Terrorist Group Research. Boko Haram. Law Research Paper

Boko Haram
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Boko Haram
The terrorist or extremist organization that the paper focuses on is Boko Haram. The geographical location of Boko Haram is in northeastern Nigeria. Indeed, the terrorist organizations is also present in some parts of Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Boko Haram is a translation of “Western education is fake and forbidden.” In other words, this group of Muslim believers perceive westernization as sacrilege. In 2002, Boko Haram was formed by Mohammed Yusuf. His primary objective was to purify the Islamic religion in Nigeria, particularly the northern region. Boko Haram’s ideology was to enforce Salafism, which advocated sharia law. After its formation, Boko Haram members strictly complied with Wahhabism. These Sunni Islams perceived other Muslims as idolatrous. At some point, Yusuf denounced Shiite and Sufi sects and said that they were infidels. His primary objective was to form a Nigerian Islamic State that would control all activities of Muslims in the region. Although Boko Haram’s initial mission was to restore sanity in the Islamic religion in Nigeria, the group changed to a terrorist organization in 2009, when it started rebelling the Nigerian government and military and in 2015, it joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Boko Haram is a terrorist organization. Specifically, Boko Haram uses violence and excessive force against the public to pressurize and intimidate citizens and the state in favor of specific social or political objectives. Michael McGarrity, a senior counterterrorism FBI agent, said that individuals that are affiliated with some racially motivated extremism are the ones who facilitate violence and the most lethal activities (Goldman, 2019). As such, based on the FBI’s definition of terrorism, Boko Haram is not an exception. In 2003, about 200 militants from this terrorist group attacked numerous police stations near the border of Niger. Major uprisings began in Bauchi in 2009 before spreading to Borno, Yobe, and Kano. The military force took action and killed over seven hundred Boko Haram members among them its Yusuf, who died while in the custody of police officers. In 2015, Boko Haram allegedly joined ISIL and became “Wilayat Gharb Afriqiyya,” translating to the “Islamic State of West Africa” (CNN, 2019). From 2011-2018, about 37,500 people have died from terrorist attacks by Boko Haram militants and has contributed to the migration of 2.5 million others (Council on Foreign Relations, 2019). Consequently, the extremism acts of Boko Haram in Nigeria is responsible for massive killings. 
Boko Haram believed that the breach of social contract occurred when western countries started introducing their system of education in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. In particular, the primary factor that significantly contributed to the formation of this group was to rebel westernization since it was eroding Islamic beliefs. That is the reason why members of Boko Haram perceived westernization as sacrilege. After seven years of uniting Muslims and rebelling those who favored western education in Nigeria, Boko Haram engaged jihadist acts (Tella, 2017). The group transfer...