Addressing The Boko Haram Sect’s Nihilism: An Exploration of The Role of Writers

Abstract

Terrorist attacks in Nigeria were formerly almost exclusively carried out by two separate
and distinct militant groups: the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). Another
militant group, Boko Haram, an Islamist sect, has now emerged and is at the moment
carrying out deadly attacks on Nigerians, on foreign nationals and on public agencies and
institutions like the police, the army, and public and private schools. While the Federal
Government has to a large extent successfully used force to curtail the violent activities of
MEND and MASSOB, its employment of that strategy in dealing with the Boko Haram sect
has largely failed. This position paper briefly discusses the history of terrorism in Nigeria,
the advent of Boko Haram, its meaning and origins, its terrorist attacks and their impacts,
and the various ways and strategies being suggested to bring the Islamist sect’s insurgency
to an end. Finally, the paper contends that, in addition to the various suggested strategies,
writers too have a role in ending this dreaded sect’s murderous activities.