Nigeria's Descent Into Terror Territory: The Boko Haram Crisis - Research Paper

Introduction

Nigeria has gradually slipped into a terrorist territory where terror activities have become regular in the country. The insecurity caused by Boko Haram is one of the challenges that Nigeria is facing (Adesoji, 2010). The activities of the group have resulted in too many casualties, destruction of schools, and displacement of people and ravaged the economy of the region. Book Haram was incepted in 2002, and its activities have progressed and have been disastrous to the economy of the country. The members of Boko Haram mostly come from the Kanuri ethnic group. The organization has training camps in Nigeria and the neighboring countries (Chothia, 2012). Boko haram emerged as a secret Muslim community. In 2003-2004 Boko haram members first clashed with security forces and the residents in Yobe estate. In July 2009 there were tensions arose due to arrest of the group members, and they launched an uprising that extended further to other regions including Yobe and Kano. A crackdown by the security forces left several people due to soldiers and police brutality against civilians.

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Boko Haram re-emerged in 2010 staging a series of assassinations on security forces and other local politicians in the northeast of Nigeria while conducting other several prison breaks. In June 2011 the terror group went further to bomb the police headquarters in Abuja, and it was followed by another suicide bombing at the United Nations headquarters in august 2011. Throughout 2011-2012 as the military joint task force hunted the group's members in an effort to restore order in the northeast, Boko Haram expanded their tactics as well as their geographical area while conducting bombings and attacks in schools and churches. Boko Haram is a threat to both political and military state, but the government has failed to better their approach but instead relying on harsh crackdowns. They have proven to be ineffective, and the abuses by security forces towards the civilians have created mistrust towards the authorities. Dialogue efforts have proven futile as the Boko haram refuse to engage in talks as well as the mediators withdrawing from the process. Observers are of the idea that if the activities of Boko haram go unchecked, it could spill to the neighboring regions such as Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

Their training courses last for almost a year, and when one is recruited, they are paid. When the atrocities committed by the group are taken into account, it should be an issue of concern both to the international community and the Nigerian government. From the world terrorism index, they are considered to be the world deadliest group in 2015 when they killed more than the Levante and the Islamic state of Iraq in 2014. Unfortunately, the main goal of the organization has not yet been identified, leading to mixed speculations among analysts and scholars on the actual goal of the organization. The most widely held opinion is that book haram are against the western values, and they are aiming at repelling the western ideologies and values within Nigerian society.

Another reason for their attacks is the Islamic reign in the country however this goal has been disputed because book haram has killed more Muslims members than members of any other religious groups during their attacks in Nigeria. The group seems to be advocating for the implementation of orthodox Islamic doctrines in the region. This notion is influenced by the perception they are holding that false and corrupt Muslims have hijacked politics in northern Nigeria. This has resulted in the need to wage war against the corrupt politicians to create a pure Islamic state that is ruled by sharia laws. The organization has attacked different government sectors like military barracks, police stations and office complexes. Moreover, they have occasionally kidnapped and killed the Europeans. They have gone further to attack international organizations premise such as the United Nations offices which they bombed in 2006. When all these acts are taken into account, the violent activities of Boko Haram have taken international dimension and therefore, both the international and local efforts should be put to stamp out the organization.

Planning for Disaster

Cooperation Between the US and Nigeria

The counterterrorism operation came up in 2013 when Nigeria hosted a gathering in Abuja. The regional security working group defined the challenges that faced both nations and highlighted the potential responses. Nigeria has actively participated in the regional events hosted by the global counterterrorism forum. The Nigerian government requested to be assisted in developing intelligence apparatus joint terrorist branch to act as a coordinating body in efforts to counter terrorism (Akpuru, 2003). Moreover, Nigeria has participated in a capacity building program aimed at combating terrorism organized by the US Department of antiterrorism. The United States, at some point was prohibited from offering any assistance to Nigeria as per Leahy Amendment, and this law was found to be abusing human rights. In 2012 Nigerian security officials were denied training as had been requested. However, Trump later in 2017 approved sale of high-tech attack planes to Nigeria to help combat Boko Haram as well as other militants. Obama's administration had halted the sale after a fighter jet bombed a camp and killed several people.

Cooperation Between Nigeria and the United Kingdom

In 2018 august the UK prime minister met with the Nigerian president in Abuja, and the prime minister pledged to provide military training equipment to Nigeria to support the fight against Boko Haram (Mohamoud, 2010). The prime minister further went ahead to make promises on investing on educational institutions for children living in terror zones, help prevent Boko Haram recruitment by promoting counter-narratives and launching crisis response program to improve response level in the Nigerian government.

Regional Cooperation

Nigeria is a member of the inter-governmental action group against money laundering and Trans-Saharan counterterrorism partnership. Nigeria also has helped establish a global fund for community engagement and resilience, an association created in Switzerland aimed at countering terrorist's recruitment and messaging. The efforts by Nigeria to counter extremism have been hampered by lack of trust between communities and security forces, lack of economic opportunity in northeast Nigeria and harsh treatment of civilians by security forces.

When Boko Haram attacked Cameroon in 2014, the Nigerian government announced its coordination with Cameroon, Niger and Chad to create a force to counter extremists. Multinational joint task force plan was approved by African union in 2015, and since then it has operated in Lake Chad region. It has been able to gain access to Boko Haram grounds. The formation of the multinational joint task force was due to kidnapping of Chibok girls that had taken place, and the five countries agreed to improve the border security (Zene, 2014). In 2016, Nigeria joined Saudi Arabia's Islamic military alliance a coalition to counter-terrorism and comprised of Muslim countries.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism

Nigeria is a member of the intergovernmental action group that is against money laundering in West Africa. At some point in time, Nigeria was suspended for failure to restructure financial intelligence unit to make it operational and isolated as a requirement for all the members. In response to this, Nigeria passed the Nigerian financial intelligence bill. Money laundering prevention laws are being reviewed by the Nigerian house and senate (Chinwokwu, 2013). Other legislations are still pending that prohibit financing terrorism.

The Nigerian Military Response

The response to terrorism by the Nigerian police and military has been the source of dislocation, suffering insecurity and widespread human right abuse (Aghedo and Osumah, 2012). Before 2015 the strategies involved punishing the whole community who were suspected to be harboring Boko Haram militants. The clearing operations conducted often resulted in violence by the Nigerians militants as villagers who could not manage to flee to the bush were killed without much evidence. Other individuals who could not escape were dragged off to detention, and they included children and women. There were many reported cases of torture and extrajudicial killings by the security forces whenever there is a terrorist attack.

The results of Boko Haram attacks and counter-attacks by the military were people being kidnapped, displacement, detention and deaths. Those who escaped detention were forcefully evicted from their homes without the opportunity to take their belongings or prior notice. The burning of private property, shops, cars and houses in towns and villages were common before 2015. The areas that were dominated by Boko Haram remained empty and deserted. The land is taken over by actors, and they prevent people associated with Hoko Haram from returning to the land. The members of the public who hang around suspected Boko Haram members could be killed or detained.2015 onwards however the levels of brutality decreased, and this is due to several reasons for instance exposure of the cruelty by humanitarians' groups.

The Nigerian police and military relied on civilian joint task force for intelligence, such as the basis of detention. Even though signal intelligence from equipment belonging to international military partners supplements information inflows, acquisition of credible human intelligence is constrained by Nigeria's inability to permit the establishment of non-federal police-military forces. The military employed civilian joint task force units to spy the Boko Haram individuals within the IDP camps. The civilian joint task force patrolled streets, checked suspicious cars, interrogated people and conducted their operations independently, the people who do not satisfy the civilian joint task force set criteria were then handed over to the police or the military. The civilian joint task force did not keep records of the people they dealt with, and therefore rape allegations were emerging. These units killed people during the arrests, fights with Boko Haram and often the cases were not disclosed, reported, nor investigated. Lack of accountability by the civilian joint task force and lack of close relations with the military or the police, the locals were afraid to report their abuses to the relevant authorities. This is because they feared that they would be arrested and accused of being members of Boko Haram and even mistreated.

Detention

The individuals who survived the clearance operations found themselves detained and they spent the most time there being interrogated. The conditions in detentions are not pleasing because they are overcrowded; there is a lack of food and water supplies, inadequate sanitary conditions and intense torture including shootings, rape and sexual violence. Reports on the poor conditions reached the humanitarians that many detainees died as a result of dehydration, torture, execution, lack of medical attention and starvation. These deaths are never investigated nor recorded. Furthermore, the detainees were never informed of the reason for detention nor allowed to access their family, outside world and their lawyers (Open Society Justice Initiative, 2011).

The children who were accused of being associated with Boko Haram or lived under Boko Haram rule had no separate facility. The boys were thus detained in the same facilities as adults who were suspected to be members of Boko Haram. The girls, on the other hand, were detained with the women in another section. The military refused to be engaged with UNICEF on the issue to do with minors. UNICEF had requested that the minors that...