The black caliph

Boko Haram’s metamorphosis, bookended by IS, al-Qaeda and the risk of a divided country. How it’s changing Nigeria’s prospects.

At the time of its founding in 2002, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad, better known as Boko Haram) was not a terrorist organisation. From interviews conducted by scholars who are engaged in studying the Nigerian extremist group, it has become clear that throughout its early years, Boko Haram was a group intent on pursuing humanitarian goals, concentrating its activities in three of the six north-eastern states of Nigeria (Borno, Yobe and Adamawa).

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