TIME TO STOP BOKO HARAM, OTHERS
Africa region has been experiencing significant levels of terrorism since 2013. Africa has largest number of classified terrorist groups in the world which are Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, Boko Haram terrorist group of Nigeria, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Shabaab of Somali, Ansar ul-Islam and Ansar, among others.
According to “Terrorism in Africa: A Qualitative Analysis” written by Adriana Linsde Albuquerque, 218 known organizations have perpetrated terrorist acts in Africa. But, only a handful of groups are behind most of the major incidents. Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab, the two notorious terrorist groups based in Nigeria and Somalia were responsible for nearly 50 per cent of attacks in Africa.
In West Africa, Boko Haram, the Nigeria version of AlQaeda, which means “Western Education is a Sin” came into existence since year 2002. In 2009, it metamorphosed into a violent sect to create an Islamic State in northern Nigeria. Thereafter, in 2015, the sect pledged allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It has extended its operations to the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic.
Boko Haram has massacred over 100,000 people both civilians and military personnel in Nigeria, displaced hundred of thousands of people and destroyed property through suicide bombings and assaults on civilians as well as kidnapping of over 276 school girls.
Boko Haram and a splinter group known as Ansaru, had carried out series of kidnapping, killings, bombings, and attacks on civilians and military targets. The Nigerian states where these attacks occurred most frequently are Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Plateau, Taraba and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
On July 6, 2013, over 50 students were murdered in their dormitories at Mamudo Government Secondary School in Yobe State. Some 44 persons praying at a Mosque outside Maiduguri and another 12 civilians nearby in Borno were simultaneously killed.
Also, Boko Haram terrorists killed more than 40 students in the dormitory of an agricultural technical school in Yobe State. According to UNICEF, the activities of Boko Haram have forced more than 2,000 schools to close and disrupted the education of more than a million children.
Records show thatBoko Haram alone has carried out over 180 attacks in Nigeria, making the sect the most deadly terrorist group not only in Africa but globally. Through the activity of Boko Haram, the economy of northern Nigeria has been devastated as the fight against Boko Haram is sucking the scarce financial resources of states in the north -east Nigeria.
On the other hand in East Africa is Al-Shabaab which means “the youth” in Arabic, a Somalia-based terrorist group that operates also on Ethiopian land of Addis Ababa and Kenya. Agunloye Adewunmi Bashiru, bagunloye@gmail.com