Notwithstanding declarations of states of emergencies, the development of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to combat the jihadists, and the acquisition of advanced counter-insurgency weaponry over the past decade and a half, neither the Jonathan nor the Buhari nor the current Bola Tinubu administration has been able to rein in the jihadists or curb the general violence throughout northern Nigeria, including violence specifically directed against Christians. Yusuf, for example, compared major Muslim-Christian clashes in Nigeria’s “Middle Belt” region in 1987 and 1992 over the conversion of a Muslim to Christianity to “what is happening in Palestine, Kashmir, and what happened in Chechnya” and declared “jihad” as the solution to Nigerian Muslims’ “anger.” In historical context, Yusuf blamed “colonial schemes” for “mixing” Muslims and Christians together in Nigeria, which divided, weakened, and ultimately dismantled pre-colonial Islamic states in Nigeria and West Africa. A sea change occurred in 2011-2012, however, when Yusuf’s followers returned to Nigeria after training in AQIM camps and, at the advice of AQIM leader Droukdel, targeted Christians who were allegedly responsible for Yusuf’s death by bombing mega-churches, especially in the volatile Middle Belt region, as well as “Christian” international institutions, such as the UN building in the capital Abuja.
Author: December 9, 2025
Published at: 2025-12-09 00:00:00
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