The geopolitics of Boko Haram and Nigeria's ‘war on terror’

Abstract

The April 2014 kidnapping of the schoolgirls at Chibok, north‐eastern Nigeria, has meant that Boko Haram is now widely discussed by Western governments and in Western media. Yet within Nigeria the group has been well known for several years. Boko Haram's activities, or actions attributed to the group, have developed in a range of ways, many contradictory, including bombings, kidnappings of Europeans within Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon, killing of medical personnel, and overtures for dialogue with the Federal Government. There are recurrent reports of links to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and in the past few years the United States has taken a much more active role in the region. Some of the wider geopolitical issues relate to the French‐led intervention in Mali; a country to which Nigeria has also sent troops. This article tries to disentangle these different questions. It looks first at who Boko Haram are, and their history. It situates the group within the wider context of Nigerian politics, and to discuss the biopolitical and geopolitical elements of their operations and of the actions of the Nigerian security services and other actors towards them. It ends by relating what is happening within and beyond Nigeria to the wider context of the ‘war on terror’.

Boko Haram in the Nigerian press: The politics of labelling

“…Some of the labels diverted attention from critical issues associated with Boko Haram, for example, corruption, because fighting 'terrorism' has become an economic problem and an enterprise with a big price tag. The federal government, for example, claims that about 20% of the annual budget is expended on security (Elden, 2014).…”

New Media and the Challenges of Boko Haram Terrorism: Proposing the Adoption of Human-Wearable Digital Technology

“…Agara (2015) has defined it as "propaganda of the deed" or "propaganda by deed". Adora the UN office for Drugs and Crime Prevention in 1992 defines terrorism as "an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individuals, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby -in contrasts to assassination, the direct targets of violence are not the main targets (Adora, 2010;Elden, 2014). Another important definition of terrorism was given by African Union (AU) in article 1 (3) as: "any act which is a violation of the criminal laws of a state party and which may endanger the life, physical integrity or freedom of, or cause serious injury or death to any person, any number or group of persons or causes or may cause damage to public or private property, natural resources, environmental or cultural heritage (Oyeniyi, 2010).…”

“…Nearly two decades since the wake of the 21 st Century, terrorism (especially on religious or faith divides) is increasingly becoming appealing to youth irrespective of their nationality and gender. The media are replete with reports about young men and women seeking to join terrorist groups folds (mostly from EU countries like Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain as well as the US and Australia), or are being abducted and indoctrinated (especially in Sub-Saharan countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Cameroun, Chad, Mali and Somalia) (Elden, 2014;Graaf, 1982;Stephens, 2010).…”

Operational Dynamics of Boko Haram's Terrorist Campaign Following Leadership Succession

“…For much of the spring of 2014, it was difficult to access any social media site without seeing a reference to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Boko Haram, however, had been in existence since 2003 and had been engaged actively in terrorism since 2009 (Smith, ; Elden, ; Maiangwa et. al, ; Cook, ).…”

“…However, in July 2009 the group used armed conflict against security forces in cities in the Bauchi, Borno, Kano, and Yobe states of northeastern Nigeria. Media accounts attribute the triggering event to the police stopping some Boko Haram members for not wearing motorcycle helmets with violence erupting when the police killed and wounded several of them during the confrontation (Elden, ). Boko Haram responded by launching attacks on numerous police stations.…”