lslamic Fundamentalism and Global Terrorism: Defending the Nigerian State

By Msonter Anzaa

It was never a popular trend in Nigeria. Nigerians watched it on their televisions and heard it over their radios. In recent years however, global terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism appear to have come to stay in the country. In the northern part of the country especially in Bauchi and Borno states, killings are reported almost on daily basis. The Nigerian government seems helpless. The Nigerian people seem not to care enough to act. Yet both the government and the people live with the consequences everyday.

In the year 2009, there was a militant uprising in Maiduguri, Borno state. An unknown group of people was attacking and burning down churches, schools and police stations. Soon, the unrest spread to neighbouring states. It took the combined efforts of the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Army to put the group under control though not without the death of its leader. The group called itself “Boko Haram”. Today it has permeated every corner of Northern Nigeria. It claims responsibility for everyday killings of security personnel in that region. Often, a gunman on a motorcycle rides into a security officer, shoots same and speeds off. Tongues begin to wag with eloquent promises of bringing the culprits to book. This ends in silence usually broken by another attack; two officers dead!

Though it loves to call itself an Islamic sect, Boko Haram the group’s name means “western education is forbidden”. Its attacks are directed at all western institutions in Nigeria. It aims to eliminate all these institutions and establish a strict Islamic rule. Long before its formation, religious crises were common in northern and central Nigeria. At one time or the other, churches, mosques, homes and markets were burnt down and people were killed. The usual thing was for the government of the day to make a national broadcast t and set up committees to “look into the matter”. The remote and immediate causes of these crises were probably never found or addressed. Some of these crises like the one in Jos, Plateau state, became so recurrent that the whole nation was bored. The blood that flowed down the Plateau from the death (by hacking, macheting, burning, suffocation in wells, etc) of Nigerians caused by their fellow country men was intolerable.

To say that no legal religion teaches that kind of violence in Nigeria, is to state the obvious. The reason they always have some religious coloration is that they want an emotional rallying point. I know- and every Nigerian, including the little, naïve school boys playing football in the streets know- the root issues that throw up these questions. These issues, whether the rank and file in Nigerian leadership agree or not, are poverty and continued impoverization of the masses, corruption in high places, and a sustained alienation of the people of Nigeria from the affairs of their country. Take Boko Haram for instance. While I do not sympathize with the group for anything, what does it take to know why the group feels western education should be forbidden? Western education has been in the country since the arrival of her colonial masters. Since then, highly educated individuals have assumed leadership of the Nigerian nation. What has been the difference? Have we had better legislation, more people-oriented policies or fair representation? Instead, the Nigerian nation has had western educated ministers, commissioners, governors and professors who “seek bribe and demand ten percent”; who make divisive, inciting comments that threaten peace on a far larger scale than any uprising in the country has done. So if the only thing Western education can bring to Nigeria is a bunch of irrational, selfish economic saboteurs whose aim in government is to lift the national treasury with the attendant consequences to the ordinary citizens, is the Boko Haram or indeed any other group not justified in saying this kind of education should be forbidden?

The consequences of this trend are great. For one, the creature called the “Nigerian” has got a more uncertain fate. Boko Haram has demonstrated its ability to strike at any target, at any time. The number of National Youth Service Corp members that died in one of the states alone, is ten. Ten young, fresh, innocent ladies and gentlemen in their twenties were dragged to the battle line alias elections in Nigeria. The state then stepped back and watched them brought down in their prime. These guys went through hell called Nigeria educational system to graduate with hope of earning a decent living from their years of hard work. It was not their fault that a stubborn national government failed in its obligations. In fact, they too were victims of this failure of governance. Even if this kind of thing were to happen in a nation that values its youths, it would be painful. But for it to have happened in a country that does not remember its young ones until they graduate, and then turns round to demand compulsory service is even more upsetting. This is an issue for another day anyway. Now, with the bombing by a suicide bomber, of the Police Force Headquarters, Boko Haram has introduced another dimension to local terrorism. Ordinarily, the Police Headquarters should be the safest place in the country, if it can fall easily to Boko Haram like that it shows how safe the rest of the country is.

Some Nigerians have suggested an amnesty package for members of the Boko Haram similar to that of the Niger Delta rebels. That is their opinion. But I think that any kind of amnesty for the sect is at best bribe and at worst a surrender of the Nigerian state. It will not solve any problem. It will create many more.

First, it will send a message to other groups of dissatisfied country men that one way of benefiting from the national government is to constitute a terror network.

Second, it will prove that the Nigerian government is a stubborn assembly of individuals who have to be pushed to the wall before they can act. Any kind of this amnesty in this case would be misplaced. The main issues of poverty, corruption and the sustained distancing of the government from the governed, if they are not addressed will remain converging points for violent agitations. One permanent solution would be to reeducate the miseducated fellows who have constantly abused the privileges of office.

In the immediate term, the Nigerian government must tighten security at the borders to stop aliens from coming in. It must be noted that Al-Qaeda has been reported to have identified Nigeria as ripe for a jihad. Its activities in Chad under Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb are a concern to every one. Nigeria is a place of disorder. Foreigners from Chad and Niger invariably find their way through the porous borders into the country. In the just concluded elections, some of these aliens were arrested attempting to vote. The Nigerian security system has to be strengthened and made proactive rather than reactive. If suicide bombing does not prevail in the country, it would not be because a miracle has happened in the security system. It would be because Nigerians are people that value life and would not give up theirs easily.

However, a permanent solution to this problem would involve the entire Nigerian population. Sufficient awareness must be created in every Nigerian citizen on the end to actively defend the Nigerian state. This cannot be done by radio jingles that ask the population to do one thing while officials of government do the opposite. It can be done by a sincere reeducation and an over haul of the mental orientation of every Nigerian. It must get to a level where every Nigerian sees it as a national responsibility to protect national institutions and fellow country people. Abandoned bags must be promptly reported to security personnel. Improperly parked vehicles and suspicious individuals must be apprehended and handed over to law agents. It means the level of vigilance and concern exhibited by every Nigerian will have to increase. Of course, individuals taking these heroic risks must do so with a feeling that they are defending a nation, their own nation that values and appreciates them. This kind of appreciation can express itself in the commitment of government to the general wellbeing of the people.

Finally, terrorism and religious radicalism are not peculiar to Nigeria. They exist elsewhere too. Success in curtailing them depends on how sincere and efficient governments address their root causes which are invariably in some social injustice. In Nigeria, the government must be more responsive to the aspirations of its people. It must also be able to separate legitimate grievances from criminal-intentioned disturbances. The people of Nigeria must be made to feel proud of their country and see it as their own. When this happens, when sufficient attention is paid to the issue of poverty and corruption, the Nigerian state under God shall defeat her enemies.