Conspiracy Against Nigeria and the Threat of Boko Haram

Prof. Yahaya Speaks on Phenomenom of Boko Haram in Nigeria

Professor Dahiru Yahaya speaks on the Phenomenon of Boko Haram in Nigeria. The Professor of Hisotry from Bayero University Kano, spoke... Professor Dahiru Yahaya speaks on the Phenomenon of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Professor Dahiru Yahaya of History department Bayero University Kano, spokeon the Phenomenon of Boko Haram in Nigeria on Sunday the 16th of October 2011 during the 7th National Conference of Resource Forum of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria at Baqiyatullah Husainiyyah, Zaria.    The Professor spoke on the topic  ‘Phenomenum of Boko Haram in Nigeria’,  where he stated two issues regarding the Boko Haram, they are: 1.      - Conspiracy against Nigeria 2.       -Boko Haram Conspiracy against Nigeria, he said, is a deliberate design against individual or entity to bring it down to the benefit of the perpetrators, and it started since colonial era when the British sent explorers to find way to exploit resources after the Jihad of Dan fodio. When the colonialists came to Nigeria the first conspiracy was to convert Muslims to Christianity thorough the use of missionaries like Miller who was trained and taught Hausa language. They built churches everywhere with taxes collected in the Muslim lands. However, they realized that Muslims cannot be converted to Christianity and only non-Muslims accepted the new faith. The colonialist later opted to the second conspiracy which was to separate Muslims from Islam, since the Muslims don’t accept Christianity. Thus, they wanted to produce a secular Muslim bereft of Islamic values, Qur’an and the holy Prophet(AS). They achieved this by giving 3 type of education in Nigeria. They gave a type of education which teaches love of Christianity to South especially the Igbo; the Yoruba land was given Western Education while North was given a secular one. So, a secularist can work against the interest of Islam and Muslims and these are type of people produced in the North. He loves non-Muslims more than Muslim fellows. The Professor explained further that there is another class of Muslims who got education in a traditional method but they don’t know their world. Another conspiracy of the colonial masters was to produce yet another class of people who are taught to hate Islam, and the hope of this class of people is going down as their backbone, where they are getting support,  is going down. In all the cases the motive of the conspiracy  is domination; to dominate mind and resources. However the trend cannot continue as every one is aware of his resources and how to control it, the professor noted. Book Haram. Resisting oppression is in Islam as established by Ahlul Bayt(AS) particularly by Imam Husain(AS). Mental or intellectual hijrah is also established matter in Islam. We are in a situation in Nigeria where Halal and Haram has no dividing line. Thus,  methods of checking oppression are employed by different scholars at different time. And the methods differ for each era and time. However, Boko haram subscribed to Islam without subscribing to time and changes. For example Sheikh Bn Fodio gave a charter of Islamic governance where he mentioned issues regarding the life of individuals. This charter is now used by UN body. They include 1. Protecting life of individual 2. Human right and personal dignity which includes Right to exist, right to own property, right of assembly etc. however, in Nigeria even the life of citizen is not protected. So Nigerians are pushed to wall, only the poor are taxed while rich are not. Everybody knows that things are not right in Nigeria. Now, methods of checking these excess varies from group to group. When others prefer to die than to live in the condition, others subscribed to other methods. This is the beginning of Boko Haram, and many groups are coming up, explained the Professor. Everybody can become a book haram if not because of Islamic Movement in Nigeria; any body who has no meaning to live in Nigeria can become Boko Haram. So when people don’t have meaning in their lives, they become criminals. He concluded by saying that Boko Haram is a result of bad governance where people don’t have meaning in their lives except frustration.