Ebenezer Obadare, the Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, has warned that Nigeria cannot overcome its worsening insecurity without a deliberate and uncompromising strategy to neutralise Boko Haram.
Obadare spoke at a joint congressional briefing convened by the US House Appropriations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, as lawmakers investigate rising religious persecution and targeted killings of Christians in Nigeria.
He proposed a two-fold US policy approach: “Work with the Nigerian military to neutralise Boko Haram, and Press Abuja to reform domestic laws by making Sharia law unconstitutional in the twelve northern states that adopted it since 2000 and disbanding Hisbah groups enforcing Islamic codes on non-Muslim citizens.
Obadare told lawmakers that Nigeria’s instability is tied directly to the activities of extremist groups, chief among them Boko Haram.
According to him, Nigeria cannot overcome its worsening insecurity without a deliberate and uncompromising strategy to neutralise Boko Haram, describing the jihadist sect as “the deadliest and most serious threat confronting the Nigerian state today.”
