The women and girls associated with Boko Haram: How has the Nigerian government responded?

ABSTRACT

Following the Chibok abductions of April 2014, the involvement of women and girls in the Boko Haram insurgency has increased, as has the subsequent analysis of them in both the academic and the grey literature. Contributions have mainly focused on how women and girls have been incorporated into – or used by – Boko Haram. In contrast, this article focuses on the response of the Nigerian government to the plight of women and girls that have become associated with Boko Haram. A qualitative analysis consisting of desktop research, consultation of policy documents and first hand interviews informed the research. The article finds that while the Nigerian government has taken note of the plight of these women and girls, it appears mostly an afterthought. Additionally, policy responses have not taken the full cycle of female participation in terrorist activity with Boko Haram into account. Recommendations to address this gap are offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Boko Haram
• Nigeria
• women
• girls
• counter-terrorism
• countering violent extremism

Acknowledgement

This article is partly based on research pertaining to a Master of Arts degree in Politics under the supervision of Suzanne E. Graham and Rebecca Emerson-Keeler at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. The author is grateful for ongoing support, from both supervisors, for this and other projects related to this research. The author further wishes to extend his gratitude to all colleagues who have supported his research on Boko Haram over the last 3 years.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In the context of this paper, a distinction is drawn between women and girls with the aim of highlighting that some female suicide bombers are under the age of 18. To date, the youngest female suicide bomber has been 7 years of age.

2 Jacob Zenn and Elisabeth Pearson, ‘Women, Gender and the Evolving Tactics of Boko Haram,’ Journal of Terrorism Research 5, no. 1 (2014): 46–57.

3 Mia Bloom and Hilary Matfess, ‘Women as Symbols and Swords in Boko Haram’s Terror,’ Prism 6, no. 1 (2016): 105–21; Hilary Matfess, Women and the War om Boko Haram: Wives, Weapons, Witnesses (London: Zed Books, 2017).

4 Jacob Zenn and Zacharias Pieri, ‘How Much Takfir is too much Takfir? The Evolution of Boko Haram’s Fictionalisation,’ Journal for Deradicalization 11 (2017): 281–308; Elizabeth Pearson, ‘Wilayat Shahidat: Boko Haram, the Islamic State, and the Question of the Female Suicide Bomber,’ in Boko Haram Beyond the Headlines: Analyses of Africa’s Enduring Insurgency, ed. Jacob Zenn (New York: Independently published by the Countering Terrorism Centre at West Point, 2018), 33–52.

5 Patience Ibrahim and Andrea C. Hoffman, A Gift From Darkness: How I Escaped With my Daughter From Boko Haram (London and Müchen: Little Brown, 2017); Wolfgang Bauer, Stolen Girls: Survivors of Boko Haram Tell Their Story (New York: The New Press, 2016); Helon Habila, The Chibok Girls (London: Penguin Books, 2016); Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Buried Beneath the Baoada Tree (Katherine Tegen Books an imprint of Harper Collins, 2018); Edna O’ Brien, Girl (London: Faber and Faber, 2020); Christina Lamb, Our Bodies Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women (London: William Collins, 2020).

6 Dionne Searcey, In Pursuit of Disobedient Women: a Memoir of Love, Rebellion and Family, Far Away (New York: Ballantine Books, 2020).

7 In the context of this article, counter-terrorism is an action that encompasses both military and non-military responses.

8 It is not within the scope of this article to entertain the arguments of Boko Haram’s origins. For more see: Jacob Zenn, Unmasking Boko Haram: Exploring Global Jihad in Nigeria (London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2020); Ona Ekhomu, Boko Haram: Security Consideration and the Rise of an Insurgency (CRC Press an imprint of the Taylor and Francis Group, 2020).

9 Alexander Thurston, Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018).

10 Thurston, Boko Haram.

11 Thurston, Boko Haram.

12 Gbemisola Abdul-Jelil Animasawun, ‘Portents of a Fractured Boko Haram for Nigeria’s Counterterrorism Strategy and Tactics,’ chap. 9 in Understanding Boko Haram: Terrorism and Insurgency in Africa (London: Routledge, 2018),

13 Abdulabasit Kassim and Michael Nw Ankpa, eds., The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 71–5.

14 Kassim and Ankpa, The Boko Haram Reader, 75.

15 Yusuf died in July 2009. The exact circumstances pertaining to his death remain contested.

16 The author wishes to acknowledge that there are additional factors and narratives which have been used to explain the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria. It is not within the scope of this article to discuss all of the additional narratives. For an understanding of the additional narratives, see: Ojochenemi J. David, Lucky E. Asuelime and Hakeen Onapajo, Boko Haram: The Socio-Economic Drivers (New York: Springer, 2015); Olabanji Akinola, ‘Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria: Between Fundamentalism, Politics and Poverty,’ African Security, Online publication only (2015). https://doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2015.998539.

17 US Department of State, Buraru of Counterterrorism, ‘Forign Terrorist Originations,’ https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/

18 Matfess, Women and the War on Boko Haram, 60.

19 J. Tochukwu Omenma, Ike E. Onyishi and Alyious-Michael Okolie, ‘A Decade of Boko Haram Activities: The Attacks, Response and Challenges Ahead,’ Security Journal 33 no. 2 (2020): 1–20.

20 Omenma, Onyishi and Okolie, ‘A Decade of Boko Haram Activities: the Attacks, Response and Challenges Ahead.’

21 Jacob Zenn, ‘Leadership Analysis of Boko Haram and Ansaru in Nigeria,’ CTC Sentinel 7, no. 2 (2014): 24.

22 Omar S. Mahmood and Ndubuisi Christian Ani, Factional Dynamics Within Boko Haram, ISS Research Report (Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2018).

23 Bay’ah is an Islamic term meaning pledge of allegiance from a local or regional terrorist group to an international one. The terrorist group which receives the pledge becomes the parent organisation of the pledgee.

24 Virginia Comolli, ‘Boko Haram and Islamic State,’ in Jihadism Transformed: al-Qaeda and Islamic State’s Global Battle of Ideas, eds. Simon Staffell and Akil N. Awan (Hurst: London, 2016), 129–40.

25 David Otto (Director of the Anti-Terrorism Unit, Global Risk International), interview by Sven Botha, August 2020.

26 Pearson, ‘Wilayat Shahidat.’

27 It is not within the scope of this article to discuss the current state of ISWAP's leadership battles. For a full discussion see: Jacob Zenn, ‘Islamic State in West Africa Province's Factional Disputes and the Battle with Boko Haram,’ Terrorism Monitor 18, no. 6, https://jamestown.org/program/islamic-state-in-west-africa-provinces-factional-disputes-and-the-battle-with-boko-haram/

28 Helon Habila, The Chibok Girls (London: Penguin, 2016).

29 Helon Habila, The Chibok Girls.

30 Kassim and Nw Ankpa, The Boko Haram Reader.

31 Kassim and Nw Ankpa, The Boko Haram Reader.

32 Kassim and Nw Ankpa, The Boko Haram Reader.

33 Morgan Winsor and James Bwala, ‘More Chibok Girls Escape from Boko Haram Almost 7 Years Later, Parents Say,’ ABC News, January 29, 2021, https://abcnews.go.com/International/chibok-girls-escaped-boko-haram-years-parents/story?id=75560018

34 Timothy Obiezu, ‘More Than 100 Chibok Girls Still Missing Seven Years Later,’ Voice of America, April 15, 2021, https://www.voanews.com/africa/more-100-chibok-girls-still-missing-seven-years-later

35 International Crisis Group, ‘The Fate of Women Who Lived with Boko Haram,’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y0t1dyRwLo

36 International Crisis Group, Nigeria: Women and the Boko Haram Insurgency, Africa Report No 242 (Brussels: ICG, 2016).

https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/nigeria-women-and-boko-haram-insurgency

37 Matfess, Women and the War on Boko Haram, 58.

38 International Crisis Group, Returning from the Land of Jihad: The Fate of Women Associated with Boko Haram, Africa Report No 275 (Brussels: ICG, 2019).

39 Emmanuel Bosah (Programme Manager of the Social Cohesion, Stabilisation and Reintegration Component, Neem Foundation), interview by Sven Botha, May 2019.

40 Jasmine Opperman (Director of Africa Operations, Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium), interview by Sven Botha, June 2019. At present, the only counter-narratives present at the time of this writing was provided by the Allamin Foundation for Peace and Development through radio programmes, but as the name of the provider suggests, the programme is organised by a civil society organisation.

41 Statista, ‘Literacy Rate in Nigeria in 2018, by Zone and Gender,’ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1124745/literacy-rate-in-nigeria-by-zone-and-gender/

42 Anneli Botha and Mahdi Abdile, Radicalisation and Boko Haram-Perception Versus Reality: Revenge as a Driver, the Role of the Female Soldiers, and the Impact of the Social Circle in Recruitment (Finland: The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, 2017).

43 Trading Economics, ‘Nigeria Unemployment Rate,’ https://tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/unemployment-rate

44 This currency conversion was done close to the relase of the final publication. As such, it may not be completly accurate when read after publication.

45 Valerie M. Hudson and Hilary Matfess, ‘In Plain Sight: The Neglected Linkage Between Brideprcie and Violent Conflict,’ International Security 42, no. 1 (2017): 7–40.

46 Jessica M. Davis, (Principle consultant, Insight Threat Intelligence), interviewed by Sven Botha, June 2019.

47 Opperman, interview; Akinola Olojo (Senior researcher, Transitional Threats and International Crime Programme, Institute for Security Studies), interviewed by Sven Botha, June 2019; Vesna Markovic (Associate professor of Justice, Law and Public Affairs, Lewis University), interviewed by Sven Botha, July 2019.

48 Alexis Leanna Henshaw, Why Women Rebel: Understanding Women’s Participation in Armed Rebel Groups (London, Routledge, 2017), 26.

49 ‘Marriage or Slavery? For Girls Abducted by Boko Haram, Suicide Bombing an Escape,’ The Mainichi, 4 April, 2018, https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180404/p2a/00m/0na/006000c

50 ‘Marriage or Slavery?,’ 2018.

51 Rita Santacroce et al., ‘The New Drugs and the Sea: the Phenomenon of Narco-Terrorism,’ Journal of Drug Policy no. 51 (2018): 67–68.

52 Jason Warner and Hilary Matfess, Exploding Stereotypes: the Unexpected Operational and Demographic Characteristics of Boko Haram’s Suicide Bombers (New York: Independently published by the Countering Terrorism Centre at West Point, 2018), 35.

53 For a full discussion, please refer to: Mia Bloom, Bombshell: Women and Terrorism (Philadelphia: Philadelphia University Press, 2011).

54 Funmilayo Idowu Agbaje, ‘The Objectified Female Body and the Boko Haram Insurgency in Northeast Nigeria: Insights from IDP Camps in Abuja,’ African Security Review 29, no. 1 (2020): 3–19.

55 Bloom and Matfess, ‘Woman as Symbols and Swards.’

56 Vensa Markovic, ‘Suicide Squads: Boko Harm’s Use of the Female Suicide Bomber,’ Women and Criminal Justice 29, no. 4-5, A Special Issue on Gender and Terrorism (2019): 294.

57 Jason Warner, Ellen Chapin and Hilary Matfess, ‘Suicide Squads: the Logic of Linked Suicide Bombings,’ Security Studies 28, no. 1 (2019): 25–57.

58 Benjamin Maiangwa and Daniel Agbiboa, ‘Why Boko Haram Kidnaps Women and Young Girls in North-East Nigeria,’ Conflict Trends 3 (2014): 51–56.

59 Ibrahim and Hoffmann, A Gift From Darkness, 99.

60 Opperman, interview.

61 Zoë Friedland and Nicolle Richards, Countering Violent Extremism by Countering Stereotypes, A Report to the Under Secretariat for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, US Department of State (Stanford: Stanford Law School: Law and Policy Lab, 2015).

62 Bosah, interview.

63 Hamoon Khelghat-Doost, ‘The Strategic Logic of Women in Jihadi Originations,’ Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 42, no. 10.

64 Jacob Zenn, ‘Boko Haram and the Kidnapping of the Chibok Schoolgirls,’ Counter Terrorism Centre Sentential 7, no. 5 (2014): 1–7.

65 Olarewaju Kola, ‘Boko Haram Recruits Women to Spy, Attack,’ Anadolu Agency, July 17, 2014, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/boko-haram-recruits-women-to-spy-attack/140701

66 Paul Carsten and Ahmed Kingimi, ‘Islamic State Alley Stakes Out Territory Around Lake Chad,’ Reuters, April 29, 2018, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-security/islamic-state-ally-stakes-out-territory-around-lake-chad-idUSKBN1I0063

67 Matfess, Women and the War on Boko Haram, 80 and 81.

68 John-Mark Iyi, ‘The Weaponusation of Women by Boko Haram and the prospects of Accountability,’ in Boko Haram and International Law, eds. John-Mark Iyi and Hennie Strydom (Erfurt: Springer, 2018), 259–91.

69 Sola Ogundipe, Chioma Obinna & Gabriel Olawale, 4 May 2015, 'Boko Haram: 214 rescued girls pregnant – UNFPA', Vanguard, https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/boko-haram214-rescued-girls-pregnant-unfpa/

70 Temitope B. Oriola, ‘“Unwilling Cocoons”: Boko Haram’s War Against Women,’ Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 40, no. 2 (2017): 99–121.

71 Iyi, Boko Haram and International Law, 2018.

72 Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Conflict Related Sexual Violence, Report of the United Nations Secretary-General, S\2019\280 (29 March 2019), https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/report/s-2019-280/Annual-report-2018.pdf

73 Matfess, Women and the War on Boko Haram, 80 and 81.

74 International Crisis Group, Returning from the Land of Jihad.

75 International Crisis Group, Returning from the Land of Jihad, 6.

76 International Crisis Group, Returning from the Land of Jihad.

77 International Crisis Group, Returning from the Land of Jihad.

78 International Crisis Group, Returning from the Land of Jihad.

79 International Crisis Group, Returning from the Land of Jihad, 7.

80 Vanda Felbaba-Brown, The Limits of Punishment: Transitional Justice and Violent Extremism-Nigeria Case Study (Tokyo: United Nations University, 2018).

81 Felbaba-Brown, The Limits of Punishment, 2018.

82 International Crisis Group, Returning from the Land of Jihad.

83 International Crisis Group, ‘The Fate of Women Who Lived with Boko Haram.’

84 Lamb, Our Bodies Their Battlefield, 2020.

85 The issue of insufficient access to healthcare is particularly prevalent among those returnees who were readily raped whilst with Boko Haram. In some cases, rape was so prominent that returnees suffered from fistula, a tear occurring between the vagina and the bladder or the rectum which meant that the sufferer would pass urine or faeces uncontrollably.

86 Sexual abuse within some IPD camps is rife. Members of the Nigerian military and the Joint Task Force have been accused of committing or aiding sexual abuse. See; Lamb, Our Bodies Their Battlefield, 2020; Amnesty International, ‘They Betrayed Us’: Women Who Survived Boko Haram Raped, Starved and Detained in Nigeria, https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/THEY-BETRAYED-US-WOMEN-WHO-SURVIVED-IN-NIGERIA.pdf

87 Opperman, interview.

88 International Crisis Group, ‘The Fate of Women Who Lived with Boko Haram.’

89 International Crisis Group, ‘The Fate of Women Who Lived with Boko Haram.’

90 One former female associate of Boko Haram noted that both her and her husband joined the group shortly after getting married ; she was eventually rescued by the Nigerian military to which her response was ‘The soldiers brought us back forcibly from Boko Haram, we would not have come back on our own.’ She further explains ‘I want to go back [to Boko Haram] because by husband is there.’ See International Crisis Group, ‘The Fate of Women Who Lived with Boko Haram’.

91 International Crisis Group, ‘The Fate of Women Who Lived with Boko Haram.’

92 International Crisis Group, ‘The Fate of Women Who Lived with Boko Haram.’

93 Stephen Buchanan-Clark and Peter Knoope, ‘The Boko Haram Insurgency: Form Short Term Gains to Long Term Solutions’ (Occasional Paper 23, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, Cape Town, 2017), https://www.ijr.org.za/portfolio-items/the-boko-haram-insurgency-from-short-term-gains-to-long-term-solutions/; Igo Aghedo, ‘Old Wine in a New Bottle: Ideological and Operational Linkages Between Maitatsine and Boko Haram Revolts in Nigeria,’ in Understanding Boko Haram: Terrorism and Insurgency in Africa, eds. James J. Hentz and Hussein Solomon (London: Routledge, 2017), 65–84.

94 Popoola Michael and Omosebi Fredrick Adeola, ‘Dissecting the Nexus Between Sustainable Counter Insurgency and Sustainable Development Goals: Putting Nigeria in the Context,’ International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences 3, no. 5 (2018): 873–81.

95 Emeka Thaddues Njoku, ‘Politics of Conviviality? State-Civil Society Relations Within the Context of CounterterrorismCounterterrorism in Nigeria’, Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Originations (2017), https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-017-9910-9

96 Government of Nigeria, Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act of 2013, 29.

97 ‘Boko Haram: Nigeria Rolls-Out Soft Approach to CounterterrorismCounterterrorism,’ Premium Times, March 20, 2014, https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/157111-boko-haram-nigeria-rolls-soft-approach-counterterrorismcounterterrorism.html

98 Government of Nigeria, Counter Terrorism in the Office of the National Security Advisor (Abuja: Office of the National Security Advisor, 2017).

99 United Nations Development Programme and International Civil Society, Invisible Women: Gendered Dimensions of Return, Rehabilitation and Reintegration From Violent Extremism, 2019, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ICAN_UNDP_Invisible_Women_Report.pdf

100 Invisible Women, 2019.

101 Invisible Women, 2019.

102 Bosah, interview.

103 Dr Fatima Akilu (Former Director of Behavioral Analysis and Strategic Communication and current Executive Director of the Neem Foundation), interviewed by Sven Botha, June 2020.

104 Aisha John Mark, ‘Nigeria Launches 2019 National Security Strategy Document,’ VON, December 4, 2019, https://www.von.gov.ng/nigeria-launches-2019-national-security-strategy-document/

105 the government of Nigeria, CounterterrorismCounterterrorism Centre, Office of the National Security Advisor, National Security Strategy (Abuja: Office of the National Security Advisor, 2019), https://ctc.gov.ng/national-security-strategy-2019/

106 There exists tension between northern and southern Nigeria whereby the former is envious of the latter’s developmental advances. In relation to the Boko Haram insurgency, this tension has resulted in southerners arguing that Boko Haram is the work of northern political elites to discredit the integrity of southern leaders. See: Daniel E. Agbiboa and Benjamin Maiangwa, ‘Nigeria United in Grief; Divided in Response: Religious Terrorism, Boko Haram and the Dynamics of State Response,’ African Journal of African Conflict Resolution 14, no. 1 (2014): 63–97.

107 Government of Nigeria, National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bill Tracker, Terrorism (Prohibition and Prevention) Bill (Abuja: National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2019), https://www.nassnig.org/documents/bill/10412#

108 Buba, Interview.

109 Olumuyiwa Temitope Faluyi, Sultan Khan and Adeoye O. Akinola, Boko Haram’s Terrorism and the Nigerian State: Federalism, Politics and Policies (Cham: Springer, 2019).

110 Eugene Eji, ‘Rethinking Nigeria’s CounterterrorismCounterterrorism Strategy,’ The International Journal of Intelligence, Security and Public Affairs 18, no. 3 (2016): 198–220.

111 Eji, ‘Rethinking Nigeria’s CounterterrorismCounterterrorism Strategy.’

112 Amina Mama, ‘Khaki in the Family: Gender Discourses and Militarism in Nigeria,’ African Studies Review 41, no. 2 (Sep., 1998): 1–17; Sefina DogoSefina Dogo, ‘Understanding the Evolving Changes in the Nigerian Military from a Feminist Sociological Institutional Perspective,’ International Journal of Arts & Sciences 9, no. 2 (December 2016): 509–18.

113 Akilu, interview.

114 Candice D. Ortbals and Lori M. Poloni-Staudinger, Gender and Political Violence: Women Changing Politics and Terrorism (Cham: Springer, 2019).

115 Otto, Interview.

116 Fal-Dutra Santos, Interview.

117 Kemi Okenyodo, ‘The Role of Women in Preventing, Mitigating and Responding to Violence and Violent Extremism in Nigeria,’ in A Man’s Word? Exploring the Roles of Women in Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism, eds. Naureen Chowdhury Fink, Sara Zeiger and Rafia Bhulai (Abu Dhabi: Hedayah and The Centre on Cooperative Security, 2016), 100–14.

118 Akilu, Interview.

119 The article by Emeka Njoku and Joshua Akintayo in this special issue is a good start to filling this gap in the literature.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sven Botha

Sven Botha is, at the time of this writing, the Head Tutor and a MA candidate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Johannesburg. His MA research focuses on the evaluation of counter-terrorism programmes in the African context via a gendered lens. He is a member of the South African Association of Political Studies (SAAPS) and is also a former member of SAAPS’ executive council (2019–2021). Sven’s research interests include terrorism, counter-terrorism, preventing/countering violent extremism, gender, diplomacy, foreign policy and early-career development in the Social Sciences.