Nigeria: Islamist sect leader dies in custody

Financial Times
July 30 2009

The leader of an Islamist sect at the centre of five days of fighting in northern Nigeria that has claimed hundreds of lives died in police custody last night.

Mohammed Yusuf was killed hours after he was captured, according to police officials quoted by news agencies.

Mr Yusuf’s death followed an assault on a mosque housing followers of the radical preacher, who demanded stricter imposition of sharia, or Islamic law, across northern Nigeria and the abandonment of secular education.

In retaliation for a series of attacks on police stations and other targets that had spread to four states since erupting on Sunday, troops closed in on an area of the city of Maiduguri, the base of the sect whose name – Boko Haram – means “western education is forbidden”. Unconfirmed estimates of the death toll ranged from 300 to 600 people.

The organisation is thought to be connected to “the Nigerian Taliban”, an extremist group that emerged several years ago, inspired by their Afghan namesakes.

It is unclear how Mr Yusuf’s supporters will respond to his death. Many are reported to have been killed or captured.

Residents in Maiduguri and aid workers say the sect commands little loyalty among local communities, which have a tradition of tolerant Islam.

However, figures such as Mr Yusuf have been able to tap widespread disaffection in the north and the perception that liberal economic policies have benefited Christians in the south while entrenching poverty in the north.

Even before Mr Yusuf’s death, rights groups had been concerned by reports of extra-judicial killings of suspected members of Boko Haram by police.

Security sources said there was no evidence to infer from the fighting that fundamentalist Islamist groups owing allegiance to al-Qaeda, such as those in north Africa and parts of the Sahel, had gained a foothold in Africa’s most populous nation.

One security source said images of fighters with rudimentary weapons suggested they lacked the international connections to secure shipments of more formidable arms. However, some officials have claimed the group had been joined by sympathisers from elsewhere in the region, such as Chad and Niger.

Although Boko Haram militants have reportedly attacked some churches, the fighting has not sparked violence between Christians and Muslims – each comprising roughly half of Nigeria’s 150m people – of the kind that has periodically erupted since 12 of the country’s 36 states ­introduced sharia law in 2000.

It has added, however, to a sense of crisis. Militants from the Niger delta recently ventured beyond the oil-producing southern coast region to strike at a petroleum facility in Lagos, the commercial capital and main port.

Oil revenues, on which the government is highly dependent, are falling, and frustrations at the inaction of the government of Umaru Yar’Adua, president, are rising.

Mr Yar’Adua has left for a state visit to Brazil, but not before ordering security forces to take all necessary action to end the uprising.