If ever the Boko Haram leader had a mission statement it would read something like this:
If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.
Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t.
And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be.
And what it wouldn’t be, it would.
You see?
You don’t see? BOMB
Alice In Wonderland Abubakar Shekau in LocoLand
But yet when the media talks about Abubakar Shekau the declared leader of boko haram they use words like intriguing, complex andintelligent. In fact the BBC describes Shekau as “a fearless loner, a complex, paradoxical man – part intellectual, part gangster.”
Huh? When last I checked he was a cold blooded murderer responsible for attacks on unarmed children. But yet the media international and national give him and his organization credibility by saying stuff like boko haram is getting more sophisticated in their attacks. There is nothing sophisticated about opening firing on unarmed children in the middle of the night and then running into bushes. It is crude and it is cowardly.
And the media, you me and everyone should start describing boko haram and its leaders as what they really are. A cowardly terrorist organization that not only picks on unarmed citizens but children as well. Let’s stop the over-glorification of boko haram. There is nothing sophisticated or intelligent about killing children. Nothing.
The Artificiality of Boko Haram
First of all, let us understand that Boko Haram is a fabricated artificial terrorist group.
When I say artificial, it goes to mean that there is no solid or clear reason as to why they kill so violently or why they even exist at such a level as this. Unlike other known terror groups that seem to have a historical reason for their existence, they (boko haram) seem to simply exist out of nowhere. They simply seem to fight because someone wants them to fight.
If in fact you tried to negotiate with boko haram it will be quite a frustrating exercise because they really don’t have any clear cut demands, their agenda seems to be to cause disruption and kill as many people as possible … under an Islamic excuse guise of Jihad war. But I just don’t buy it, I believe there is a core artificiality to Boko Haram. It’s like a penalty kick in a soccer game, where the striker runs into a stagnant defender and tries to simulate a foul … first time the ref might fall for it, but over time it starts to smell funny.
Other terror groups, tend to have a distinct pattern.
For instance, Hezbollah an Islamic Militant terror group (as designated by the west) … was conceived following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. That was the trigger. They existed as a defensive alternative to the weak Lebanese army as a way to protect Lebanon from Israel. Their goal was clear: To end with whatever means available … including suicide bombing, assassination and terror … the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. They had a reason for existing: they were invaded. They also had a goal: the liberation of Lebanon from Israel. If you entered into negotiation with Hezbollah you could predict what the discussion would be about.
Then you have the Al-Qaeda terror group, headed by the thankfully late Osama Bin Laden. Al-Qaeda was formed from the remnants of the mujahideen group that successfully opposed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Their reason for existence was clear, again like Hezbollah they were created out of a need to defend against a foreign invasion … the Soviets.
But the money question is why the enmity towards America and Saudi Arabia by Al Qaeda? After all America ironically funded the pre-Al-Qaeda group mujahideen and Osama Bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia. Well the answer is quite simple, depending on your definition of simplicity.
Out of many things, Saudi Arabia supported the Oslo Accords, which was a peace deal plan that attempted to resolve the Israeli and Palestine land squabble/war. Osama did not like that … why? Because Osama like Hezbollah was against any type of support of an Israeli state. Evil but again the pattern and goal was clear. Anti-Israel and thus Anti-American.
Coming back to Africa, we have the Al-Shabaab a group that has been waging terror attacks in Kenya. The Al-Shabaab a jihadist group based in Somalia … were an off shoot of another Somalian radical group called the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The original group was created to oppose the legitimate Somalian Transitional Federal Government but after the (the ICU) 2006 defeat it splintered after into several smaller groups including the Al-Shabaab.
The Al-Shabaab continued to wage war against the Somalian government. But in 2007 The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) consisting of different armies in Africa was formed to counter the Al-Shabaab. One of those armies was the Kenya army, in fact the Kenya army make up about 20% of the AMISOM forces. The presense or supposed invasion of Kenya into Somalia like all the examples above is what triggered the Al-Shabaab attacks in Kenya. The goal for Al-shabaab is to get Kenyan troops out of Somali. Again negotiation, if it were to happen would be clear.
But lets come back to the artificiality of boko haram. Unlike any of the examples above, there is no clear pattern as to why they exist and with so much hate.
In the case of Hezbollah there was an Israeli invasion, in the case of Al-Qaeda there was a Soviet Invasion and in the case of Al-Shabaab a Kenyan invasion. But in the case of boko haram there was no invasion … their creation was unprovoked. Its like they appeared from nowhere. They would argue that their justification is the supposed killing of their sect leader Mohammed Yusuf by the Nigerian government.
But the problem with that line of thinking is that even before his death they (the boko haram) were already arming themselves. So regardless of whether Yusuf died or not, boko haram would have found an excuse to insight violence. “O the Nigeria flag has white in it, we don’t like it…BOMB.”
But their existence is not the only thing wrong in this pattern, the other thing is their goal. What exactly are they fighting for. If you were to in fact sit down and negotiate with Loco-haram (being crazy is a sin) I mean Boko haram you will be confused.
First of all, they said it was a war against Christians so they started attacking Churches, then it became a war against Muslims then they started attacking Mosques. Then it was a war against western education so they started attacking schools, but then it became a war against cars so they started attacking Motor Parks. Then they said it was a war against corrupt politicians but then they started blowing up innocent Nigerian citizens including children. It’s like they are making shit up things as they go!
Their demands are vague and impossible to address. They say they are against western education and churches in Nigeria. But churches in Nigeria have always existed!?!
Again unlike other terror groups where there was some sort of invasion, in the boko haram case there was no invasion. It was like they woke up and said “oh my god, look at all these Churches in Nigeria…BOMB.”
At the end of the day, the whole boko haram thing smells fake. They simply seem to exist to cause disruption in Nigeria. But why? Is it to split Nigeria? Is it to trigger a civil war that someone benefits from? Is it for political reasons? Nobody knows. Okay somebody knows, me I don’t know. But I am not buying the whole boko haram excuse for war. Because they don’t follow the core pattern.
They seem to be an organization whose goal is to kill and disrupt Nigeria while trying to use jihad/islam to cover up their actions. And that’s sad, that someone could wake up unprovoked and unleash such terror. But what is sadder is that you can’t negotiate with them, not because of the American “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” lingua but because there is really nothing to negotiate about because they defy even the illogical terrorist pattern of reasoning. BOMB!
Written and Drawn By Okechukwu Ofili of ofilispeaks.com
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