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Introduction

The term “Boko Haram” is coined from two Hausa words “boko” meaning book, animist, western and “haram” meaning sin or forbidden. It opposes everything western ranging from education, culture to modern sciences. The name “Boko Haram” was given to the group by residents of Maiduguri, Borno State where the group was formed. They are officially called Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad which means people committed to the prophet’s teachings for Propagation and jihad.” The religious sect is believed to have received training and fund from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Boko haram’s emergence is believed to have been influenced by the teaching of Maitatsine, Mohammed Marwa, a muslim preacher who fought against the existence of the education system enforced on the Sokoto Caliphate in 1903 by the British.

In 2002, the Boko haram sect was formed and created by one, Mohammed Yussuf, a radical Islamic preacher in Maiduguri, Borno State which is in the Northeastern part of Nigeria. It moved to Kanamma, Yobe State where a base called Afghanistan was formed in 2004.

Boko haram is an Islamic religious group and terrorist that believes that western education is sin. It believes that Nigeria as a country is governed by unbelievers and so, seeks to establish a fully Islamic state in the country by imposing the criminal sharia courts across the country. It started by creating a complex in form of a school which was meant for in depth training of the Islamic principles. As a form of education, it attracted the poor families from within and outside the country especially the Muslims who sent their children there. The creation of the complex was with the ultimate goal of creating an Islamic State to overthrow the government. He attracted the unemployed youths as followers by turning the complex to a recruiting ground for Jihadis. Some of the foundamental critics of the sect are that banking, education and taxation are contrary to the Islamic teachings. It is against co-education where boys and girls are mixed together under the same roof. The banking system is also faulted as they argue against the ideas of interest in any form of financial transaction. Various scholars have divergent views on the origin and emergence of Boko Haram in Nigeria. (Ajayi, 2012) is of the opinion that

The Northern region of Nigeria has always been a very fertile ground for religious activism, beginning with the Jihad of Uthman Dan Fodio in the early 18th century, partly because of the inability or unwillingness of the ruling elite to separate politics from religion (Ajayi, 1990:55-65). Since they often derived legitimacy from religion and not the people they frequently employ religion as a political weapon for self preservation, mass mobilization, perpetuation in office and diversion of attention from their ineptitude, corruption and incompetence. This is not peculiar to the North for as Yusuf Bala Usman (1979) has rightly observed. The intermediary bourgeois (the ruling eliteours) cannot claim political leadership openly on the grounds that he is, or wants to be, an exporter, shareholder, rentier or rich bureaucrat. He has to take over as a Muslim or Christian. He has to take over as an Ibo (sic), Hausa, Idoma or Efik… The manipulation of religion in Nigeria today is essentially a means of creating the context for this fancy dress ball, for this charade of disguises. This game of masks (pp. 88-89). Thus, while the ruling elites in the Southern region of Nigeria, which is predominantly Christian, have been patronizing Christianity for selfish political gains their Northern counterparts have also been manipulating Islam for the same purpose. But the situation in the North is more manifest because of its relatively monolithic character; a situation brought about first by the Jihad and later by colonialism. Ever since many fundamentalist religious groups, the most prominent being the Maitatsine sect, evolved to confront the pretentious ruling elites through several religious uprisings.

He argues his view on the origin of Boko Haram on the ground of politics. He sees the ruling class as corrupt hence the emergence of the religious sect to truncate their selfish and corrupt practices which may be partially accepted.