| Abstrakt: |
In recent years, local and foreign analysts have made tremendous efforts in trying to come to grips with the Boko Haram insurgency that has undermined northern Nigeria in both human and material terms. While some commentators trace the source of violent insecurity in the region to the zero-sum ethnoregional struggle over political power and public goods in the Nigerian federation, especially the alleged opposition to the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, a great number of people blame the insurgency on the jihadist onslaught against open society and secular ideology. Besides pointing out the shortcomings of these mainstream analytical perspectives, this article demonstrates how the inability of the state to effectively discharge many of its statutory obligations fuels disenchantment and engenders anti-state violence from below. Juxtaposing the current Boko Haram insurgency and the Maitatsine revolt of the 1980s, which share commonalities in both ideological and operational terms, the article shows that violent insecurity in much of northern Nigeria is not a “new war” between ethnoreligious groups per se but more of an outcome of governance and development deficits that have trapped the masses in affliction while a handful of governing elite live in affluence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
