Creating Boko Haram, Banditry, and the Politics of Violence in Nigeria: Facts, victims, and shared humanity, by Ahmad Shuaibu Isa 1. Origins, Radicalisation, and the Nature of Violence For over a decade, organised terrorist cells and armed groups have inflicted profound suffering on Nigeria. Public discourse has often reduced this conflict to a simplistic religious confrontation between Muslims and Christians, a framing that ignores historical realities and deepens divisions among communities that coexisted peacefully for generations. Groups such as Boko Haram and organised bandit networks do not represent religious struggles....