Growing radicalisation
The Boko Haram insurgency is the natural progression of growing intolerance, which has resulted in widespread discrimination against Christians in northern Nigeria, said Suleiman*, who oversees the work in West Africa of Open Doors, which provides practical support to Christians facing persecution, and which organised the meeting.
The insurgency began in the 1990s and reached a violent stage in 2009, after 12 northern states adopted Islamic sharia law.
“Christians were treated as second-class citizens, and were denied their basic rights, like access to certain jobs [or promotion], no matter their level of qualification. Admission to school is still difficult; abduction of Christian girls was common practice long before the advent of Boko Haram,” Suleiman explained.
“In many states, the school curriculum has been changed and Islamic studies for all were introduced in government schools. Radical imams preached a rigorous version of Islam, openly calling young people to rise and fight for jihad.
“They sowed hatred in the minds of young people, and we reaped religious violence and attacks against Christians.
“Anything can be used as a pretext for anti-Christian violence. In 2006, extremist Muslims organised attacks in six cities, destroying, in Maiduguri alone [in the northeast], 56 churches and a number of people were killed. What was their excuse? Somebody drew cartoons of Mohammed in Denmark. Israel attacks Hamas in the Middle-East? Christians will pay the price.
“The indoctrination and the hate massages they have been pumping into the minds of young people have grown over time and led to Boko Haram’s insurgency in 2009, which has now become a well organised attack against Christians.”
Widespread suffering
The insurgency has created widespread suffering in northern Nigeria, added Atta Barkindo, researcher and Ph.D. student at the London School of Oriental and African Studies.
Both Christians and Muslims have paid a very high price at the hands of Boko Haram, he said. Muslims who are not supportive of the insurgency have been killed, while others have to flee to save their lives.
He spoke of a sudden increase in “night madrassas” (schools where the Quran is taught) and a sharp drop in attendance at “Western-education” schools (Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden.”).
Barkindo explained that in Nigeria education is often overseen by state authorities, rather than Federal Ministries. He spoke of one example he knew personally, where an imam was teaching 300-400 pupils without any external regulation or any kind of medical checks.
He also referred to the existence of other Islamist sects, such as Aljanna Tabbas (in Gombe State) and Kala Kato (in Bauchi State).
According to the UN, some 25,000 people have lost their lives in six years, due to the Boko Haram insurgency, while 2.5 million others have been displaced in the Lake Chad region since 2013.
