The Boko Haram crisis has been listed as number eight on CCTV’s top 10 global crisis.
Boko Haram loosely translated as “Western education is forbidden”, but , with real name Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad (People Committed to the Prophet’s Teachings for Propagation and Jihad) is a fanatical Islamic sect that has been waging war in the North Eastern part of the Nigeria since July 2009 when its leader, Mohammed Yusuf was killed.
Yusuf is believed to have helped the then governor of the state, Ali Modu Sheriff win the governorship election in Borno State in 2007.
A strain in the relationship between the former and latter , caused the sect which relatively practiced its unorthodox teachings in remote areas to go haywire, it is widely believed.
On 26 July, security forces arrested nine Boko Haram members and confiscated weapons and bomb-making equipment. Either this, or a clash with police during a funeral procession, led to revenge attacks on police and widespread rioting. A Joint Military Task Force operation was launched in response, and by 30 July more than 700 people had been killed, mostly Boko Haram members, and police stations, prisons, government offices, schools and churches had been destroyed. Yusuf was arrested, and died in custody “while trying to escape”, history detailing, Wikipedia said
At the beginning the dreaded sect which is now listed as terrorist organization, launched orchestrated attacks on Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, major economic capitals of the North- Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto and North Eastern states.
However, in recent times, government has been able to reduce the frequency of their attacks in Abuja, Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto.
In 2014, Boko Haram’s terror campaign in the North-East became monstrous, as it annexed town after in Borno State, the group even made a failed attempt to oust the sitting governor of the State, Governor Shetimma in the last quarter of the year.
Nigeria Army officials have regained most of the lost territories.
Boko Haram also launched its most widely known attack till date, when it kidnapped over 200 girls in the middle of the night. The girls are yet to be released and reports say they may have been sold off as slaves.
The abduction of the girls received worldwide condemnation.
During the course of the year, there were also the rumoured killing of the Abubakar Shekau, the group leader but this has been proven to be false, despite photos released by the Nigerian showing the corpse of the Shekau.
Boko Haram later released footage showing its leader spearheading wanton destruction.
Here’s what CCTV, America said about the sect
Africa’s most populous country is up against the violent Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a caliphate in northeast Nigeria under strict Shariah law.
Boko Haram drew global outrage in April with the abduction of more than 200 school girls and whose fate remains unclear.
2014 is said to be the deadliest in Boko Haram’s five-year insurgency, with as many as nine-thousand killed and nearly one-and-a-half million more displaced.