Boko Haram is not the only radical Islamist group active in Nigeria. The overwhelming majority of Nigerian Muslims are Sunnis, and Boko Haram claims to act in their interest, but the country has a small Shia community as well. Nigerian Shias were proselytized and radicalized by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), led by sheikh Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky, who turned to extremist Shiism in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Al-Zakzaky's rise, from a headquarters in Zaria, in the northern state of Kaduna, preceded the emergence of Boko Haram in 2002 and the launching of its insurrection in 2009. In 1996, the Nigerian government ordered Al-Zakzaky's arrest for declaring that only an Islamic government could be obeyed.
Read Full Article »
