WAR AGAINST TERRORISM; NIGERIAN DIPLOMATIC DIMENSION AGAINST BOKO HARAMINSURGENCY

CHAPTER ONE

1. 1. INTRODUCTION

The Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009, when the jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. In 2013, more than 1,000 died in the conflict. The violence escalated dramatically in 2014, with 10,849 deaths. The insurgency has since spread to Cameroon, Chad, and Niger thus becoming a major regional conflictBoko Haram conducted its operations more or less peacefully during the first seven years of its existence. That changed in 2009 when the Nigerian government launched an investigation into the group's activities following reports that its members were arming themselves.Prior to that the government reportedly repeatedly ignored warnings about the increasingly militant character of the organisation, including that of a military officer.When the government came into action, several members of the group were arrested in  sparking deadly clashes with Nigerian security forces which led to the deaths of an estimated 700 people. During the fighting with the security forces Boko Haram fighters reportedly "used fuel-laden motorcycles" and "bows with poison arrows" to attack a police station.The group's founder and then leader Mohammed Yusuf was also killed during this time while still in police custody.After Yusuf's killing, AbubakarShekau became the leader and still holds the position as of January 2015 .After the killing of M. Yusuf, the group carried out its first terrorist attack in Borno in January 2010. It resulted in the killing of four people. Since then, the violence has only escalated in terms of both frequency and intensity. In September 2010, a Bauchi prison break freed more than 700 Boko Haram militants, replenishing their force.On 29 May 2011, a few hours after Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as president, several bombings purportedly by BokoHaram killed 15 and injured 55. On 16 June, Boko Haram claimed to have conducted the Abuja police headquarters bombing, the first known suicide attack in Nigeria. Two months later the United Nations building in Abuja was bombed, signifying the first time that Boko Haram attacked an international organisation. In December, it carried out attacks in Damaturu killing over a hundred people, subsequently clashing with security forces in December, resulting in at least 68 deaths. Two days later on Christmas Day, Boko Haram attacked several Christian churches with bomb blasts and shootings.In January 2012, AbubakarShekau, a former deputy to Yusuf, appeared in a video posted on YouTube. According to Reuters, Shekau took control of the group after Yusuf's death in 2009. Authorities had previously believed that Shekau died during the violence in 2009. By early 2012, the group was responsible for over 900 deaths .On 15 April 2014, terrorists abducted about 276 female students from a college in Chibok in Borno state. The abduction was widely attributed to Boko Haram. It was reported that the group had taken the girls to neighbouring Cameroon and Chad where they were to be sold into marriages at a price below a Dollar. The abduction of another eight girls was also reported later. These kidnappings raised public protests, with some protesters holding placards bearing the Twitter tag #bringbackourgirls which had caught international attention. Several countries pledged support to the Nigerian government and to help their military with intelligence gathering on the whereabouts of the girls and the operational camps of Boko Haram.

1.1  BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In May 2013, Nigerian governmental forces launched an offensive in the Borno region in an attempt to dislodge Boko Haram fighters after a state of emergency was called on 14 May. The state of emergency, which is still in force as of May 2014, applies to the states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa in northeastern Nigeria. Starting in late January 2015, a coalition of military forces from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger began a counter-insurgency campaign against Boko Haram.  On 4 February, the Chad Army killed over 200 Boko Haram militants. Soon afterwards, Boko Haram launched an attack on the Cameroonian town of Fotokol, killing 81 civilians, 13 Chadian soldiers and 6 Cameroonian soldiers. In February 17, 2015, the Nigerian military retook Monguno in a coordinated air and ground assault.On 7 March 2015, Boko Haram's leader AbubakarShekau pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant via an audio message posted on the organisation's Twitter account. Nigerian army spokesperson Sami UsmanKukasheka said the pledge was a sign of weakness and that Shekau was like a "drowning man". That same day, five suicide bomb blasts left 54 dead and 143 wounded. On 12 March 2015, ISIL's spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani released an audiotape in which he welcomed the pledge of allegiance, and described it as an expansion of the group's caliphate to West Africa.On 24 March 2015, residents of Damasak, Nigeria said that Boko Haram had taken more than 400 women and children from the town as they fled from coalition forces. On March 27, the Nigerian army captured Gwoza, which was believed to be the location of Boko Haram headquarters. On election day, 28 March 2015, Boko Haram extremists killed 41 people, including a legislator, to discourage hundreds from voting.In March 2015, Boko Haram lost control of the Northern Nigerian towns of Bama and Gwoza (believed to be their headquarters) to the Nigerian army. The Nigerian authorities said that they had taken back 11 of the 14 districts previously controlled by Boko Haram. In April, four Boko Haram camps in the sambisaforest  were overrun by the Nigerian military who freed nearly 300 females. Boko Haram forces were believed to have retreated to the mandara mountains along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. On 16 March, the Nigerian army said that it had recaptured Bama. On 27 March 2015, the day before the Nigerian presidential election, the Nigerian Army announced that it had recaptured the town of Gwoza from BokoHaram.By April 2015, the Nigerian military was reported to have retaken most of the areas previously controlled by Boko Haram in North-Eastern Nigeria except for the SambisaForest.In May 2015, the Nigerian military announced that they had released about 700 women from camps in SambisaForest.The Nigerian government has equally seek the support of the United State of Americas  in this direction and with joint US/ Nigeria military action hope rises for the elimination of Boko haram insurgency in Nigeria.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The threat to lives and property posed by terrorism in Nigeria had escalated in recent times leading to the death of thousands of Nigerians, loss of property,while many are being held hostage.Consequently the Nigerian government through its military and security forces declared a total war

The problem confronting this research is to appraise the war on terrorism ;nigerias diplomatic initiative against the Boko Haram insurgency.

1.3   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1  What is terrorism

What is the nature of the boko haram insurgency in Nigeria

What is the effect of the boko haram insurgency

What is the nature of the war against the boko haram insurgency in Nigeria

What is the nature of nigerias diplomatic initiative against the boko haram insurgency

1.4  OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1  TO appraise the nature of terrorism in Nigeria

2 To determine the nature of the bokoharam  insurgency in Nigeria

3 To determine the effect of boko haram insurgency

4 To appraise the war against the boko haram insurgency

To determine nigerias diplomatic initiative against the boko haram insurgency.

1.5    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study intends to determine,the nature , causes,effect of the boko haram insurgency

As well as project the war and achievement of  the Nigerian  government  through diplomatic initiative and its military and security forces against the boko haram insurgency

1.6    STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

1   Ho   The level of terrorism is  low in Nigeria

     Hi  The level of terrorism is high in Nigeria

2   Ho   The effect of boko haram insurgency in Nigeria is low

     Hi     The effect of boko haram insurgency in Nigeria is high

3   Ho  The effect of  the  war and nigerias diplomatic dimensions against boko haram insurgencyis low

    Hi     The effect of the war and nigerias diplomatic dimensions against boko haram insurgency is  high

1.7    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

    The study focuses on the war on terrorism an appraisal of nigerias diplomatic initiative against the boko haram insurgency .