SIMON KOLAWOLE: BOKO HARAM CONSPIRACY THEORIES DISTRACTIVE

To those in the Jonathan camp, it is his political opponents who are fueling the insurgency. Simple. After all, they say, didn't some people promise to make Nigeria ungovernable if power did not return to the North in 2011 after the death of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua? 

And didn't a presidential aspirant say those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable? Is it a co-incidence, they ask, that Boko Haram has upped its game since Jonathan came to power in 2011? Is it a co-incidence, they further ask, that the terrorists have killed more people in 2014 alone, more than all previous years combined, as 2015 elections draw close?

There are other theories, like the 'American Conspiracy' school that says the US is working behind the scene to crack up the country, having predicted that Nigeria would break up in 2015 (this false report has assumed the garb of truth, having been repeated about a million times per second). 

They ask: Haven't they refused to come to our aid, despite committing men, equipment and other resources to the war against ISIS and Al-Qaeda in the Middle East? Haven't they refused to sell arms to us, hiding under human rights abuses by the military? It must be America, they say.

I have my own theory, dear readers. And my theory is that I don't believe any of these theories. Not one of them. To the best of my knowledge, Boko Haram is a group of misguided, deranged religious extremists (the Yoruba word for extremists is "agbawerem'esin", literally "someone who has added madness to religion") who having started on a small-scale level with the aid of politicians managed to grow up, got out of hand, and became affiliated to Al-Qaeda. 

In my view, Boko Haram is every inch like Al Qaeda and ISIS. Check out the flag, the rhetoric and the mode of operation.

Also, look at the list of Al-Qaeda's allies and affiliates: Al-Shabbab in Somalia, Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Algeria, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, Islamic Movement in Uzbekistan, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Jundallah in Pakistan and Jaish-e-Mohammed in Kashmir. 

I will only believe Jonathan is behind Boko Haram the day I believe he is also behind Al-Shabbab and AQIM and Co. I will only believe Northern politicians who want power in 2015 are behind Boko Haram the day I believe they are also the ones funding Al-Shabbab and AQIM and Co. 

Does Abubakar Shekau look like someone who will overrun Aso Rock and then hand over power to one of the Northern politicians/sponsors?

But you know what, fellow Nigerians? While we are busy propounding theories and pointing fingers back and forth, these Boko Haram murderers are gaining more ground and rendering our people hopeless and homeless every day. 

The territorial integrity of Nigeria is being eroded by the hour. Full-blooded Nigerians, like you and I, have become refugees in their own fatherland. They are fleeing from both the Boko Haram militants, who kill them, and the Nigerian soldiers, who allow them to die.