Causes, Effects and Solution to Boko-Haram and Kidnapping in Nigeria
You have for long warned about insecurity from the North. Why do you think the army can’t contain it?
As far back as eight to nine years ago, we observed that the institution of the Nigerian army became a target of the intelligentsia behind what we called Boko Haram. They have known that the Nigerian army was the last institution in Nigeria that could practically bind the country. But now, the army seems divided. What I know is that the Nigerian army cannot handle this people because the sophistication with which the sect operates is beyond the training of the Nigerian army.
You argue that the issue is not just Islam. What is it?
I think the African is the best person to know that term. What the Africans discovered is that people will use every reason everywhere to sort out their ends. I said this still is not Islam, I said it is not religious. I said it is not political, ethnic and tribal. I said it is a new kind of war that the world knows.
Some people in the Northern part of Nigeria will still tell you that Islam had been in the country up to 600 years before Usman Dan Fodio came in. The religion of Nigerians was not killing anybody. If you like, let’s go to the archives and get the letters written by Shehu El-Kanemi, who was an Islamic scholar, addressed to Usman Dan Fodio in 1907 on the issue of jihad.
The Boko Haram crisis, according to you, has a long history. What is it?
There is nothing like Boko Haram. The Boko Haram thing was invented by the Western press after the explosion of Maiduguri. Boko Haram is just one out of the many demands of nothing less than 26 militant groups operating in the northern part of the country. And what those people did was that when the title Boko Haram was convenient for them, they used it to further their cause. It was Osama bin Laden that created a new structure of modern terrorism. That is why every sensible nation of the world has separated Islam from Islamism.
Nigerians are advocating for amnesty. What is your
As far back as eight to nine years ago, we observed that the institution of the Nigerian army became a target of the intelligentsia behind what we called Boko Haram. They have known that the Nigerian army was the last institution in Nigeria that could practically bind the country. But now, the army seems divided. What I know is that the Nigerian army cannot handle this people because the sophistication with which the sect operates is beyond the training of the Nigerian army.
You argue that the issue is not just Islam. What is it?
I think the African is the best person to know that term. What the Africans discovered is that people will use every reason everywhere to sort out their ends. I said this still is not Islam, I said it is not religious. I said it is not political, ethnic and tribal. I said it is a new kind of war that the world knows.
Some people in the Northern part of Nigeria will still tell you that Islam had been in the country up to 600 years before Usman Dan Fodio came in. The religion of Nigerians was not killing anybody. If you like, let’s go to the archives and get the letters written by Shehu El-Kanemi, who was an Islamic scholar, addressed to Usman Dan Fodio in 1907 on the issue of jihad.
The Boko Haram crisis, according to you, has a long history. What is it?
There is nothing like Boko Haram. The Boko Haram thing was invented by the Western press after the explosion of Maiduguri. Boko Haram is just one out of the many demands of nothing less than 26 militant groups operating in the northern part of the country. And what those people did was that when the title Boko Haram was convenient for them, they used it to further their cause. It was Osama bin Laden that created a new structure of modern terrorism. That is why every sensible nation of the world has separated Islam from Islamism.
Nigerians are advocating for amnesty. What is your