In the months since The Global Atlas last wrote about Boko
Haram in Nigeria, the Sunni jihadist terrorist group has swept the countryside
in full force, with leader Abubaker Shekau declaring an Islamic caliphate in
Gwoza, Borno state. This is the second such caliphate to be declared after another jihadist group, Islamic State, similarly declared an Islamic caliphate in parts
of Iraq and Syria. The extent of the territory claimed by Boko Haram remains in flux with a stronghold in Borno state, but Boko Haram is moving at
an alarming pace in expanding the number of cities and towns under its control.
Originally engaging in selective killings and guerrilla style
hit-and-run attacks, Boko Haram has shifted gears, capturing and holding
territory as part of the ‘Islamic caliphate’ as well as stepping up the degree of violence in its attacks, to
the extent of essentially going on killing sprees in captured territory. The marked increase in violence has
prompted an exodus of the civilian population in the twin cities of Gamboru and Ngala in northeastern Nigeria into neighboring Cameroon. Among those who have been killed were Gamboru’s highest Muslim
cleric and the head of the traders’ union. In the past 24 hours, the son of Nigeria’s former President
Olusegun Obasanjo has been injured, shot by militants in Baza as the Nigerian army battled to stop Boko Haram’s southward expansion
and recapture key towns in Adamawa state. The Obasanjo family has a
long-standing commitment to a united Nigeria, and Olusegun Obasanjo fought in
the Nigerian military in the late 1960s civil war to prevent the southeast
region of the country from seceding to form the new state of Biafra.
