My visit in October to Maiduguri, the capital
of Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, was
primarily to see first-hand the impact of
terrorist attacks on schools.
It was also to meet with officials of the State
Universal Basic Education Board to discuss the
potential reopening of public primary and
secondary schools in Maiduguri, which had
been closed down by the Borno state
government since March due to security
concerns.
But there was something else I was so eager
to get – a great deal of insight on the true
colour and character of the well known
jihadist group Boko Haram.
Driving through the quiet road that led to
Maiduguri, where the deadly sect pitched its
first ever camp, which it named Markaz Ibn
Taymiyyah, was indeed a scary ride into an
area that in many ways resembled a desert.
As dangerous as the road was, my visit to
Markaz Ibn Taymiyyah gave me a deeper
knowledge of the infamous terrorist group
that forbids western education in northern
Nigeria and has murdered hundreds of school
children and teachers in the region.
Maiduguri, where the insurgency began, is
the largest city in Borno state. Known in the
past as “Home of Peace”, it used to be the
gateway for trade in agricultural products,
livestock and textiles between the whole of
northern Nigeria and the neighboring
countries of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Sudan,
Central African Republic and even the two
Congos.
That has pretty much come to a stop in recent
months as shuttle traders and farmers fear
violence from the militants. Public primary
and secondary schools have been closed by
government to prevent further insurgent
attacks and the University of Maiduguri,
which is one of Nigeria’s famous higher
institutions, is now a deserted place.
From
being Nigeria’s “Home of Peace”, it is now the
most dangerous city to live in.
After five years of escalating violence, Boko
Haram burst into the global consciousness in
April, when its militants abducted more than
200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, 80
miles south of Maiduguri, and herded them
on to buses and drove into the forests.
Under the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, a
campaign to publicise the girls’ plight and
press the Nigerian government to do more to
find them went viral around the world,
eliciting support and concern from celebrities,
activities, politicians and public figures.
Boko Haram’s violent campaign on education
has left schoolchildren and teachers in
northeastern Nigeria paralysed by fear. What
manner of violence has the sect not visited on
education since they began their uprising?
From burning down schools to killing
innocent students in their dormitory,
kidnapping schoolgirls and detonating
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in schools
– you name it, education has been one of
their top targets. In general, their campaign of
violence in the region has claimed more than
5000 lives and left nearly 650,000 people
displaced, yet they are looking to wreak more
havoc on innocent people.
Maiduguri, meanwhile, has become a haven
for refugees escaping the dangers of
surrounding towns and villages and the
destruction that has left whole towns and
villages ravaged or abandoned.
As I was guided by a local resident through
the dusty path to reach the sacked Markaz Ibn
Taymiyyah camp in Maiduguri, I couldn’t
escape the sight and feeling that now
characterise the desecrated area – broken
down walls, twisted rods and destroyed
utensils were all that remained of the place
where Boko Haram first assembled as an
organised group with an aim of creating an
Islamic state in northern Nigeria.
The camp was a religious complex with a
Koranic school which attracted poor Muslim
families from across Nigeria and neighbouring
countries. But soon after the first attack in
Maiduguri that saw the Islamist militants take
over the city and kill nearly 700 people, the
Nigerian military battled the insurgents,
taking back control of the Borno state capital
and subsequently destroying the camp.
Going further into the deserted area and
digging through, I saw skeletal bones –
presumably of gang members who were killed
in exchanges of gunfire with the Nigerian
military or perhaps of people captured and
killed by Boko Haram themselves.
Then I saw
a few needles, which might have been capped
on syringes and used to administer narcotic
drugs. I did see a small dagger as well,
obviously not a surprise as the sect is known
more for it killings rather than anything else.
From the accounts of Maiduguri residents, the
insurgents repeatedly killed public servants
abducted from their place of work.
According
to a resident who escaped Boko Haram
capture in 2009, “when the terrorists began to
attack Maiduguri, they were only focusing on
people serving in government and in the
military. They were out to kill anyone
working in line with western culture.
It is certainly not surprising to see that of all
western institutions in northeastern Nigeria,
education has turned out to become the most
targeted by the sect. Indeed, what could be a
better tool for success in public institutions
than the knowledge of educated people?
Never in my life have I seen an entire region
hit so hard by a small group of heartless
people. If the insurgency does come to an end,
the picture of the Markaz Ibn Taymiyyah
camp will always remind me of the sufferings
of a 12-year-old orphan who told me his
parents and two siblings were killed by Boko
Haram in Maiduguri, the trauma of 16-year-
old Hauwa who told me she was never going
to walk on the streets of Maiduguri alone
because she feared she could be raped a
second time and the cry of tens of refugee
children who couldn’t hold back their tears
when they told me of their ordeal.
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