Report Claims Many Boko Haram Members Are Christians

A report on the website of Radio France International (RFI) has revealed that some members of the terrorist group, Boko Haram are of the christian faith. 

According to the report, little is known about the Islamist sect and much public information about them is not correct.

The European Conference on African Studies set to hold this week gave Nigerian researchers an opportunity to meet in Paris and took part in a round table entitled“Within and around Boko Haram in Nigeria”.

Read the comments of two researchers below:

Ini Dele-Adedeji (School of Oriental and African Studies):

* Boko Haram’s pledged allegiance to the Islamic State

“Transnational, international aims – I have not seen evidence to support that. So I think they want to carve out a Sharia state in a part of northern Nigeria. But I don’t think they intend for it to cover the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.”

Murray Last: University College of London: 

1. Lack of knowledge about Boko Haram

“The real problem of Boko Haram is that no one has actually infiltrated them or if they have, they haven’t come out, or they’ve joined them. So the level of knowledge about the insides of Boko Haram is remarkedly small.”

2. Boko Haram leadership – Abubakar Shekau

“If you analyse the photographs you seem to have so many people that might be Shekau. Shekau has been pronounced dead by the Nigerian press and army so many times. So what one’s dealing with is quite possibly the title of leader like Shekau, which could be applied to anyone.”

3. Number of fighters, salary and Christians

“It’s almost certainly bound to be about 5,000, but some people put the numbers up way higher. The other problem is that of course as far as we know it’s quite a good job, at one point you could be paid 400 dollars a month for just simply joining them, you wouldn’t have to go fighting, you would spend your first months doing logistics or training. It’s quite profitable joining Boko Haram because you not only loot places, but you share the loot out at the end. And the third point that I think is important to realise is that there are plenty of Christians who are part of Boko Haram because it’s a job.”

Meanwhile, the Kano State Government last week denied claims going around that Governor Abdullahi Ganduje banned Christians resident in the state from going to church.