# Introduction igeria has continued to face political instability and crisis since the census crisis of 1962 orchestrated by Northern quest to dominate the South, and the transition crisis of 1964 that culminated in the 1967-1970 Nigerian civil war. The instability manifested as coups and counter coups, religious and ethnic conflicts, failed transition programmes, politically motivated high level murders, electoral violence, arson and electoral litigations that overturned many declared victories. Since 1983 when Nigeria recorded a failed attempt at civilian transition of power due to Northern dominated National Party of Nigeria's manipulation of electoral process and results, Nigeria has witnessed an unprecedented level of violence that ranges from inter/intra-communal and ethnic clashes, ethno-religious violence, demonstrations or civil strife, arson, armed robbery, political assassination, murder, gender-based violence, election violence, and bomb explosion [Ogunyemi and Align, 2011]. This high level of insecurity has been exacerbated by catastrophic terrorism that have taken terrible humanitarian toll and threatened Nigeria's cooperate existence as witnessed in the Niger Delta region and many Northern States. Kaplan [1994:3] summarized the scenario thus: Author : Department of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. E-mails : ceze32@yahoo.com, ezeprinceemeka@yahoo.com The country is becoming increasingly ungovernable.... Ethnic and regional splits are deepening, a situation made worse by an increase in the number of states from 19 to 30 and a doubling in the number of local governing authorities. Religious cleavages are more serious; Muslim fundamentalism and evangelical Christian militancy are on the rise; and northern Muslim anxiety over southern [Christian] control of the economy is intense . . . the will to keep Nigeria together is now very weak. Consequent upon this, many insurgent and ethnically based organizations such as the Oduduwa Peoples' Congress (OPC), the Egbesu boys, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Arewa Peoples' Congress (APC), the Bakassi Boys, Igbo Peoples' Congress (IPC), Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), Niger Delta Resistant Movement (NDRM), Movement for the Survival of the Izon Nationality of the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), the Yobe Taliban, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Jama'at Ahlus al-Sunnah Liddawati Wal-Jihad or better known as Boko Haram, and a host of many other violence wielding groups emerged. Of these groups, this paper studies Boko Haram because its activities, destructions and killings are the most contemporary with sophisticated connections to many past and serving political office holders and military personnel. According to Connell (2012), Boko Haram was founded in 1995 by Abubakah Lawan under the original name Ahlulsunna wal'jama'ah hijra with its headquarters in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Its original goal of improving the economic hardship and poor living standards in the country through struggle attracted followers in their hundreds (Farouk, 2012:2). However, when Lawan left for studies at the University of Medina in Saudi Arabia, a radicalized Muslim cleric named Muhammad Yusuf assumed leadership position of the group and renamed the group Boko Haram (Connell, 2012:88), which simply means western education is forbidden. Yusuf equally changed the primary goals of the sect towards the overthrow of the secular Nigerian Government and the enforcement of an anti-Western Sharia law based government. Consequently, the sect attacks churches and government buildings, personnel and institutions. They have carried out several attacks against security agencies, government properties, churches and markets together with United Nations headquarters in Abuja [Brock, 2011]. However, the increasing spread and successful operations of the Boko Haram sect against the people and government of the Federal republic of Nigeria, the level of destruction of lives and property in the face of multiple armed security forces is a puzzle that needs to be resolved. This dangerous trend has been complicated by the allegation of complicity among former heads of state, high-ranking political office holders and security personnel. The disappearance of Kabiru Sokoto -a terrorist suspect from the police cell, the arrests of some security personnel who were smuggling illegal arms into the country by Customs officials, and the arrests of some security personnel safeguarding or transporting illegal arms into Abuja, etc are equally matters of serious concern. Unfortunately, none of those arrested suspects and collaborators has been prosecuted. This paper therefore studies the insurgency with a view to examine the factors that have encouraged the growth and expansion of Boko Haram operations, its relationship with Northern political agenda and achievements so far. # II. # Materials and Methods This study is predominantly based on information derived from secondary sources such as relevant texts, journals, magazines, newspapers, official publications, historical documents and the Internet, which served as tangible sources of insight into terrorism, politics and conflicts. The time-span of the study is primarily but not exclusively between 2007 when Boko Haram began its public campaign against constituted governments and 2013 being the current time Nigerians witnessed its terrors across the Northern Nigeria. The choice of 2007 as starting point of this inquiry was informed by the fact that it marked the year the Islamic sect recorded its first public and successful attack. That was even the year the group revealed for the first time the reasons for its campaign against the government and Nigerians. However, the inquiry is strictly limited to recorded information about Boko Haram and its insurgent activities that can be found on the internet and libraries. The paper is interest in such information as the rise and activities of Boko Haram, its operations across Nigeria, government responses to their claims and actions, and the impact such actions. Consequently, the paper adopts content analysis as its method of analysis. The method here is to sift the findings in the works available for this research, check the consistency of the opinions of either the authors and/or the actors; evaluate such findings or opinions with other existing findings on the subject. The data shall equally be examined in the light of other thesis and findings on the subject matter. Through these methods, the paper draws inferences on the data generated during the research and their consequences for party dominance in Nigeria's democratic process. # III. # Gap in the Extant Literature This section reviews available literature on regime change, terrorism, terrorism in Nigeria, and the emergence of Boko-Haram as a terrorist group in Nigeria. # a) Regime Change The concept of regime change has being variously defined by scholars. According to Booth (1998:5) it is the act of changing "both the fundamental rules of politics and the makeup of its coalition (a regime shift)". Other authors such as Acemoglu and Robinson (2006) perceive it as the possible outcome of the strategic interaction of domestic political groups. These authors ignored the role or influence of external or foreign players in such an interaction (Bonfatti, 2011:5). They equally ignored the role or influence of non-state actors, who are not members of any political party nor act in the name of any of such parties such insurgent or rebel groups. Nevertheless, the concept of regime change is associated with the substitution of one type of regime with another i.e. civilian regime with military regime, or substitution of the executive arm of government with another through elections, coup d'état, litigations/legal process, revolution, and or the death of the incumbent chief executive (Baird, 2001;Caldeira and Gibson, 1992). In essence, it is the constitutional or unconstitutional removal or replacement of the chief executive of a state whether military or civilian regime or a change from one regime type to another, which in effect leads to the substitution of all political appointees with other set of people. From the perspective prism of changes in structures, mechanisms of operation and procedure, Albrecht and Schlumberger [2004] classified regime change into five as follows: change in the Structures of legitimacy and strategies of legitimization; elite change; change in institution building/arrangement of power; co-optation i.e. restricting populism and widening the regime's power base; and external influences/intervention. The nature and dynamics of regime change depends on the socio-political and economic forces that are responsible for change. Such forces can be indigenous or exogenous. In most cases regime change is associated with perceived inability of the existing political system or administrators of such system to translate popular in-put demands on a policy issue into political action (Tyler and Mitchell, 1994;Easton, 1965b). This leads to decline in legitimacy, the emergence of civil rights movements and activism. In this case, people's dissatisfaction with dividends of bad governance propels pressure that results in coup d'état, assassination of the incumbent, or demand for early elections. Such a regime is voted out of power by the people. Generally, social tension, mass unemployment among young people, religious fundamentalism, poverty, undemocratic culture, ideology, despotism or autocratic governance, democracy, security and economic expansion or advantage has been noted by scholars as the major reasons causing nationally or internationally sponsored regime change. Booth [1998:9 emphasis mine] in the study of regime change in South American countries from traditional political stability, guerrilla insurgency, military reformism, personalistic authoritarianism, socialist revolution, to civilian-led liberal democracy between 1970 and the late 1990s argued that, Regime coalition members benefit from inclusion in the regime. [Consequently,] Social and economic change can generate and mobilize new political actors who may seek inclusion into the ruling coalition and its benefits, and who may or may not be admitted by those within the regime. Socio-economic change can dramatically affect the resources available to the regime. This inclusion tendency in South American politics that normally alters both the character and rules of the regime i.e. regime shift is necessitated by corporatist tendencies and the willingness of new actors to fight the status quo till they are included in the regime. It therefore suffices to say that South American political actors do not work for regime change but shift or transformation. Thus, intra and inter class struggle due to social exclusion from the structure of distribution lead to rebellion, revolution and political violence that inevitably cause changes in regime [Gurr, 1970;Walton, 1984:13]. Many scholars such as Walton [1984]; Skocpol [1979]; Paige [1975]; Olson [1979]; Wickham-Crowley [1992]; Booth [1996], Williams [1986]; Gasiorowski [1995] and Brockett [1988] generally agree that rapid economic change and evolving class relations are powerful factors that cause mass mobilization needed for a violent challenge to any regime. Such group of people when mobilized focuses their energy on changing the status quo. Aya [1979] and Tilly [1978] note that the ruling coalition is always the target of such a change, while the coalition itself enhances the rebellion through repression thereby promoting the expected change. It is more profitable however for the ruling group to share power with broader sets of citizens to avoid total regime change. Thus, redistribution of resources leads to mobilization and democratization [Acemoglu and Robinson, 2006]. The literature also noted the role of external interests that were not accommodated by regimes as forces that influence or cause the movement for changing regimes. Seligson and Booth [1993]; Huntington [1993]; Easterly et Al. [2008]; Dube et Al. (2011); Whitehead (1991); Carothers (1991) among others stressed the role of external intervention to change an existing regime and or imposition of preferred regime type because their interests, which is predominantly economic (Bonfatti, 2011), are not safeguarded in such regimes. Such external forces may be strengthening a prevailing regime by supporting it or weakening it through or withheld support, supply of resources to domestic actors, altering their relative strength and capacity to act (Muller and Seligson, 1994). They may also use international institutions to pressurize regimes to adopt certain policies or regime types through such instruments like foreign loans, aid, arms, trade, cooperation at the international level, military assistance etc (Booth, 1998). # b) Terrorism There is no commonly accepted conceptualisation of terrorism. From the perception of imperial and autocratic regimes, certain group actions that are against their interests are branded terrorist actions, while for the perpetrators, such actions are nationalistic and emancipatory [Gunaratna, 2002]. The debate over what constitute terrorism has been summed up in the following expression, 'one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.' The crux of the arguments is that actions considered by the state as terrorism take the form of asymmetric warfare between groups, movements and organisations often against the state. These include ethnic identity conflicts, which is characterised by irredentist and secessionist movements and multi-party civil war. Such actions are guided by religious or ethno-nationalist ideas and characterised by hatred, fear and genocide and have no declarations of war, few battles and are typified by attrition, terror and violence against civilians [Kaldor, 1999;Laquer, 2001;Gilbert, 2003;Holsti, 1996]. In some cases like the Rwanda and Burundi genocides, dominant ethnic groups employ the instrumentalities of the state to perpetuate the same act against other groups that are not in power. Still such state sponsored or perpetuated terror is not termed terrorism. To some other scholars, terrorism is a violent reaction against an established social order wherein terrorists are seen as social actors seeking for change in society and use violence as instruments to destroy the existing framework of society or merely change it. Such violence can be for reform or revolution. This is due to the existence of a set of existential and development human needs that require satisfaction on a hierarchical basis. Indifference to such needs on the part of government normally leads actors into violence against the state [Burton, 1979;Gurr, 1970 and. This implies that if the basic human needs of individual nonstate actors are unsatisfied they can generate grievance terrorism, revolutionary terrorism or reactionary Although consensus will continue to elude the conceptualisation of terrorism for a long time [Laqueur, 1987:72], the concept is relative to the legitimacy of state governance, or as specific methods of political violence, such as hijack or bombing or as acts of violence against a specific target group, particularly civilians [Wilkinson, 2000]. In line with this, the United States Department of Defence in Laqueur [2001] conceptualized of terrorism as; "Unlawful use of force or violence against individuals or property to coerce and intimidate governments to accept political, religious or ideological objectives." Hoffman [1999:32] noted that terrorism can even be located in the "threats to the stability of nation states by non-state actors and nongovernmental processes and organisations." The predominance of state power over private forces made the relative legitimacy explanation of terrorism the widely accepted understanding of the concept. Resultantly, the concept represents a challenge and threat to state authority by an illegitimate body. However, Schmid and Jongman [2004:2] offered more neutral conceptualization terrorism as; A method of combat in which random or symbolic victims serve as instrumental targets of violence. These instrumental victims share group or class characteristics, which form the basis for the victimisation. Other members of that group or class are put in a chronic state of fear (terror)?. the purpose of which is to change attitudes or behaviour favouring the interests of the user of method of combat. Available literature such as Bowyer [1978]; Laqueur [2001] and Richmond [2006] These outcomes made some scholars like Enders and Sandler, [2002]; Abadie and Gardeazabal [2001]; Barros [2003] to embark on an exploration of alternative methods of waging counter terror wars. They noted such alternative like assassinations and kidnappings of terrorist group leaders such as the ones conducted by ETA between 1968 and 2000; the application of different political ideologies by those in power; increases in police and military fiscal allocations as well as increases in foreign investment in the home country or base where the terrorist groups are based. The United States for instance raised its "Appropriations for Combating Terrorism and Protecting Critical Infrastructure" by over 650% from $13.6 billion dollars in 2002 to $88.1 billion in 2004 [Congressional Budget Office, 2005]. This excludes the billions of dollars spent since September 11th on counter terrorism around the world. # c) Boko-Haram and Terrorism in Nigeria The emergence of Boko Haram, which can be traced to the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, a Shiite movement led by Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky that was funded by Iran, laid the background for the contemporary terrorist activities in Nigeria since 2007. Since then, the sect has vigorously pursued the propagation of an extreme Islamic doctrine, which sees Western education and the leadership of non-hard-line Muslims and or Christians as evil and immoral. The sect forbids everything Western i.e. Western education and modern science and technology are sinful, sacrilegious or ungodly and should therefore be forbidden (Danjibo, 2009;Adesoji, 2010). The sect seeks to create an Islamic state governed by Sharia law in Nigeria by any means at its disposal and at whatever human cost it deems necessary [Bumah, 2009]. For this, the sect has carried out numerous deadly attacks against Nigerian governments, their institutions and structures, and Nigerians in general. On its part, the state has reacted to these brutal attacks by legislating against it, waging antiterrorist wars and declaring state of emergency in three states where the sect is based and operates mostly. This paper pursues an analysis of the aim of bookharam insurgency in Nigeria, the nuances of its operations, and an evaluation of state sponsored antiterror programmes. Suffice to say, the paper will test the applicability of the effectiveness or non-effectiveness of anti-terrorism wars within the Nigerian context. # IV. # Theoretical Nexus With the consideration of the primary reasons that led to emergence of Boko Haram sect, this paper adopts the Islamic fundamentalist theory as its framework of analysis. According to Hodgkin [1975:247], the fundamental principle of the theory, which guided Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio, was "to make upon the heathen king who?make no profession of Islam, is obligatory by assent". Therefore, the goal of Islamising Nigeria under the sharia law dates back to the Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio in 1804 [Adetoro, 1982]. Since then, the goal has always being the motive behind various ethno-religious riots in Northern Nigeria. Recently, Farouk (2012) observed that the Boko Haram sect and insurgency is an expression of the Quranic verse which states that "Anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among the transgressors" (Quran 649). Usigbe (2012) noted that President GoodLuck Jonathan was recently directed by the Boko Haram sect to embrace Islam or resign. Furthering the argument, Suleiman (2011) reporting the public statement issued by Boko Haram group in Maiduguri on April 24, 2011, noted that their objectives were to abolish democracy and institute Sharia law as instrument of justice and islamization. The sect preached first total islamization of Nigeria until 2009 when it took arms against the state because of the Maiduguri crisis of July, 2009 that led to the death of Mohammed Yusuf and some of their members. For this reason, one of the sect's spokesmen declared; we would continue to fight until Islam is well established and the Muslims regain their freedom all over Nigeria. We would never be ready to compromise and we don't need amnesty. The only solution to what is happening is for the government to repent, jettison democracy, drop the constitution and adopt the laws in the Holy Qur'an (Suleiman, 2011:50). First, the sect called on government to prosecute the police officers involved in the extrajudicial killing of their leader Mohammed Yusuf and some members. They equally called for the arrest and trial of some former Northern Nigeria Governors for what they described as acts of "betrayal" because the former governors used them as thugs. The relevance of this theory to our study relates to the fact that over 60% of Nigerians are not Moslems. They are either Christians, Traditional religionists, atheists, members of the church of Satan and other religious affiliations. The real threat posed by the emergence and activities of Boko Haram stems from the fact that these none Muslims are prepared for a showdown with the Islamic sect. The theory enables us therefore to understand the attacks and counter attacks in the Northern Nigeria, relocation of non-indigenes out of many states in the North and its economic, social and political consequences. The theory enables us also to study the reasons for and impact of government's counter terror operations in the Northern part of Nigeria, the overall impact of the terror and counter terror activities on tourism, foreign investments, economic activities, fiscal appropriation for security/armed forces, and growth. The theory is therefore relevant for the study. V. # Findings and Discussions a) Book-Haram Insurgency Boko Haram is one of the Islamic fundamentalist sects in Nigeria that adopted violence as a weapon of attracting national and international responses to their demands or interests. "Boko-Haram" is a name that was derived from Hausa and Arabic words. "Boko" in Hausa means "western education" and "Haram" an Arabic word means "sin" [Obinna, 2011]. It therefore suffices to say that the name Boko-Haram literally means western education is a sin. This symbolises the original name of this sect, Jama'atu AhlisSunna Lidda'awatiwal-Jihad, which stands for "The Group of Al-Sunna for Preaching and Jihad". It is innocuous therefore to argue from the onset that Boko-Haram is an Islamic sect established for the purposes of stamping out western civilization and for prosecuting jihad. Consequently, the sect is against Christians, moderate Muslims and the government of Nigeria, and began by stockpiling arms and ammunitions between 2002 and 2008 [Soyombo, 2012]. Security reports and government's investigation of their activities led to the 2009 massive five days Boko Haram riots across Bauchi that later spread to Yobe, Maiduguri, Kano and Borno. During the riot, over 800 people including the leader of the sect -Mohammed Yusuf -were killed. This marked the beginning of their violent campaign in Nigeria. The sect embarked on regular and more violent attacks against churches, security establishments and media organizations with heavy human casualty. The increasing spread and dimension of the insurgency promoted the Sultan of Sokoto, the Governor of Niger State, Dr Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, the Coalition of Muslim Clerics in Nigeria (CMCN), the Islamic Circle of North America, the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, the Muslim Council of Britain, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Council on American Islamic Relations to observe that the sect's activities have exceeded religious goal-islamization (Oladeji and Agba, 2011). The sect is now pursuing political agenda also. This paper argues that this is not a change of goal as overthrowing non-Islamic regimes is one of their primary goals that manifested itself during the 2011 general elections. In order to secure electoral victory at all cost during the 2011 election, desperate northern politicians recruited members of the sect to rig the 2011 elections in their favour at the state and federal levels, those who won the elections dumped them while those who failed particularly to win the presidential elections further funded and used them to cause havoc [Dibia, 2012]. Consequently, they enjoy the full support of major Northern political elites and members of the armed forces who want the North to dominantly occupy the seat of the presidency. The failure of the Northern political elites to win the presidential ticket during the 2011 elections led to intensified Boko Haram attacks against government, Christian and Southern targets in the North. The list of Boko Haram attacks seems endless as they continued into 2013. A brief summary of these attacks are graphically presented in a Analyzing the above table, it is evident that their attacks are coordinated and aimed at three primary targets, which are government institutions, Christians and educational institutions. This satisfies the demand of the primary goals of the sect, which is islamization, elimination of western education and the over throw of the government of none or moderate Muslim leaders for effective islamisation project. # b) Government Responses to Boko-Haram Insurgency The government of the Federal republic of Nigeria evolved programmes and strategies to neutralize and checkmate the activities of terrorist organizations in Nigeria. In summary, these programmes and strategies includes negotiation with various groups towards peace and greater security, establishment of resettlement centres and empowerment of the almageris, establishment of Joint military Task Force and subsequent strikes against members of Boko Haram and their camps, changes in immigration procedures, increased surveillance, and increased the severity of penalties associated with Boko Haram terrorist attacks [Donahue, 2001]. First, the National Assembly (NASS) initiated a legislative process aimed at criminalising terrorism via the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act in 2002. The ineffectiveness of this process led to the presentation of Terrorism Prevention Bill to the Senate in 2006 that was subsequently defeated. Its re-introduction in 2008 has passed the second reading but has being hindered by the debate over the appropriateness or otherwise of some provisions, which sought to include the struggle for resources control in the Niger Delta as terrorist act. This shows that government's efforts between 2002 and 2008 to enactment an anti-terrorism legislation is aimed specifically at the Niger Delta region [Sankore, 2008] and not the Northern Boko-Haram. It is pertinent to note that the sect was considered to be an evil with strong capability and evil intention that need to be checked through the application of sufficient strength to deter or defeat the sect. Consequently, government arrested several members of the group largely in Bauchi during its massive five days uprising. The arrest exacerbated the uprising, orchestrated further wide spread attacks, which led to violent confrontation between government forces and the sect that led to the deaths of about 700 people [Nossiter, 2009]. This led to a more organised and sophisticated military campaign against the sect that calumniated in the declaration of state of emergency in three states where they are primarily based and majority of their attacks were launched. This forced many members of the sect into exile in neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger etc. The operations of the joint task force set up to ensure peace and security in the state of emergency zones have not succeeded to wipe out Boko Haram attacks completely but they have reduced their attacks drastically and to an infinitesimal level compared to earlier operations. The joint task force has equally being intercepting and confiscating illegally imported arms and ammunitions, discovering and destroying Boko Haram weapon production centres/laboratories, discovering and seizing stock piles of arms and ammunitions, and destroying the sect's training camps and hideouts scattered all over the Northern region. At the height of these military operations, circumstances revealed the obscure fact that some top government functionaries and members of the armed forces, traditional rulers, business magnets and frustrated politicians from the Northern Nigeria were the major sponsors of the sect. In addition to the above, the federal government has proposed amnesty for all Boko Haram members that reject violence. In pursuance of this, the government has set up amnesty and reconciliation committee [Brock, # c) Summary Nigeria is a multi-ethnic country with over 350 ethnic nationalities that has been divided into two parallel groups following the Othman Dan Fodio jihad, and whose drive or struggle to control the political system is principally or fundamentally structured by religion since 1914. The predominance of Muslims in the North and Christians in the South orchestrated the unending North-South struggle that has come to define public policies, development programmes, the rules of political process and regime change in Nigeria. The hegemonic drive of the core Northern Muslims to control the political system, which is the instrument of capital accumulation and class formation in Nigeria -a drive perpetuated for about four decades out of five decades of Nigeria's independence through military dictatorship, has been the cause of political instability in Nigeria. The entrance of civil rule from 1999 and power shift to the South led to the emergence of Boko-Haram as an insurgent sect. This paper observed that the primary objectives of Boko Haram as an Islamic sect are jihad and overthrow of the non-Islamic government headed by southerners since 1999. The sect silently stockpiled weapons /ammunitions between 2002 and 2007 when transition or regime change was expected to favour the North and in preparation for jihad and overthrow of the incumbent government if it does not. The security forces were unable to detect this secret military preparation because the sect was sponsored by many Northern retired and serving military personnel and politicians. These facts explains the reasons why the entire Boko Haram insurgent actions were targeted against government institutions, Christian churches, Southerners, their business concerns, and habitations. These attacks are broad, scientific and mostly successful until government initiated anti-terrorist actions against the sect in 2013. This paper equally observes that there is no functional anti-terrorism law in Nigeria. Thus, the government of federal republic of Nigeria adopted a multiple approach to countering Boko Haram insurgency. Security Agents detect, seize and/or destroy various forms of ammunitions that were either imported or stockpiled by the Boko Haram sect. Security Agents equally uncovered and destroy many Boko Haram training camps and hide-outs. Supplementing these efforts, government embarked on amnesty and human empowerment programmes particularly for the almageris. A high powered amnesty committee was set by the federal government, which has being visiting, discussing and negotiation with key stakeholders in the North and assumed members of the Boko-Haram sect. The inability of these to influence the sect to stop its attacks led to the declaration of state of emergency in three core Northern states where they operate. This neutralized and reduced both the temerity and regularity of the sect's attacks and brought back relative peace in Northern Nigeria. The scenario is not without disastrous consequences for the socio-economic, political, and international personality of Nigeria. The insurgency has led to forced and unprepared external and internal migration of people out of many major Northern cities/states; increased unemployment, poverty, and anti-social behaviours particularly among migrants; heavy lose of government revenue, private and public property, and thousands of human lives; hindered foreign investments and tourism in Nigeria; exacerbated the pre-existing ethno-cultural and religious schisms and phobism in Nigeria; and created high level of insecurity of lives and property in Nigeria. Consequently, the following recommendations are offered as a means of countering terrorist activities in Nigeria: 1. Government should enact punitive anti-terrorism laws that meets the international template and devoid of ethnic sentiments. 2. Security officials aiding and abating Boko Haram insurgency in terms of arms acquisition, transportation or movement, operations should be charged with treason. 3. The current state of emergency policy and its associated operations should be sustained as antiterrorism strategy in Nigeria. # Global Journal of Human Social Science Volume XIII Issue V Version I ( ) F 2 98 Year 2013 and Mohr, 1997;hostages for prisoners, or a bank robbery to fundarms procurement, or even to attract economicempowerment].4. Political reason [i.e. Incumbent political elites orregime do declare political opponents, who have'illegitimate designs' on state power, as terrorists.This enables the state to employ a 'free hand' andlegitimately pursue an agenda to eradicate itsopposition, regardless of whether they are actuallylinked to terrorists' activities or not (Wilkinson, 2000].Year 2013State monopoly of legitimised violence allows it to embark on terrorist acts in the guise of anti-terrorist policies against opponents both nationally and internationally. The varied nature of the reasons for terrorism2 90leads to various forms of terrorist actions and respective state sponsored counter terrorist activities. These anti-revealed four primary reasons for terrorist actions as follow: 1. Functional reason [i.e. Terrorism is intended to provoke a response to further the cause by strategic manipulation]. This suggests that terrorism can be perpetuated to force a reaction from an established political power centre, governing authority or state against the instigators, their supporters and even the population in general in a manner that may lead to intense and indiscriminate state repression in order to deprive the government of legitimacy and radicalise the masses [Rubenstein, 1987; O'Sullivan and Herman, 1991]. 2. Symbolic reason [i.e. Terrorism purposely carried out as a symbol to terrorise, intimidate and strike Silke (2005), Global Journal of Human Social Science or counter-terrorism activities as noted by the United States Congressional Budget Office [2002 & 2005]; Guinnessy and Dawson [2002]; Macilwain [2002]; Silke [2004], etc include airport screening, anti-terrorism products for personal use, arrest, assassinations, blast resistant luggage, building security, detection devises for biological or chemical weapons, diplomatic efforts, educational support, emergency response preparedness, fortification of embassies, gas masks, hostage negotiation, laws against terrorism, medical antidotes for anthrax, medical antidotes for nerve gas, medical antidotes for other chemical or biological Volume XIII Issue V Version I weapons, metal detectors, prosecution strategies, psychological counselling, punishment and sentencing, UN Conventions and multilateral interventions, use of force by one country to another, use of media, etc. religious interventions, social and economic responses, ( ) Ffear into the lives of those against whom theviolence is directed, even if they are not the actualphysical recipients of the violence]. In this case boththose that are targeted and those who witnessed itare affected by such actions [Tzu, 1963; Wilkinson,2000].3. Tactical reasons [i.e. Terrorist acts are tacticallycommitted as instrument of negotiation to achieveshort term gains like the exchange of hijackincreased likelihood of new terrorist activities [Prunckun Year 20132 94Volume XIII Issue V Version I( ) FGlobal Journal of Human Social Science © 2013 Global Journals Inc. (US) ( ) F Boko Haram Insurgency: A Northern Agenda for Regime Change and Islamization in Nigeria, 2007 -2013terrorism, which has an agenda for either destroying or reforming the existing social system. © 2013 Global Journals Inc. (US) ( ) F Boko Haram Insurgency: A Northern Agenda for Regime Change and Islamization in Nigeria, 2007 -2013 © 2013 Global Journals Inc. (US)20 © 2013 Global Journals Inc. (US)20 © 2013 Global Journals Inc. (US)20 * The economic costs of conflict: A case control study for the Basque Country AAbadie JGardeazabal 2001 Cambridge, MA NEBR Working Paper 8478 * The Challenges of Security in Nigeria AAbubakar 2004. November 26 Kuru on A paper presented at the NIPSS * Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy DAcemoglu JRobinson 2006 Cambridge University Press Cambridge (MA * The Boko Haram Uprising and Islamic Revivalism in Nigeria AAdesoji Africa Spectrum 45 2 2010 * The impact of Jalumi war (1878) on the people of Ikirun. Being a long essay submitted in partial fulfilment of the award for the Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) to the Department of History RAAdetoro 1982 Oyo (now Osun) State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, Nigeria * Waiting for Godot": Regime Change Without Democratization in the Middle East HolgerAlbrecht OliverSchlumberger International Political Science Review 25 2004 371 The online version of this article can be * Theory and Society 8 June-December * Building Institutional Legitimacy: The Role of Procedural Justice VanessaABaird Political Research Quarterly 54 2001 * An intervention analysis of terrorism: The Spanish Eta case CPBarros Defence and Peace Economics 14 6 2003 * An Economic Theory of Foreign Interventions and Regime Change RobertoBonfatti NO. 3475 CESIFO WORKING PAPER May 2011 * Socioeconomic and Political Roots of National Revolts in Central America JohnABooth Latin American Research Review 26 1 1996 * Global Forces and Regime Change: Guatemala With in the Central American Context". Paper presented at the Seminar on Guatemalan Development and Democratization: Proactive Responses to Globalization JohnABooth 1998. March 26-28 Guatemala City Universidad del Valle de Guatemala * A Time of Terror BellJBowyer 1978 Basic Books New York * Untold Story of how Boko Haram bombed UN House JBrock The Nation 2012. February 1 Wednesday * Land Power, and Poverty: Agrarian Transformation and Political Conflict in Central America CharlesBrockett 1988 Unwin Hyman Boston * Retaliating against terrorism: Rational expectations and the optimality of rules versus discretion BBrophy-Baermann JAConybeare American Journal of Political Science 38 1 1994 * The Boko Haram Tragedy and Other Issues. The Punch JBumah AAbimbola 2009 40 Lagos * Deviance Terrorism and War JBurton 1979 Oxford: Martin Robertson * GregoryACaldeira JamesLGibson 1992 * The Etiology of Public Support for the Supreme Court American Journal of Political Science 36 * In the Name of Democracy: U.S. Policy toward Latin America in the Reagan Years ThomasCarothers 1991 University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles * Intervention policy analysis of skyjackings and other terrorist incidents JCauley EIm The American Economic Review 78 2 1988 * To Be Or Not To Be: Is Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization? ShannonConnell Global Security Studies 3 3 2012 * Islamic Fundamentalism and Sectarian Violence: The 'Maitatsine' and 'Boko Haram' Crises in Northern Nigeria. Peace and Conflict Studies Paper Series NDDanjibo 2009 Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan * Resolving The Boko Haram Challenge ODibia 2012 * LauraKDonahue the Name of National Security: U.S. Counterterrorist Measures 2001. 1960-2000 John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University BCSIA Discussion Paper 2001-6, ESDP Discussion Paper ESDP-2001-04 * Coups, corporations, and classied information ArindrajitDube EthanKaplan SureshNaidu Quarterly Journal of Economics 77 2011 * Superpower interventions and their consequences for democracy: An empirical inquiry WilliamEasterly ShankerSatyanath DanielBerger No.13992 2008 NBER Working Papers * DavidEaston 1965b * A Framework for Political Analysis Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs, NJ * Tension as groups flee over Boko Hram Threats SEgburonu The Nation on Sunday 2012. January 29 * Libya and the U.S.: Qadhafi Unrepentant Eljahmi Middle East Quarterly 2006 XIII * The effectiveness of antiterrorism policies: A vectorautoregression-intervention analysis WEnders TSandler The American Political Science Review 87 4 1993 * Is transnational terrorism becoming more threatening? WEnders TSandler Journal of Conflict Resolution 44 2000 * Patterns of transnational terrorism, 1970-1999: Alternative timeseries estimates WEnders TSandler International Studies Quarterly 46 2 2002 * UN conventions, terrorism, and retaliation in the fight against terrorism: An econometric evaluation WEnders TSandler JCauley Terrorism and Political Violence 1990 2 * Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists CFarouk 2012 * Economic Crisis and Regime Change: An Event History Analysis MarkJGasiorowski American Political Science Review 89 1995 * PGilbert New Terror New Wars Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press 2003 * JGuinnessy PDawson Terrorism drives Bush R and D money to defense and NIJ 2002 * The science funding flat in fiscal Physics Today 55 30 2003 * Empirical Research on Political Terrorism TRGurr Slater, R, & Gurr, Ted Robert 1988. 1970 * Why Men Rebel Princeton University Press * THodgkin Nigeria in perspective: an Historical anthology Oxford Oxford press 1975 2nd edition * Inside Terrorism BHoffman 1998 Columbia University Press New York * The State, War and The state of war KJHolsti 1996 Cambridge University Press Cambridge * The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century SamuelPHuntington 1993 University of Oklahoma Press Norman * A Nation on the Brink BJohnson The News 2012. February 6 * New and Old Wars MKaldor 1999 Polity Press London * The Coming Anarchy: how scarcity, crime, overpopulation, tribalism, and disease are rapidly destroying the social fabric of our planet, The Atlantic RobertDKaplan 1994. February * The New Terrorism WLaquer 2001 Phoenix Press Oxford 3rd Ed * The Age of Terrorism WLaqueur 1987 Weidenfeld and Nicolson London * Bush goes to war as budget boosts CMacilwain Revenue and Development Journal of Nature 415 564 2002 * Evidence-based corrections: Identifying what works DMackenzie Crime and Delinquency 46 2000 * Cures that harm: Unanticipated outcomes of crime prevention programs JMccord Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 587 2003 * Civic Culture and Democracy: The Question of Causal Relationships EdwardNMuller MitchellASeligson American Political Science Review 88 1994. September * Kano under siege". The New York Times ANossiter 2009 * Terrorism as Ideology and Cultural Industry,' in George A, Western State Terrorism GO'sullivan EHerman 1991 Polity Press Cambridge * Boko Haram is battle for OObinna The Nation (Sept.29) Available @ 2011. 2015 * Is Nigeria under siege BOgunyemi MKAlign The National scholar 8 2 2011 * Smoke Out Boko Haram Sponsors, Jonathan Orders Security Chiefs BOladeji GAgba 2011 All Africa * Rapid Growth as a Destabilizing Force MancurOlson Journal of Economic History 23 4 1979 * Agrarian Revolution: Social Movements and Export Agriculture in the under developed World JeffreyMPaige 1975 The Free Press New York * Military deterrence of international terrorism: An evaluation of Operation El Dorado Canyon HPrunckun PMohr Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 20 1997 * ORichmond Realising Hegemony? Symbolic Terrorism and the Roots of Conflict, Conflict and Terrorism Cambridge Polity Press 2006 * Alchemists of Revolution: Terrorism in the Modern World RERubenstein 1987 Basic Books Inc New York * Anti-terrorism legislation and democracy in Africa RotimiSankore 2008 * Political terrorism: A new guide to actors, authors, concepts, databases, theories and literature APSchmid AJJongman 2004 North-Holland Publishing Company Amsterdam * Elections and Democracy in Central America MitchellASeligson JohnABooth 1995 University of North Carolina Press * Evidence based crime prevention LWSherman DPFarrington BCWelsh Mackenzie D.L. 2002 Routledge London * Fire of Iolaus: The role of state counter-measures in causing terrorism and what needs to be done ASilke Root causes of terrorism: Myths, reality and ways forward TBjorgo Oxford, UK Routledge 2005 * Research on terrorism: Trends, achievements and failures ASilke 2004 Taylor and Francis New York * States and Social Revolution ThedaSkocpol 1979 Cambridge University Press Cambridge * Losing Initiative on the War against Terrorism". The Punch, Thursday OSoyombo 2012. July 5 17 * Living in the shadows of Boko Haram TSuleiman Tell magazine 2011. November 21 * From Mobilization to Revolution CharlesTilly 1978 Addison-Wesley Reading, MA * Legitimacy and Empowerment of Discretionary Legal Authority: The United States Supreme Court and Abortion Rights TomRTyler MitchellGregory 1994 43 Duke Law Journal 703 * The Art of War SunTzu 1963 Oxford University Press Oxford * Reluctant Rebels: Comparative Studies in Revolution and Underdevelopment JohnWalton 1984 Columbia University Press New York * assessing systematic evidence in crime and justice: Methodological concerns and empirical outcomes (Preface) DWeisburd APetrosino CLum 2003 * Exporting Democracy: The United States and Latin America LawrenceWhitehead Abraham F. Lowenthal 1991. 1992 Princeton University Press 79 Baltimore; Timothy; Princeton Guerrillas and Revolution in Latin America * Terrorism Versus Democracy, The Liberal State Response PWilkinson 2000 London: Frank Cass