Boko Haram: A Silent War

Chapter One: Who And What Are The Boko Haram, or An Introduction To Boko Haram

Introduction

Before anyone can understand what is happening in Nigeria today, he has to first understand the past of Northern Nigeria, especially the recent past that began with the British Colonization and the first Christian evangelization of many areas. But that is a story for another day.

Today, i will start off with a brief introduction to the Boko Haram.

I have based everything thing here not on CNN or Fox news or Wikipedia but mostly on first hand interviews and discussions which i have had over the years with Boko Haram fighters, ex-fighters, student of the late sheikh Muhammad Yusuf, Nigeria intelligence and internal security operatives, frontline soldiers and commanders, journalists, etc. Much of what i will write will contradict the official party line that you have all been fed by the government of the world and the main stream media. So, what is Boko Haram, who and what are they?

From the Nigerian government perspective, Boko Haram is an extremist 'Islamic' terror group with ties to Al-Qaeda and Ash-Shabaab of Somalia. In fact, the President, Goodluck Jonathan once referred to it as Al-Qaeda in West Africa. The US government narrative doesn't go as far as calling Boko Haram the Al-Qaeda branch in West Africa, but it still alleges that the group has links to Ansarud-diin of Mali, MUJAO, Al-Qaeda in the Magrib and Ash-Shabaab. But these various narratives (including the Israeli narrative that conveniently links Boko Haram to Hamas and Hizbullah) miss the point entirely and only serve to misinform the public and spread the BIG FAT LIES (BFLs).

To understand what Boko Haram is, we have to cut through the BFLs of the Main Stream Media (MSM) and the various governments and understand what they are not:

I. Boko Haram did NOT begin fighting for an Islamic state, nor did it take to arms to fight for Shari'ah.

II. Boko Haram is NOT Al-Qaeda in West Africa nor is it an off-shoot of Al-Qaeda and neither does it share the same global jihad ideology as Bin Ladin.

III. According to Colonel BM (names of sources have been changed or omitted) who works in the Office of Nigeria's National Security Adviser and is a carded National Intelligence Officer, the American, the British and Israeli governments have sought from day one to 'internationalize' this conflict and rope Boko Haram into the Global War On Terror. To achieve this, they fed Nigerian security agencies dubious intelligence about Boko Haram's Al-Qaeda links. While the Nigerian President and his administration have also towed the American line and even gone further, Colonel BM said the military and security establishments simply do not buy it, because a lot of the intelligence the Americans and their allies have passed over to the Nigerian intelligence Community has turned out to be false. They believe that although Boko Haram has had contacts with Al-Qaeda, these have been basic and perfunctory at best.  This was also confirmed by a number of ex-Boko Haram fighters who said that while Al-Qaeda in the Maghrib has sometimes communicated with and provided limited technical assistance to Boko Haram, they do not have any affiliation with them, as Boko Haram does not subscribe to the trans-national global jihad philosophy and anti-Americanism of Al-Qaeda.

4. Boko Haram is NOT the name of any insurgent group, rather it is a derogatory name coined by BBC journalists in 2009 and has become popular in contemporary usage. It is a misleading label.

5. Some of the recent bombings attributed to Boko Haram e.g the Nyanya and Wuse bombings in Abuja have been denied or have not been claimed by any of the groups collectively called Boko Haram, yet the MSM still attribute these bombings to the Boko Haram. These groups are not afraid to claim responsibility for operations they carry out.

6. Boko Haram is not a Salafi-Jihad like the Main Stream Western Media (MSWM) has presented it to be. 

If Boko Haram is not what ‘they’ say it is then what is Boko Haram?