outside the movement to hide under the cover of the conflict to pursue their political and regional agenda. A good example is the attack in Katsina State where a bank was raided, millions of naira stolen, after which a police station was attacked and weapons removed from the armory; this attack does not have the signature of the movement. We must not allow the movement to be hijacked, which will be very dangerous, and pose the greatest threat to the government of President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, as each passing day allows the movement to recruit new members and also provides her the opportunity to rally her members and sympathizers from neigbouring countries of Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Mali. This is worrisome because members of the movement had gone to fight in Algeria and Chad where most of them were arrested and deported to Nigeria. I met most of their leaders at the SSS underground cell in 2006/2007. Among them were Mohammed Isam Adams, Mohammed Ashafa, the Yusuf brothers (Hussein and Hassan), Hussein, Suleiman, Dr. Mohammed Bello of the defunct Democrat newspaper, who was their alleged sponsor, and their leader, Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf.
President Goodluck Ebele Azizkiwe Jonathan should know that no government, no matter how powerful, has been able to subdue a religious rebellion. It is in his best interest to evolve a process that will mitigate the conflict and eventually lead to a final settlement. If he fails to do that now, in the next six months it will be very difficult for him to govern from Abuja. Because of the following:
1. The movement instead of abating will grow from strength to strength.
2. Disgruntled politicians in the North may infiltrate the ranks of the movement and sponsor their activities.
3. These politicians can set up different groups, all claiming to be part of the movement, to spread death, destruction and disaffection in the North to malign and undermine the government of President Goodluck Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan.
4. The activities of this movement can result in retaliatory actions from Jonathan’s homeland in the Niger Delta and the South-East, thereby widening the scope of the conflict.
The reign of insecurity in the country will make nonsense of the transformational agenda of the Goodlcuk/Sambo administration.
Recommendation:
1. The call for the restoration of the Kanem-Bornu Empire, Utmaniyyah Caliphate and other Islamic states in the North before the British conquest and amalgamation of the 1914, brings to the fore the imperative of a national dialogue (Sovereign National Conference), where all the nations forcefully conscripted into Nigeria by the British colonialist will sit and deliberate on ways to restructure the Nigerian state or to resolve to peacefully go our separate ways.
2. The government should open up the political space and allow the formation of political parties based on beliefs and ideologies, given full effect to the provision of the 1999 Constitution of freedom of belief and association.
3. The payment of blood money which is allowed by Islam after dialogue with families of those who were killed by the Nigerian authorities.
4. Release of members of the movement in detention to provide an enabling environment and trust for dialogue.
5. The prosecution of those found culpable of the extra-judicial murder of the leaders and members of the movement.
6. The restoration of the mosques, houses and other properties which were destroyed during the attack on them by the Nigerian authorities.
7. Take a census of the widows and orphans of the conflict, paying them compensation for their loss, providing education and skill acquisition training for the widows and free education for the orphans.
8. The government should embark on a programme of disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation for members of the movement after a thorough and agreeable dialogue.
9. To establish police/the movement relation committee to act as a coordinating body in the relationship between the movement on the one hand and the police and the general public on the other. This will nip in the bud early signs of conflict between members of the movement, the public and the police.
Conclusion:
Let nobody deceive the government: this is an unwinnable war. The government does not have the resources, capability and will to prosecute this war. The demands of the movement are not in any way different from our demands, the demands of MASSOB, the Ogonis as represented by MOSOP, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Afenifere, the OPC, etc.
Let nobody deceive us that Nigeria is a secular state. There is nothing secular about Nigeria. The rights of everybody must be guaranteed under the constitution. What we have in Nigeria is the dominance of Judeo-Christian beliefs and Islam playing the second fiddle. Other beliefs are abused, denigrated and maligned. We often hear of both Christian and Muslim preachers invading places of worship of other religions and beliefs, destroying and desecrating them without the Nigerian authorities even raising a finger against this religious persecution, discrimination and denial of the constitutional right of the adherence of these beliefs and religions.
Like I said above, the government of President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan must find a home-grown solution to this problem by personally opening the doors and windows of dialogue to the leaders of Jama’atu ahlus Sunnah Lid da’wati wal Jihad (Boko Haram), to address the issues raised by them. He should not accept the advice of those who are warmongers, who might not be his real friends. If the movement is not disposed to dialogue, we must do everything to persuade them to come to dialogue. When the people elected President Goodlcuk Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, it was to preserve their wellbeing, security being one of their prime expectations. President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan must not fail them. He must assure them that when they go out of their homes to look for their daily bread, they will return in one piece.
Have we ever wondered why al-Qaeda is not active in the Arab Gulf States as opposed to other countries? These countries, even though more westernized, have learnt to positively engage al-Qaeda and her sister organisations. We must not provide the United States of America and her allies a market to sell their weapons of mass destruction and expand the territories of their war against Islam. Our security, safety and wellbeing should be uppermost in the agenda of the government.
The President must know that dialogue will strengthen his government and not weaken it. He has been known as a man of peace, this is one of his best opportunities to demonstrate it. He must extend the olive branch to the movement and embrace them in peace.
To the movement, this war is unwinnable, which they know. The war maligns Islam and presents us in bad light. If the government is ready to follow through with the above recommendations, I will beg you in the name of ALLAH to embrace this moment of peace.
Dokubo-Asari first published this article on the wall of his social network, Facebook, on June 25, 2011.