BOKO HARAM: A 21st CENTURY CHALLENGE IN NIGERIA
A. F. Ahokegh, PhD
Department of History & Int. Studies Kogi State University, Anyigba
Abstract
Though, Nigeria has ever faced series of security threatening challenges, the one caused by the activities of the Islamist sect, the Boko Haram remains quite unique in all ramifications.
For instance, the Jos crises that claimed dozens of human lives were known to be limited to
Plateau State and so also were the Niger Delta crises limited to the areas of the creeks of the
River Niger. The sect claims responsibility for several bombings and snip activities in the northern and central Nigeria, thereby placing the nation at the threshold of disintegration. The central issue of this paper is to probe into the causes of the Boko Haram menace and why government has been unable to put an end to it. The author sees Boko Haram as an outcome of Nigeria‟s internal political, social, economic and to some extent, religious problems. It is therefore concluded with a position that the present happenings in Nigeria have undoubtedly made the call for a national conference very obvious. This will provide the platform for discussing grievances of groups for amicable solutions.
Keywords: Boko Haram, Insecurity, Democracy
Introduction
Thomas Hobbs (1958) once put forward an argument that the human society exists in conflict not by accident but by the very nature of man, which makes him pitch against his fellow. His generalization did not put to rest the search for why conflicts erupt in society.
Thus, the need to unveil the specifics resulting to particular conflicts continues to be the basis for developing appropriate management paradigms. Politics therefore evolves as an organised way of bridging mutual relations between antagonistic interests. Consequently, the Liberal
School of Thought considers democratic procedures to be the only
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