Nigeria Conflict - Part.1

Boko Haram, officially known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, emerged in northeastern Nigeria in the early 2000s under the leadership of Mohammed Yusuf. Initially, it began as a Salafi Islamic sect promoting a puritanical interpretation of Islam and rejecting Western education and modern state institutions, which the group viewed as corrupt and un-Islamic. The sect’s ideological foundation attracted disenfranchised youths in Borno State and surrounding regions. Tensions escalated when Yusuf's followers clashed with Nigerian security forces, leading to Yusuf's extrajudicial killing in 2009. This marked a turning point, radicalizing the group and transforming it into an armed insurgency.

Under the leadership of Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram intensified its attacks, launching a violent campaign of bombings, assassinations, and mass abductions—most notoriously the 2014 kidnapping of over 270 Chibok schoolgirls. The group's activities destabilized northeastern Nigeria and spread into neighboring countries like Chad, Cameroon, and Niger, prompting the formation of a multinational joint task force to combat the threat. Boko Haram pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2015, rebranding as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), though internal divisions later split the group into factions. These divisions led to a somewhat diminished but still potent insurgency, with ISWAP becoming the more organized and regionally focused faction, while Shekau's faction remained erratic and brutal until his reported death in 2021.

In recent years, Nigeria's military, with international and regional support, has recaptured territory once controlled by Boko Haram, but the insurgency continues in fragmented form. ISWAP remains active around Lake Chad and has integrated more pragmatic strategies, such as targeting military assets over civilians and attempting to win local support. Meanwhile, humanitarian crises persist due to mass displacement, food insecurity, and destroyed infrastructure. The Nigerian government's counter-insurgency efforts face challenges including corruption, underfunding, and strained civil-military relations, complicating efforts to fully eradicate the group and stabilize affected regions.