Boko Haram: Inside Nigeria’s Unholy War

Description

An insurgency in Nigeria by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has left thousands dead, shaken Africa’s biggest country and worried the world. Yet they remain a mysterious almost unknowable organisation. Through exhaustive on-the-ground reporting, M.J. Smith takes readers inside the violence and provides the first in-depth account of the conflict. He traces Boko Haram from its beginnings as a small Islamist sect in Nigeria’s remote northeast, led by a baby-faced but charismatic preacher, to its transformation into a hydra-headed monster, deploying suicide bombers and abducting innocent schoolgirls. Much of the book is told through the eyes of Nigerians who have found themselves caught between the violence of a shadowy group of insurgents, brutal security forces accused of horrifying abuses and an inept government led by an accidental president. It includes the voices of a forgotten police officer left paralysed by an attack, women whose husbands have been murdered and a sword-wielding vigilante using charms to fend off insurgent bullets. It journeys through the sleaze and corruption that has robbed Africa’s biggest oil producer of its potential, making it such fertile ground for extremism. Along the way it questions whether there can be any end to the violence and the ways in which this might be achieved. Interspersed with history, this book delves into the roots of this unholy war being waged against the backdrop of an evolving extremist threat worldwide. ” Cover Half-title Title page Copyright information Table of contents Epilogue List of maps Acknowledgements A Note on Sources and the ‘Boko Haram’ Label A Timeline of Key Events in Northern Nigerian History and the Boko Haram Insurgency Prologue: ‘I Think the Worst Has Happened’ 1 ‘Then You Should Wait for the Outcome’ 2 ‘His Preachings Were Things that People Could Identify With’ 3 ‘I Will Not Tolerate a Brawl’ 4 ‘That Is How Complex the Situation Is’ 5 ‘I Don’t Know. They’re in the Bush’ 6 ‘Our Girls Were Kidnapped and They Did Not Do Anything’ Epilogue: ‘They Should Not Allow Me to Die in This Condition’ Glossary Notes Prologue 1 ‘Then You Should Wait for the Outcome’ 2 ‘His Preachings Were Things that People Could Identify With’ 3 ‘I Will Not Tolerate a Brawl’ 4 ‘That Is How Complex the Situation Is’ 5 ‘I Don’t Know. They’re in the Bush’ 6 ‘Our Girls Were Kidnapped and They Did Not Do Anything’ Epilogue Select Bibliography Books Journals Miscellaneous Index