Borno state, carved out of the North Eastern state in 1976, is one place that means different things to different people. For some, it is one of the farthest points in the north east, famous for its harsh weather. To others, it is that state that produces the delicious fish from the shores of lake Chad which many Nigerians love. For those who do not share any of these connections, their only connection to Borno may be through history books, where the famous El-Kanemi dynasty held sway in the old Kanem Borno empire after the fall of Seyfawa and Mai dynasty. And of recent, the Boko Haram story that has placed the state on world map for the wrong reasons.
A popular African proverb says that once a finger is soiled in oil, it stains the others. It is sad that many have missed the opportunity of knowing about the rich history and culture of Borno people. As a result, many people around the world who may not have bothered to know where Borno is on the Nigerian map now know. No thanks to the mental and psychological anguish the sect has unleashed on the people of the North east and Nigerians in general in the last four years.
However, this is not the focus of this piece. Rather, it is an attempt to make a contribution on how we can kill the Boko Haram ideology, to complement the military approach. Reason, the founder of what is today known as Jama’atu Ahlus Sunnah Liddawati wal Jihad Mohammed Yusuf and thousands of his followers were killed in July 2009, but instead the sect grew in strength and savagery under Abubakar Shekau. The group not only surpassed the vision of its founder, but also dazzled the world beyond the imagination of counter terrorism experts.
Many have advanced reasons for the emergence and growth of Boko Haram like failure of leadership and poverty, while these factors are on point, we seem to have missed a salient causative factor in the rise of the sect. This is no other than lack of equal opportunities for youths in Borno. A critical look at the list of those who have held key and juicy political and civil service jobs in at the state and federal level from Borno from 1979 to date shows they are from twenty five different families. Till date, the families are now recycling it among their children. These families cut across the three senatorial districts in the state. From Borno North, four families have dominated the landscape, Borno south ten families and central eleven families. I would not mention the names of these families as this may defeat the aim of this piece. It may also undermine those concerned and their individual achievements. I also expect some people to attack the
views expressed here, but am prepared because the web is a market place of ideas. Some may argue that this trend is a mere coincidence or deliberate. Reason, some families in Borno had early contact with western education when others were taking a nap under the neem tree.
Unconsciously, over the last thirty five years it became an unwritten law in Borno that you have to be from one of these families to get anything in business,politics or civil service. This is partly why Senator Ali Modu Sheriff became governor in 2003 without a first degree, in a state where you have many with two or more masters degree especially from the central and southern part of the state. His father, Modu Sheriff is part of the Borno establishment. Owing to barrage of insult from political opponents from Borno, Sheriff was forced to get his first degree from the University of Maiduguri in his second term under circumstances that may be a subject of investigation by Borno people in the near future.
Governor Kashim Shettima is the first person to break the jinx in 2011 by attaining the number one position in the state coming from a humble background with no ties to the establishment. This story will be revisited later. As a result, wealth of Borno is concentrated in the hands of these families who are less than one percent of the entire population. This inequality was responsible for some masses jubilating when Boko haram started killing the rich and famous in 2012, forcing many to flee the state and are yet to return.
In addition, the Northern part of Borno with ten local governments namely Kaga, Marte, Mobbar, Abadam, Gubio, Guzamala, Kukawa, Naganzai, Monguno and Magumeri were left behind in terms of the development. This accounts for why that senatorial district is today cut away from civilization and Boko haram made more inroads there than the central and Southern part of the state. This is in spite of the fact that the zone has produced three governors Mohammed Goni, Asheik Jarma and Maina Maaji Lawan. It is totally out of place to blame these governors for the plight of Northern Borno. The three governors did not have enough time and resources like Mala Kachallah and Ali Modu Sheriff. Rather, all the local government chairmen that served in Northern Borno from 1999 to date are guilty of wasting the resources of the areas on ‘’stomach infrastructure’’. This inequality became the genesis of the ‘’bad blood’’ that has been brewing for three decades and finally exploded in 2009 with Boko Haram confronting the state.
It would be recalled that the Yobe Taliban (2004)which later metamorphosed into ‘’Yusuffiyya’’ and now Boko Haram got their first set of recruits from disgruntled elements in well to do families in Borno and Yobe states, before moving to the families of the masses. The group found an easy ally in some of these disgruntled elements from well to do families because many could not reconcile their parent’s ostentatious life style with the crass poverty around them. It is also interesting to note that those arrested for being part of the Yobe Taliban from both states were neither prosecuted nor their names made public till this moment. This is because the names of the families needed to be protected from shame and disgrace. Establishment conspiracy if there is no better way to say it.
For the majority of these youths from poor families, the Boko Haram is their answer to what the few families have been enjoying for three decades. This is because the rich cannot sleep when the poor are hungry and angry. After all, Karl Max says religion is the opium of the masses. Over the years, the ideological state apparatuses (Louis Althusser) in the form of schools,church and mosque did not see anything wrong with this time bomb waiting to explode until now.The mosque and church are the two most influential institutions in Borno due to cult following the clerics have among their followers. Unfortunately, they turned a bind to the injustice in the society which formed the central theme of Mohammed Yusuf’s preaching in 2002 and won him followers.