HISTORY OF BOKO HARAM
The Islamic group was formerly known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād ( "Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad") .
The Islamic group was formerly known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād ( "Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad") .
Mohammed Yusuf founded the sect that became known as Boko Haram in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of the north-eastern state of Borno.
He established a religious complex and school that attracted poor Muslim families from across Nigeria and neighbouring countries. The center had the political goal of creating an Islamic state, and became a recruiting ground for jihadis.
It has been speculated that the reason Yusuf founded Boko Haram appears to be that he saw an opportunity to exploit public outrage at government corruption by linking it to Western influence in governance.
Boko Haram conducted its operations more or less peacefully during the first seven years of its existence, withdrawing from society into remote north-eastern areas.
The government repeatedly ignored warnings about the increasingly militant character of the organization.The Council of Ulama advised the government and the Nigerian Television Authority not to broadcast Yusuf's preaching, but their warnings were ignored.
Their beliefs tend to be centered on strict adherence to Wahhibism, which is an extremely strict form of Islam that sees many other forms of Islam as idolatrous.
Boko Haram seeks the establishment of an Islamic state in Nigeria. It opposes the Westernization of Nigerian society and the concentration of the wealth of the country among members of a small political elite, mainly in the Christian south of the country.
According to Borno Sufi Imam Sheik Fatahi, Yusuf was trained by Kano Salafi Izala Sheik Ja'afar Mahmud Adamu, who called him the "leader of young people"; the two split some time in 2002–2004.
In a 2009 BBCinterview, Yusuf, described by analysts as being well-educated, reaffirmed his opposition to Western education. He rejected the theory of evolution, said that rain is not "an evaporation caused by the sun", and that the Earth is not a sphere.
Boko Haram's attacks consist of suicide bombers as well as conventional armed assaults on both civilian and military targets. Following the 2014 kidnapping, a majority of Boko Haram's suicide bombers are female; some are as young as seven years old.
Yusuf was arrested, and died in custody "while trying to escape". As had been the case decades earlier in the wake of the 1980 Kano riots, the killing of the leader of an extremist group would have unintended consequences. He was succeeded by Abubakar Shekau.
In August 2011, Boko Haram bombed the UN headquarters in Abuja.A spokesman claiming responsibility for the attack, in which 11 UN staff members died as well as 12 others, with more than 100 injured, warned of future planned attacks on U.S. and Nigerian government interests.
Within hours of Goodluck Jonathan's presidential inauguration in 2011, Boko Haram carried out a series of bombings in Bauchi, Zaria and Abuja. The most successful of these was the attack on the army barracks in Bauchi.
On 8 January 2012 president Jonathan Goodluck announced that Boko Haram had in reality infiltrated both the army and the police, as well as the executive, parliamentary and legislative branches of government,making the group so powerful.
In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from Chibok. Shekau announced his intention of selling them into slavery. More than 50 escaped.
On 3 January 2015, Boko Haram attacked Baga, seizing it and the multinational joint task force military base. As the militants advanced the army fled. Some residents managed to escape to Chad.
On 7 March 2015, Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to ISIL via an audio message posted on the organisation's Twitter account.
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 30 January 2016, at least 86 people were killed and at least 62 more injured in an attack by Boko Haram militants on Dalori Village which is located 4 kilometers from Maiduguri, Nigeria
Boko Haram kidnapped 110 schoolgirls from the Government Technical Girls College in Dapchi, Yobe, on 19 February 2018. Boko Haram reportedly released all but one of the girls by 21 March
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