The rise of Boko Haram

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

How a small Nigerian Islamist group launched one of the deadliest insurgencies in Africa. In 2002, a new radical sect emerged in Maiduguri in north eastern Nigeria led by a charismatic preacher, Mohammed Yusuf. He preached against anything he deemed un-Islamic or having a western influence. Locals gave the group a nickname, Boko Haram - meaning "western education is forbidden". In 2009, the group launched co-ordinated attacks on police across northern Nigeria. Maiduguri saw the fiercest fighting. It was the start of an insurgency that would devastate the region. We hear from Bilkisu Babangida who was the BBC Hausa service reporter in the city at the time.

Photo: A suspected Boko Haram house in Maiduguri set ablaze by Nigerian security forces, 30th July 2009 (AFP/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Alex
0:46.0	Last with more first-hand accounts of events that shaped our world and today we look at
0:51.7	how the Nigerian Islamist group, Bocoharam, began their deadly
0:55.8	insurgency in northeastern Nigeria, a conflict that would force hundreds of thousands from their
1:01.5	homes and leave tens of thousands dead.
1:04.8	And we start in July 2009 when the group first hit the headlines as they fought a four-day
1:11.6	pitch battle against Nigerian security forces in the city of My Dugary.
1:21.1	What I found was the most terrifying and horrific scene I have ever seen in my life,
1:28.0	dozens of dead bodies or littered on the street.
1:32.0	In July 2009, the once peaceful city of Mydugre in Northeastern Nigeria witnessed an explosion of
1:39.2	violence that would herald the start of a new devastating conflict and the emergence of a radical Islamic
1:45.4	sect that had been in the city for years. They were known locally as Boca Haram.
1:50.6	Clashes between the police and an Islamist group in northern Nigeria leave more than 100 people
1:56.3	dead.
1:57.3	A radical Islamist group is under siege in the northern city of Maidugary.
2:02.2	It follows two days of heavy clashes across
2:04.1	northern states in which attacks by the Boko Haram sect left more than 150 people
	...

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