IGWEBUIKE PHILOSOPHY AND THE BOKO HARAM MENACE

Abstract

Boko Haram (a terrorist group) is absolutely a menace that requires an urgent response because they are out to destroy the present structure of the Nigerian State. From all available evidence, their sole intention is to fanatically Islamize the entire country and project an Islamic ideology of a radical nature. Their ambition is closely tied to that of the ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Fundamentally, Nigeria is a Secular State without any official State Religion. So in order to contain this group, and allow the Nigerian government save her corporate existence and maintain her secular nature, this paper encourages and in fact, adopts an indigenous African Philosophy called Igwebuike. Igwebuike; a substratum of African traditional values, philosophy and religion is an underlying and integral principle of African Philosophical experience which enhances the unity of all Africans. Igwebuike is an accepted tactics of soft power (i.e. the ability to attract and co-opt, rather than military coercion) to crush this dangerous sect to submission and quickly address all the contentious issues that facilitate agitations from different sections of the country such as illiteracy, unemployment, armed banditry, Kidnappings, environmental pollution and general poverty. To achieve the goal of this study, historical and phenomenological methods of enquiry were employed in the collection and analysis of data, while the indigenous wholistic theory was adopted for the interpretation and understanding of the problem at hand. This work submits that Boko Haram sect is ethically blameworthy for declaring war against the Nigerian State as it has no right whatsoever to do so, especially, when in prosecuting the war, the sect has violated all the universally laid down regulations for a just war and those of Human Rights.
Keywords: Igwebuike, Philosophy, Boko Haram, Just War, Human Rights, Traditional Values