Many reasons have been advanced by analysts, experts and critical interest groups as the causes of the deadly insurgency of the terrorist group Boko Haram against the Nigerian state. Some believe it was politically motivated, while others claim it was caused by illiteracy, poverty and the general economic underdevelopment of the North East region, the base of the terrorist group Boko Haram. . Amidst these conflicting positions held by the various interest groups have developed frightening conspiracy theories, each of which has been widely accepted by people based on their ethnicity, religious beliefs, region of origin and their political party affiliation. As far as members of the former administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and their supporters (ethnic, regional and partisan) are concerned, the Boko Haram insurgency is the result of the bitter struggle within the then ruling Peoples Democratic party. Party, on the issue of zoning the president’s office between north and south, which President Jonathan violated. Therefore, the insurrection was nothing but the North’s response to the loss of power and a ploy to discredit the Jonathan administration. On the other side were people, mostly Muslims from the North, who, living in denial, promoted the narrative, Boko Haram was not only anti-Islamic but their members were not Muslim. Therefore, with regard to these groups of people, the Jonathan administration has failed in its duty to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians and has in fact been the sponsor of the insurgency with the aim of reducing the population of the North to give the South a political demographic advantage.

The continued Boko Haram insurgency under a northern Muslim president, Muhammadu Buhari, has clearly shattered all myths shrouding the true motive and purpose of the group and exposed all conspiracy theories as mere conspiracy errors. Unfortunately, these plot errors almost completely drove the narrative of the insurgency, rendering the terrorist group’s true motive misdiagnosed, inadvertently leading to an unsolvable crisis.

Factors such as illiteracy, poverty, underdevelopment and other social problems may have contributed to the escalation of the deadly insurgency, but they are not the root cause, as a thorough analysis of some leading members of global jihadist movements show that they are not only highly educated but also come from upper-middle-class families, some of whom were born and raised in the West. The root cause of the Boko Haram insurgency is a spillover of radical Islamic ideology from mainstream Islam, in which the seeds of radicalization have been sown, watered and nurtured to monstrous maturity. The motive of the terrorist group Boko Haram is to impose an Islamic state on Nigeria as part of the ongoing revival of the caliphate around the world. The aspiration for Islamic domination in Nigeria is shared equally by the authorities and the dominant Islamic sects. Nigerian Muslims have been indoctrinated at all levels of Islamic theology on the primacy and superiority of Sharia law over all laws, thus making an average Muslim feel a sense of unfulfilled spiritual satisfaction being governed by a legal framework that does not does not conform to Islamic law. . Traditional Muslim rulers have also openly advocated for the full application of Sharia law in matters concerning Muslim affairs. The inability of mainstream Muslim authorities to realize this most desired aspiration through advocacy and political influence is what has led to a violent insurgency to achieve the same goal.

The quest for Islamic dominance in a multi-religious and cultural country is the most fundamental factor driving radical Islamist ideology. The complicity of mainstream Muslim authorities in the radicalization of Muslims in Nigeria is clearly demonstrated in this public statement by the Sultan of Sokoto: “Our religion is our total way of life; therefore, we will not accept any move to change what Allah has allowed us to do. Islam is a peaceful religion; we live in peace with Christians and followers of other religions in this country. Therefore, we should be allowed to practice our religion effectively.

In making this statement, the Sultan could have assumed that he was specific about the gender equality bill. However, what Africa’s most influential Muslim leader may not have realized is the effect of such a statement on the minds of several latent radicalized Muslims who can carry this message beyond of the issue of gender equality in other aspects of life. The Sultan, as the leader of Muslims in Nigeria, failed to take into account that radical Islam, which has an ingrained doctrine of hatred, intolerance and violence, may have become the predominant form of Islam preached and practiced in Nigeria for several decades. .

For radical Muslims, the concept of a modern, democratic constitutional entity known as Nigeria is not just anti-Islamic, but anti-Islamic. Therefore, while some Muslims who are exposed only to radical Islamic ideology must live by their full religious beliefs, the Boko Haram insurgency, which seeks the violent abrogation of Nigeria and its replacement by an Islamic state, in is certainly the result.

To resolve the conflict of faith and citizenship caused by the non-separation of state and religion, it is pertinent that the dominant Islamic authorities begin a real reassessment of certain doctrines which are anchored in the dominant Islamic theology guiding the radical Islam. Muslims in Nigeria should be encouraged by the Muslim authorities to begin to accept the supremacy of Nigeria’s democratic constitutional order over all other laws, including Sharia. The Constitution of Nigeria is a delicate compromise between the various religious and cultural groupings that occupy this geographical space but which, fortunately, guarantees the individual freedom of citizens to hold beliefs and practice their faith in peace and harmony with one another. with the others. Major Muslim authorities need to place more emphasis on Sharia rather than Sharia, as the Constitution broadly guarantees freedom of religion.

If a Muslim is faithful to Sharia, which is spiritually more important than Sharia which has only symbolic meaning, there will be no need for binding compulsion in matters of faith, which can be seen as the imposition of a particular theology on others. .

Due to a widely shared aspiration for a globally unified Islamic state, Muslims in Nigeria have developed a sense of solidarity with Muslims in other nations, particularly in the Middle East. A typical Nigerian Muslim feels more obligation to a fellow Muslim of foreign nationality in an imaginary Islamic state than a fellow citizen of a different religion. Muslims in Nigeria must begin to accept the fact that their loyalty and obligation are to the Nigerian state and their fellow citizens whether they are Muslims or not. A Nigerian Muslim has closer ties with a Nigerian Christian and an Animist than a Saudi Muslim because that Muslim is a Saudi citizen but the Christian and the Animist are citizens of Nigeria. A Nigerian Muslim would be required to obtain a visa before traveling to Saudi Arabia or any other Muslim country and, once there, subject to their laws and unique diplomatic protocol because he is a foreigner. A leading Muslim country like Saudi Arabia values ​​its friendship with a western Judeo-Christian country like the United States more highly than any Arab-Muslim interest because of its own national security and interests. economic. Likewise, the Islamic Republic of Iran places its friendship with non-Muslim Russia above all Muslim interests. This clearly shows the naïveté of the one-sided pan-Islamic sentiments of Nigerian Muslims.

Nigerian Muslims must also understand that if their country is plunged into a religious war, the doors of the Muslim countries of the Middle East will be closed tightly to those who seek refuge there because they are foreigners, Nigerians and Africans, Muslims or not. . Therefore, Nigerian Muslims must rededicate themselves to Nigeria, their only country, and concern themselves only with matters that benefit the national security and economic interests of their nation. The loyalty of a Nigerian Muslim should be to his country and fellow citizens and not to any other entity.

When America invaded Iraq, it was not a war against Muslims or Islam, as widely perceived in the Muslim world, but a war against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. Rather than condemn America for invading Iraq, Nigerian Muslims should praise America for saving millions of lives by providing their country with financial assistance to fight polio, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV and other endemic diseases.