Boko Haram by Mike Smith Page B

Haram insurgency
- 
c.
1085
    Kanem-Bornu Empire becomes officially Muslim under Mai
     Hummay.
- 
c.
1349
    Kano becomes first state in Hausaland to have a Muslim
     king.
- 1804
    Usman Dan Fodio and followers of his Muslim reformist
     movement migrate to Gudu, marking the start of a jihad in Hausaland that would lead
     to the creation of the Sokoto Caliphate across much of what is today northern
     Nigeria and beyond.
- 1903
    A military assault on Kano begins the final conquest of
     northern Nigeria and the Sokoto Caliphate for the British.
- 1914
    Northern and southern Nigeria are amalgamated by the British
     into a single entity, creating the outlines of the nation that exists today.
- 1956
    Nigeria strikes oil in commercial quantities in the Niger
     Delta in the south.
- 1960
    Nigeria gains independence from Britain.
- 1967
    Civil war begins after the south-east declares itself an
     independent Republic of Biafra.
- 1970
    Civil war ends with the defeat of the Biafrans. Nigeria
     remains one nation, but deep divisions persist.
- 1980
    Deadly riots break out in Kano involving members of a radical
     Islamist movement known as Maitatsine.
- 1999
    Northern politicians push to institute sharia law for
     criminal cases. Some 12 northern states later adopt some form of sharia criminal
     law, though it is selectively enforced.
- 2003
    The beginnings of Boko Haram begin to take shape when
     followers of radical cleric Mohammed Yusuf retreat to a remote area of Yobe state
     and clash with authorities.
- 2009
    Boko Haram under Mohammed Yusuf launches an uprising in
     north-eastern Nigeria after a clash with authorities in Maiduguri. Around 800 people
     are killed in five days of violence. Yusuf is shot dead by police after being
     captured.
- 2010
    Boko Haram re-emerges after more than a year in hiding with a
     series of assassinations and a prison raid under the leadership of YusufGs deputy,
     Abubakar Shekau.
- 2011
    Boko Haram claims responsibility for a suicide car bomb
     attack on United Nations headquarters in Abuja that killed 23 people.
- 2012
    A series of coordinated assaults and bomb attacks leave at
     least 185 people dead in Kano, NigeriaGs second-largest city. Shekau claims
     responsibility.
- 2013
    Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declares an emergency in
     three north-eastern states after Boko Haram seizes territory in remote areas of the
     region.
- 2014
    Boko Haram attackers raid the north-eastern town of Chibok
     and kidnap 276 girls from their dormitory, sparking global outrage.

Prologue: ‘I Think the Worst Has Happened’
    The siege that would shake Nigeria seemed to unfold at shocking speed, young men blowing themselves up in bomb-laden cars, hurling drink cans packed with explosives and gunning down officers with AK-47s, all in the space of a few hours. But for Wellington Asiayei, the horror would play out in slow motion.
    It was a Friday in Kano, the largest city in Nigeria’s predominately Muslim north, and prayers at mosques had drawn to an end, worshippers in robes having earlier filed out into streets thick with dust in the midst of a dry season near the Sahara desert. Residents of the crowded and ancient metropolis were returning home, manoeuvring their way through traffic or climbing on to the rear of motorcycle taxis that would zip them through and around lines of cars. At police headquarters in a neighbourhood called Bompai, Wellington Asiayei wrapped up his work for the day and took the short walk back to his room at the barracks to begin preparing his dinner.
    When the 48-year-old assistant police superintendent reached his room, he heard explosions. ‘Everybody from the barracks was running for their dear lives’, Asiayei would explain to me three days after the 20 January 2012 attacks. The barracks would soon be empty, but despite the confusion, it would still occur to him to lock the door to his room before fleeing. As he