TerrorismBoko Haram says it has established an “Islamic caliphate” in northeast Nigeria

Published 26 August 2014

Boko Haram announced Sunday that a northeast Nigerian town captured by the Islamist insurgents earlier this month has been placed under an Islamic caliphate. In May 2013 the Nigerian government has launched a campaign against Boko Haram, but the campaign has failed as a result of military corruption and incompetence. The situation in northeast Nigeria is now dire, and experts have described Boko Haram’s gains in recent weeks as unprecedented, saying the group was closer than ever to achieving its goal: controlling a large, economically self-sustaining area across northern Nigeria in which to establish a strict Islamic state.

Boko Haram announced Sunday that a northeast Nigerian town captured by the Islamist insurgents earlier this month has been placed under an Islamic caliphate.

Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our brethren in (the town of) Gwoza and made it part of the Islamic caliphate,” Abubakar Shekau said in a rambling, 25-minute video obtained by AFP.

The Nigerian military rejected the group’s claim, saying that the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact.”

In the video statement, Shekau expressed support for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS) militants who, a few weeks ago, declared himself “the caliph” and “leader of Muslims everywhere.”

It was not clear, however, whether Shekau was associating himself with Baghdadi, and whether he saw his northeast Nigerian caliphate as part of Baghdadi’s Iraq- and Syria-based caliphate.

In the nineteenth century, a Sokoto caliphate was proclaimed across most of what is today northern Nigeria, but it was considered separate from other Islamic kingdoms, such as the Ottoman Empire.

Yahoo News reports that Shekau, who has been placed on the U.S. terrorist list, is shown in the video wearing military fatigues, with a Kalashnikov rifle strapped to his body. He alternates between Arabic and the Hausa language that is dominant in the region.

The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) earlier this month confirmed reports that Gwoza was under Islamist control.

Boko Haram is also in control of other areas near Gwoza in southern Borno, as well as large swathes of territory in northern Borno and at least one town in neighboring Yobe state.

Yahoo News notes that mapping the areas which have fallen into Islamist hands is nearly impossible. There are few humanitarian workers on the ground in the northeast, travel is dangerous, and the region has poor mobile phone coverage.

The entire area has been under emergency rule since May 2013, but the Nigerian military is largely absent. Nigeria has a large defense budget, but most of it is being stolen by commanders and officials at the defense ministry, leaving the military units poorly equipped and the soldiers lacking motivation.

News reports from Nigeria tell of soldiers who, in an apparent mutiny this week, refused to deploy to Gwoza without better gear.

The Nigerian government’s campaign against Boko Haram has so far consisted mostly of speeches made by various officials in the capital Lagos. On the ground, analysts say, the situation is dire. These experts have described Boko Haram’s gains in recent weeks as unprecedented, saying the group was closer than ever to achieving its goal: controlling a large, economically self-sustaining area across northern Nigeria in which to establish a strict Islamic state.