BETWEEN A PHENOMENON AND MOVEMENT: BOKO HARAM, JIHADIST INSURGENCIES IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper provides a detailed summary and analysis of “Slicing Off the Tumour,” a text written by two sons of Muhammad Yusuf (d. 2009), founder of the Nigerian Jihadi movement known as “Boko Haram,” and recently (2018) published by the Islamic State. The paper argues that although obviously biased, this book provides important insights into the history of Jihad in Nigeria as seen through the lenses of Global Jihadi actors, which the analysts should not dismiss. In the conclusion, the author questions the heuristic usefulness of the term “Boko Haram” in the literature on local and global manifestations of Jihad in contemporary Nigeria. Finally, the author locates his position in the recent debate around the nature of the global links entertained by Nigerian Jihadi actors and around the role of these links in the development of the “Boko Haram phenomenon.”