Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-136) / The study focuses on the impact of the Boko Haram Muslim terrorist group on the socioeconomic well‐being and livelihood of the population in the north‐east of Nigeria. To research the social, economic, religious and political impact of attacks leading to the disruption of people in the north‐east who fled their homes for the safety of southern refugee camps, the study relies on three research questions to be answered, namely: Does the Boko Haram terrorist group pose a threat to the socio‐economic well‐being of people in north‐eastern Nigeria? How have Boko Haram terrorist attacks impacted on the livelihood of the population? What is a viable solution or intervention strategy to deal with the impact of and fight against terrorism in Nigeria in particular? The study adopts an in‐depth qualitative methodology. Different related research techniques are used in data collection and analysis. Focus group discussions, in‐depth interviews and documentary sources have different complementary strengths, which are more comprehensive when used together. Questionnaires will guide the discussions with groups of internally displaced people, who are the units of analysis. Data is gathered through snowball sampling of willing, available respondents to understand and explain their personal views and experiences, creating the meanings they have constructed around their disrupted livelihoods and well‐being in refugee camps. An overarching, broad conflict perspective is chosen, related to Dahrendorf’s views on power struggles of dominant interest groups, authority, inequality and marginalisation of opponents, which also includes complementary concepts of religiously inspired fundamentalist theory focusing on indoctrination, dominance, manipulation and marginalisation of interest groups. This broad conflict perspective will investigate the social, economic, political and religious impacts of Boko Haram in Nigeria. The findings indicate that the Boko Haram attacks had a negative effect on the livelihood of citizens and displaced persons in refugee camps, as well as on the social cohesion and development of the north‐eastern Nigerian state. Conflict resolution and intervention strategies will be implemented to curb the violence. Societal transformation is recommended for infrastructural development and job creation to solve poverty and gainfully cater for educated, unemployed youths, now recruited into the ranks of the Boko Haram Muslim sect. / Sociology / M.A. (Sociology)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In this study, rhetorical analysis through the framework of victimage ritual is employed to analyze four Boko Haram messages on You Tube, five e-mail messages sent to journalists from leaders of Boko Haram, and a BlogSpot web page devoted to Boko Haram. The aim of this analysis is to understand the persuasive devices by which Boko Haram leaders create, express, and sustain their jurisprudence on acts of violence. The goal of this study is to understand how leaders of Boko Haram construct and express the group’s values, sway belief, and justify violence. The findings show that Boko Haram desire to redeem non-Muslims from perdition, liberate Muslims from persecution, protect Islam from criticism, and revenge perceived acts of injustices against Muslims. The group has embarked on this aim by allotting blame, vilifying the enemy-Other, pressing for a holy war, encouraging martyrdom, and alluding to an apocalypse. Boko Haram’s audience is made to believe that Allah has assigned Boko Haram the task to liberate and restore an Islamic haven in Nigeria. Therefore, opposition from the Nigerian government or Western forces is constructed as actions of evil, thus killing members of the opposition becomes a celestial and noble cause. This juxtaposition serves to encourage the violent Jihad which leaders of Boko Haram claims Allah assigned them to lead in the first place. As a result of this cyclical communication, media houses, along the Nigerian government, Christians and Western ideals become the symbolic evil, against which Muslims, sympathizers and would-be-recruits must unite. By locking Islam against the Nigerian government, Western ideals and Christianity in a characteristically hostile manner, Boko Haram precludes any real solution other than an orchestrated Jihad-crusade-or-cleanse model in which a possible coexistence of Muslims and the enemy-Other are denied, and the threat posed by the enemy-Other is eliminated through conversion or destruction. As a result, this study proposes that Boko Haram Internet messages Boko Haram’s mission reveals a movement of separatism, conservatism, and fascism. A movement based on the claim that its activism will establish a state in accordance with the dictates of Allah.