The demagogue Boko Haram and the radical flight of terrorism

By

Ogunniyi Abayomi

An ideology of a malignant affair that eludes a destabilizing compromise to fulfil the fanatic verse of the book in the name of religious belief.

The voice of weapons and bombs across the mountains and hills castigates innocent souls to the pit of dust, rendering homes vacant while souls sleep across the border and camps unknown. The term terrorism was coined from the french word “terrorisme” which is likewise derived from the Latin verb “terrere” which means to frighten and revolt against the political and religious belief of a society.

Terrorism is unofficial and unauthorized invocation of violence against the political and religious belief of society. It is classified as a violent crime against humanity and likewise classified as a fourth generation warfare.

In accordance with the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, they are observed as a war crime under the law of war whose targets are non combatants such as civilians, neutral military personnel or enemy prisoners of war. It is  an act by certain groups or organizations whose aim is to kill and drain innocent blood to institute an illegal and unauthorized regime.

To suffer unjustly under the act can be disastrous, inflicting a destructive psychology when victims are refugee in another country who are either the subject of racial abuse or misidentification, common mostly in the western world. A torrid society is born under the emergence of conflict that is not resolved or terminated despite the killings and arrests of key members of groups and organisations responsible for the attacks.

Occasions such as the Boston Marathon bombing and the World Trade Centre bombing in New York, supposedly masterminded by the late Al-Qaeda Leader, Osama Bin Laden, remind us of the volatile and destructive scenes that engulf our society by this act. Awareness and sensitization against the act has been less effective by the emergence of religious and political groups and organizations whose assertion is negative towards the belief that guide society.

Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan’s description of terrorism at the General Assembly of the United Nations in November 2004 exposed how human lives are disregarded for the purpose of intimidation. He said “terrorism is an act intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to abstain from doing any act.”

They are enacted by a group of people and organization to destabilize the philosophical, racial and religious beliefs that guide a society. It is defined likewise by Carsten Bockstette as political violence in an asymmetrical conflict that is designed to induce fear through the violent victimization and destruction of non combatant targets.

Countries involved in this act are enlisted among the dangerous places to visit due to the ethnic and religious turmoil that rages within its vicinity every second and minute.

Nigeria is not left out of this list by the emergence of the sect “Boko Haram” operating in Maiduguri , Borno state, North Eastern zone of the country.

It was founded and established by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 as an extremist group to emancipate a jihad against the influence of the western world across Nigerian society, creating a chaotic atmosphere in Borno rendering thousands dead and homeless across the state.

Boko Haram as a sect is affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and Al-Qaeda, currently spreading their caucus around neighbouring countries like Niger, Chad and Cameroon. A group referred to by themselves as ‘al-Wilayat al-Islamiyya Gharb Afriqiyyah’ forbade the existence of western education in Nigeria over the sharia education that was to be implemented across the Northern region of the country.

The belief acclaimed by the group was western education was a sin and fake, it is sacrilege and was no longer acceptable in the northern part of the country.

Boko Haram has been responsible for the incessant bomb attacks that endangered more lives and destroyed many properties since its insurgency in 2009 until the date after the death of their leader Mohammed Yusuf. This began an era of massive destruction from September 2010 progressing to 2011 when the United Nations Building and Police headquarters were attacked.

This attacks continued in 2012 in a barbaric formula much worse than its earlier attack. The Mandala attack and the kidnapping of the Chibok girls cross our minds in Nigeria.

Successive Nigeria administrations suffer under the threat of this rendering to make the place ungovernable. They no longer hide the identity and then its no longer envisaged over time that this sect will agree to a ceasefire.

Radicalism and the struggle for peace is rather an uphill task. It is likewise an enraged condemnation where it is no longer a hidden identity that they spill blood and render thousands homeless.

Ogunniyi Abayomi

Ogunniyi Abayomi was born July 11, 1991 in the city of Lagos, where he resides. A poet and essayist whose works have been published in various journals.