Rationalising the appeal of the Boko Haram sect in Northern Nigeria before July 2009

In recent years, academic researchers and commentators have devoted a great deal of attention to the question of why some sections of the Muslim population in northern Nigeria sympathise with the Boko Haram sect. This article elaborates on original accounts of imprisoned Boko Haram members, former members of the sect, their relatives, and other categories of informants to draw out the dynamics which foregrounded the relative success of the Boko Haram sect in attracting members before July 2009. More specifically, I analyse the dynamics of the relationship between the Muslim public in northern Nigeria and the Nigerian state, in order to contextualise Boko Haram’s emergence and appeal as existing on that spectrum. I focus on both the healthcare sector and police force as case studies, to demonstrate how the perceived failure of successive Nigerian administrations in both areas has engendered gaps which alternative providers of social services have attempted to fill. The sect’s ability to provide social services helped in adding to Boko Haram’s appeal and local legitimacy. In doing so, it becomes clear that before July 2009 the Boko Haram sect took advantage of failures in governance, particularly at the local level, to attract a section of the Muslim public in northern Nigeria.