Causal analysis of radical Islamism in northern Nigeria's Fourth Republic

Abstract

This article attempts an agential explanation of the raison d'etre for Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram (meaning western education is forbidden), an Islamist sect that came to public consciousness in 2009 after the extra-judicial killing of its leader. Conceptualising Nigeria as a weak state, the article identifies the failed prebendal relationship between politicians in northern Nigeria and members of Boko Haram, and the extra-judicial killing on 30 July 2009 of Mohammed Yusuf, as agential causations of the current wave of radical Islamism...