Boko Haram Quotes

“Insurgence and all forms of evil in a society doesn't describes her as a failure, but vividly shows a lack of love for one another.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“Kill the fears before they endorse your failures. When you attempt to stop the terrorist at the time he's at work, you are too late!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes

“Muslim identity and thought in Nigeria derive from the Sufi brotherhoods of Qadiriyya and Tijaniyya, primarily as a result of the historical role of the Kanem-Borno and Sokoto caliphates in the spread of Islam. The Sufi orders and the Izalatul Bidi’a wa Ikhamatis Sunnah (People Committed to the Removal of Innovations in Islam; hereafter Izala) are the two dominant contemporary Muslim foci of identity. The disdain towards and fear of boko (Western education) arose from its historically close association with the colonial state and Christian missionaries. This also suited colonial educational policy well, as the British had no intention of widespread education anyway. The aim of colonial education, particularly in northern Nigeria, was to maintain the existing status quo by “imparting some literacy to the aristocratic class, to the exclusion of the commoner classes” (Tukur 1979: 866). By the 1930s, colonial education had produced a limited cadre of Western-educated elite, who were conscious of their education and were yearning to play a role in society. Mainly children of the aristocratic class, the type of education they received was “different from the traditional education in their various societies, and this by itself was enough to mark them out as a group” (Kwanashie 2002: 50). This new education enabled them to climb the social and economic ladder over and above their peers who had a different kind of education, Quranic education. This was the origin of the animosity and distrust between the traditionally educated and Western-educated elite in northern Nigeria. Though subordinate to the Europeans, these educated elite were perceived as collaborators by their Arabic-educated fellows. Thus the antagonism towards Western education continues in many northern Nigerian communities, which have defied government campaigns for school enrollment to this day.”
― Kyari Mohammed, Boko Haram: Islamism, politics, security and the state in Nigeria

“The rejection of Western democracy derives from the same rejection of secularism but was further sharpened by the Saudi Arabian establishment’s aversion to democracy’s subversive streak and the threat it posed to the Saudi monarchy if unleashed. Saudi scholars such as Sheikh Bakr Ibn Abu Zaid consistently attacked democracy and the freedoms it flaunted as anti-Islamic. Mohammed Yusuf was heavily influenced by the writings of Saudi-based scholars such as Bakr Ibn Abu Zaid, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Abd-Allah Ibn Baaz (1910-99), and Sheikh Muhammad al-Amin ash Shanqiti (1907-73). As mentioned before, all of Yusuf’s opponents side-stepped the issue of democracy being un-Islamic, thereby making the issue appear incontestable or settled.”
― Kyari Mohammed, Boko Haram: Islamism, politics, security and the state in Nigeria

“It should be noted that even if the high-end estimate of fatalities directly or indirectly attributed to the Boko Haram insurgency were accepted at face value, they would still represent a small percentage of the overall violent deaths that have occurred in Nigeria over that same period of time.... According to UNODC data, Nigeria had 18,422 intentional homicides in 2008, the year after the violently contested elections.... Based on those numbers remaining relatively constant, Boko Haram would constitute approximately 5 per cent of all violent deaths in Nigeria since their peak in fatalities in 2009.”
― Zacharias Pieri, Boko Haram: Islamism, politics, security and the state in Nigeria

“The vast majority of arrests carried out by the military appear to be entirely arbitrary, often based solely on the dubious word of a paid informant. Military sources repeatedly told Amnesty International that the informants are unreliable and often provide false information in order to get paid.

One officer said: "The military uses civilian informants to get information and arrest suspects. Most of these informants are liars. They give false information to the soldiers who are desperate to simply shoot and kill. Many of the soldiers don't know about investigations. The soldiers take these rash actions mainly out of frustration, especially after seeing their colleagues killed.”
― Amnesty International, Nigeria: Stars on their shoulders. Blood on their hands: War crimes committed by the Nigerian military

“How long would we continue
to hear in the news our tomorrows
silenced like the lives of flies?”
― Valentine Okolo, I Will Be Silent

“The Nigerian government is playing with fire over this insecurity issue; they pardoned Boko haram terrorists, bandits, and terror herdsmen, but send a rapid response squad to peaceful protesters who are harmless. This is not a wise move or the right way to maintaining a One Nigeria.

People should be able to protest against injustice and other things affecting their way of life as longs as they do it peacefully.”
― Olawale Daniel

“Misery wreaks havoc. The yawning gap between this place and the rest of the country is unfathomable to anyone who has not experienced it. Boko Haram recruits them like child's play because the sect at least offers a tangible, immediate solution. As shocking as we might find it, their message appeals to some. Dying for God is more thrilling than dying of hunger, humiliation, or because the neighbourhood dispensary has run out of antibiotics. Maybe one day someone will study just how personally distressed one must be to weaponise faith against one's own people, but that is not my job.”
― Hemley Boum, Days Come and Go

“Non-violent resistance supposes that the almighty enemy, at the very least, considers you to be a human being, capable of logically arguing why you disagree.
It supposes that this enemy is ready to hear your demands and find common ground. Yes, Bamileke maquisards took up arms! But did they have a choice? Colonial masters feigned departure, but their cruel puppets continue to safeguard their interests through murder. We were cheated.
Our struggle has been used to different ends. And, you will see, they will chop off any head that stands out, and then falsify our history. In fact, they won't; they will not even bother to record our history."
"Who is "they?" I asked.
"This 'they' is 'we’,” replied Louis. "We are the ones killing ourselves. Our killers are encouraged, trained, and funded by the former colonial power. But, and this is what makes it worse, we ourselves are the ones doing the dirty work with senseless enthusiasm," he added.
That was how Cameroon—not just myself as an individual, or my village, Ombessa, or Bafia and Yaounde, the places where I had lived, but also this multi-layered, nuanced, bruised entity called my country—took shape in my mind.”
― Hemley Boum, Days Come and Go