BOKO HARAM: SHEKAU’S DEMISE – HALCYON OR NADIR FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA’S FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM?

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, no terrorist group has been as lethal as Boko Haram, under the leadership of Abubakar Shekau. Barely more than a decade, since the group’s inception, the entire Sub-Saharan Africa has been engulfed by deadly activities of the dreaded terrorist group. From evidence, more than 40,000 people have been killed, over 2 million people have been displaced, scores of forced migrants have been scattered across West Africa, properties worth billions of dollars have been destroyed, and governance in the sub-region has, essentially, been ineffective since 2009, when the group launched its violent campaign. Although there were responses both at the local front and regional front to hold back the menace of Boko Haram, these efforts were repeatedly met with repression under Shekau. However, on June 7th, 2021, there was a turn of events, as Abu Musab Al-Banawi, leader of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), confirmed the death of Shekau arising from a confrontation with this rival group. The question posed by this atypical occurrence is, ‘can we convincingly say Shekau’s death means the end of the road for terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa?’ This article argues the opposite. Rejigging the memory of Mohammed Yusuf’s extermination by the police, Shekau’s influence, and the dominance of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), as the radical points of departure, the paper sees Shekau’s death as an alleyway for dynamic terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa. Keywords: Shekau, Halcyon, Nadir, Lethal, Terrorism, Sub-Saharan, Africa.