In recent times the Nigerian state has been rocked by
a spate of nation threatening attacks which did not
only draw blood and shatter lives but struck at the
very heart of the existence of the geo-political entity
called Nigeria, the bloody killings and terrible
kidnappings of innocent children elicited reactions
which themselves have made clear to any objective
observer that there are various strains and shades of
Boko Haram, different in form , diverse in appearance
but united in the clear objective of hate , bigotry and
lack of empathy for others.
From the criminal bandits who have relentlessly
pursued a program of wanton killings and
destructions… people who put young boys to the knife
for no other reason than the fact that they decided to
be educated … who kidnap young girls for bizarre and
non understandable reasons… whose sole goal seems
to be the unrelenting killing of innocents…. such I
refer to as Boko Haram type 1. Their case is perhaps
the most apparent, even if they are the most deadly…
To muslim-denialists who deny the fact that Boko
Haram exist … Muslims who continue to live under a
self imposed delusion that Christians are responsible
for boko haram, that the killings these bandits carry
out are nothing but orchestrations of the Christian
association of Nigeria or to some of them the
machinations of the C.I.A in the quest for the
destruction of Nigeria … as a muslim I find this
position embarrassing, illogical and pathetic. Why?
The late founder of boko haram , Muhammad Yusuf
was known in Islamic circles as far back as 2002, his
audio CDs were sold in shops publically as he spewed
his warped version of what Islam and muslims should
be …not only this , this man was confronted and
debated on these heretical thoughts by the likes of
Shaykh Jafar Mahmud Adam and Shaykh Muhammad
Awwal Albanee Zaria , who both died mysteriously
under a hail of bullets … stories abound amongst
young gullible muslims about how they were
indoctrinated and mobilized for sinister missions in
and around Maiduguri … It is on record that security
operatives battled strains of this atrocities before the
present escalation and Muhammad Yusuf himself was
arrested several times only to be released later … so
when did CAN start sponsoring boko haram? Or does
it seem reasonable that CAN would kill so many
Christians so as to give muslims a bad name? People
who think in this sorry way fail to realize that it was
our late president Umar Musa Yar’adua (may Allah be
pleased with him), himself a muslim, who issued the
instruction that the sect be put down as brutally as
possible… and it was soldiers and police men, who
had muslims amongst them, who carried out these
instruction. Why were there no screams that
Christians were involved then? What about the
numerous prisoners in the hands of the state? How
come a sizable chunk of them are not Christians?
Yes … we have had deranged or deluded individuals
who tried to reap from the conflict …like the pastor of
a town in Osun state who organized that his own
church be terrorized by members of his congregation
dressed as muslims so as to put the blame on
muslims!
However, extending his action to all Christians would
be an irresponsible generalization based on the
background information we have about boko haram.
Arguments like this abound on social media … it is
unfortunate how instead of facing our problems, some
muslims are engrossed in the pathetic peddling of
conspiracy theories!
So also do we have Christian-propagandists who,
blinded by hate and bigotry, see the boko haram
phenomenon as an opportunity to deal with the
muslims . The warped logic of such individuals can
be given in the following syllogism:
All members of Boko haram are muslims
Boko haram members are terrorists
Hence all muslims are terrorist!
Arguments of this nature , unsound and invalid ,
readily falls into the hands of wolfs in sheep clothing
who want to fan the embers of hate and bigotry by any
means possible even if with arguments any sane
person would recognize as false and illogical since
not all muslims are members of boko haram!
So also is the analogy that not all muslims are
terrorists but all terrorists are muslims!
What about Joseph Kony of Uganda? Who heads the
lord’s republican army (LRA) which is fighting for the
implementation of the biblical Ten Commandments?!
In fact veteran human rights activist and lawyer Femi
Falana, a Christian, wrote in an article (titled
President Museveni’s Hypocritical Attack On
Nigeria ) for Sahara Reporters on May 13 2014 “…It is
indisputable that the record of atrocities of LRA is by
far worse than that of the boko haram sect. It is
common knowledge that the abduction of children and
women is the hallmark of the LRA. From the account
of the Human Rights Watch between 1987 and 2006 “at
least 20, 000 Ugandan children were abducted. More
than 1.9 million people were displaced from their
homes into camps and tens of thousands of Ugandan
civilians died. Nearly the entire population of
Acholiland was displaced due to a combination of LRA
actions and the Ugandan government’s forcible
resettlement of people in camps. Living conditions in
the camps were horrific, and for years communities
were largely cut off from basic necessities. The death
toll from cholera and other diseases was often higher
than from the conflict itself”…”
Would it be sane or logical for any Muslim to assert
that all Christians are terrorists because of the
warped theology of Joseph Kony?
‘Denialist’ and propagandist are boko haram type 2.
And the most pathetic has been the reactions of
politicians to the current crisis , every action and
inaction is seen only through the lens of the upcoming
elections…some people want their tribesman still in
power , some want him out..Some people say it’s
time for APC some say the PDP must continue…and
they play fiddle, as Emperor Nero did, while the nation
burns. Even the presidency is not free of confusion if
the reactions of individuals close to the presidency is
worth anything… a certain Christian leader close to
the president believes boko haram is an Islamizing
army ( never mind the fact that Muslims have lost
their lives in droves) while a former Niger delta
militant (by the way a Muslim) also close to the
president believes it is a tribal war unleashed by
people he calls “fulanis from futa jalon” , the
presidency took more time than necessary in reacting
to the abduction of the girls since it was considered
mere political propaganda by the political opposition!
In a scathing article (titled :Boko Haram : Military is
the problem, not the solution) in ‘The Huffington Post
Uk’ of June 16, 2014, Daniel Brett lashed our nation’s
military and certain politicians of being in collusion
with Boko Haram .
It is shameful that the two most important institutions
of the Nigerian state are so effectively ridiculed and
pilloried by foreigners (like US Senator John McCain,
former US secretary of state Hilary Clinton etc). If I
were to summarize Daniel’s article I’ll simply say
‘we’ve become a banana republic!’
Let us call these individuals Boko Haram type 3!
If the war of terror waged by Boko Haram type 1 is to
be won, Boko Haram type 2 must be shamed and
silenced; Boko Haram type 3 must be sanitized,
reformed and purged!
We stand on the brink of an ethno-religious war of
gargantuan proportions and unimaginable severity,
the killing fields of Rwanda and Burundi would pale
into insignificance if these are not corrected … it is
our collective responsibility, for our future and our
children’s future…if there will be a future.
The Different Types Of Bokoharam And TheTerminal Illness Of The Nigerian State
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