NIGERIA: Terrorist threats close universities

The fundamentalist Islamic organisation Boko Haram has unleashed violence in the north-east Nigerian university city of Maiduguri. Clashes with security forces have claimed the lives of civilians, including two lecturers. With security agents failing to contain the growing violence, higher education institutions - which have been targeted by the fundamentalists for being outposts of 'Western civilisation' - have been closed indefinitely.

The outcome of this ongoing battle may determine both the nature of education here and the future of the Nigerian state.

The ancient city of Maiduguri in Borno State near the Chadian border is famous for its glamour, charm, harmony and multi-ethnic and multi-religious character.

But that has started to change in the past few weeks, as the urban guerrilla outfit Boko Haram - which means "Western education is sin" in the Hausa language - has revealed its aim of cleansing Maiduguri of what it calls 'infidels' and transforming the city into the headquarters of a new caliphate from where an Islamic theocratic kingdom would spread to the whole of Nigeria.

According to the Boko Haram ideology, the Islamic state shall be governed by Sharia. And the Arabic language, the 'divine' mode of communication of Allah's 'chosen race' of all Muslims, must replace English, the language of 'infidels'.

The application of this messianic and jihadist mission started with throwing improvised explosive devices into churches, and Christian primary and secondary schools. Some of the worshippers and school children were wounded, maimed or killed.

Predictably, the University of Maiduguri (Unimaid) and Borno State Polytechnic - where 'Western education' is being dispensed and 'propagated' via English - became the fundamentalists' next targets.

According to a correspondent of Vanguard, a Nigerian tabloid, tensions were heightened at Unimaid by an anonymous letter, purportedly written by Boko Haram and addressed to the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, warning that Boko Haram would attack and burn down the senate building and the exams and records office.

On the strength of this alleged threat the university's committee of provost, deans and directors met urgently and decided to close the campus.

A statement titled "Suspension of studies in University of Maiduguri" and signed by Registrar Babagana Aji, stated that the university senate had decided to send students packing. "After critically assessing the security situation in Maiduguri and its environs, the senate has come to the painful conclusion to suspend studies indefinitely", Aji declared.

A few hours after the university's closure, a pitched battle occurred near the campus between members of Boko Haram and the military, which had been deployed to flush out the armed fundamentalists, known also as the Boko Haram Bombers.

The commander of the special military force, General Jack Okechukwu, admitted that during the skirmish six residents were killed, including two Unimaid lecturers, although he refused to disclose their identities. The university authorities confirmed the death of two lecturers.

One of the other consequences of the closure of the university was the mass exodus of students from other states of the Nigerian federation. Various state governments sent buses to Maiduguri to transport home indigenous students attending institutions in Borno State.

"It is a pity that some individuals have taken the law into their [own] hands. It is my responsibility to bring home students from my state," declared Ekiti State Governor Kayode Akinyemi.

The departure of the students has affected commercial activities in Maiduguri. Many houses rented by students and staff have been abandoned, and those tenants are seeking alternative universities far from the north-eastern region, where there is growing concern that the fundamentalists may attack more schools and higher education institutions.

But intelligence units of the various military formations have beamed their searchlights on student organisations in tertiary institutions in northern Nigeria, with a view to nipping in the bud any attempt by members of Boko Haram and their sympathisers to organise violence against students who are not of the same religion as the fundamentalist militants.

In a report by Albert Akpor, a reporter of Vanguard newspaper, it was confirmed that the Boko Haram strike force contains undergraduate students. Citing data from the Nigerian intelligence service, he said these students acted as both spies and foot soldiers. "Students go to police stations to lay flimsy reports at the counter with a view to ascertaining the strength as well as agility of men and officers on duty," he said.

In a recent article in the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur, Jean-Christophe Rufin, former French ambassador to Senegal and Gambia, revealed that Boko Haram sent some of its members to the Sahara Desert as suicide bombers to assist an Islamic fundamentalist group called AQMI, an affiliate of Al-Qaida. AQMI is headed by an Algerian, Abdelmalek Droukel, a former student from an Algerian university.

"We are aware that elements of Boko Haram are students from Nigerian universities trained in Somalia and are now in the Saharan Desert as combatants of AQMI. We are collaborating with intelligences agencies in neighbouring West African states to dismantle camps where Boko Haram are training other students as suicide bombers," declared a senior security officer who pleaded anonymity.

But there is possibly some light - albeit dim - at the end of the tunnel.

The Yusuffiya Islamic Movement, a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, distributed leaflets - written in impeccable 'infidel' English - to media houses in Maiduguri distancing itself from the atrocities committed by the other radical faction. This faction, led by students, threatened to expose the perpetrators of these crimes if they do not desist forthwith.

"We are confident that peace will soon return to Maiduguri and our students will come back and resume their studies," declared a Unimaid official, who did not want to be named.