Saudi Arabia-Led Islamic Military Alliance Against Terrorism and Nigeria’s Policy Somersault

Eddy AKPOMERA

Abstract


Saudi Arabia initiative to lead an Islamic Military Alliance of 34 countries against terrorism is characterized by ambivalence and skewed membership to exclude rival Shi’a ideological nations. The timing of the initiative bears indices of panicky foreign policy to maintain the balance of regional power with Iran now free from economic sanctions. Nigeria, tormented by Boko Haram, a Sunni Wahhabi al-Qaeda terrorist organization, has always received cold shoulders from Saudi Arabia, despite appeals for assistance, which informed Nigeria’s initial rejection of membership of the Islamic Alliance. This has led to desperate arm twisting and foreign policy somersault. This paper has put in perspective the rhetorics of the Islamic military alliance and Nigeria’s twisted foreign policy dictated by desperate national economic interests.

Keywords


Terrorism; Foreign policy; Boko Haram; Alliance; Islam; Wahhabi; Shi’a

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ademoyo, A. (2016 January 11). Global Islam: Why Nigeria should be wary of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Premium Times. Retrieved from http://www.premiumtimes.com

Adisa, T. (2012, February 13). Boko Haram’s funding traced to UK, Saudi Arabia—Sect Pllaned to turn Nigeria into Afghanistan, Arrested Kingpin opens up. Nigerian Tribune, p.1.

Al Jazeera. (2016, March 14). Putin orders Russian forces out of Syria—Reports. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com

Al Rasheed, M. (2010). A history of Saudi Arabia (p.178, 222). Riyadh Press.

Alechenu, J., Ameh, J., Aborishade, S., & Adetayo, O. (2016, March 19). National assembly set for Showndown with Buhari. The Punch, p.3.

Alli, Y., & Ogunwale, G. (2011, September 28). Boko Haram get foreign backing. The Nation Newspaper, p.1.

Anonymous. (1999). Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Abuja: Laws of the Federation.

Associated Press. (2002). Muslims meeting won’t define terror. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

BBC. (2014, February 3). Al-Qaeda disavows ISIS militants in Syria. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com

Black, I., & Tisdal S. (2010, November 28). Saudi Arabia urges US attack on Iran to stop nuclear programme. The Guardian of London. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com

Buzan, B. (2004). The United States and the great powers (p.71). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

DePetris, D. (2016). The 5 deadliest terrorist groups on the planet. Retrieved from http://www.nationalinterest.org/feature

DeYoung, K. (2015, December 15). Saudi Arabia launches “Islamic militaryalliance” to combat terrorism. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com

Economist. (2015, October 8). The other beheaders. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com

Goldstein, J. (2008). International relations (pp 112-114). New Delhi: Pearson Education.

Herman, E., & O’Sullivan, G. (1989). The terrorism industry: The experts and institutions that shape our view of terror. New York: Pantheon Book.

Hoffman, B. (1998). Inside terrorism (pp.28-29). New York: Columbia University Press.

IDB. (2015). Islamic development bank – fact sheet. Retrieved from http://www.isdb.org

Iran Foreign Ministry. (2014, May 20). Iran voices readiness to help Nigeria bring back abducted school girls. Retrieved from http://www.iranproject.com

Lakemfa, O. (2016, March 14). When Zuma came visiting. Vanguard, p.37.

Mark, M. (2012, January 27). Boko Haram Vows to fight until Nigeria establishes Sharia law. The Guardian, p.3.

McDowall, A. (2013, October 9). Insight: Saudi brace for “nightmare” of US – Iran rapproachment. Reuters. Retrieved from http:// www.reuters.com

Morgenthau, H., & Thompson, K. (1985). Politics among nations: The struggle for power and peace (6th ed, pp.101-106). New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.

Nacos, B. (2006). Terrorism and counterterrorism: Understanding threats and responses in the post- 9/11 world (pp.22-31). New York: Pearson, London.

O’Brien, C. C. (1983). Terrorism under democratic conditions: The case of the IRA. In M. Crenshaw (Ed.), Terrorism, legitimacy and power (p.91). Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

Ogunseye, T. (2012, August 5). Terrorists in mass importation of rocket launchers. The Punch, p.2.

Reuters. (2001, October 4). Norman Solomon “media spin revolved around the word terrorism. Media Beat. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com

Reuters. (2014, February 3). Al-Qaeda breaks links with Syrian militant group ISIL. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com

Sani, M. S. (2010, September 8). Attack on Bauchi Prison—Boko haram frees 721 inmates. Leadership Newspaper, p.1.

Saudi Arabia Foreign Affairs. (2015). Joint statement on formation of Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia– Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.mofa.gov.sa

Shehu, G. (2016, February 24). Nigeria rejects Saudis offer to join Islamic states’ coalition against terror. The Sun Newspaper, p.1.

Sims, E. (2016, March 12). Money: OPEC, other oil producers to hold talks in Moscow—Iraq Oil Ministry. GOSPORT Times. Retrieved from http://www.gosporttimes.com

SIPRI. (2014). Trends in international arms transfer 2014. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Retrieved from http://www.sipri.org

Stohl, M. (1990). Characteristics of contemporary international terrorism. In C. W. Kegley Jr (Ed.), International terrorism: Characteristics, causes, controls (p.83). New York: St. Martins.

Stratfor. (2016). Kuwait: No oil output freeze without all major producers, minister says. Retrieved from http://www.stratfor.com

Teitelhaun, J. (2010). Arms for the King and his family. Retrieved from http://www.jcpa.org

The Punch. (2016, March 17). Oil Slump: Nigeria, others to meet in April. The Punch, p.27.

United Nations. (1994). Declaration on measures to eliminate international terrorism. General Assembly Resolution 49/60, December 9, (UN Doc A/Res/49/60, 1994)

US State Deptment. (2016). Foreign terrorist organizations. Bureau of Counterterrorism. Retrieved fron http://www.state.gov

Walsh, D. (2010, December 5). WikiLeaks Cables portray Saudi Arabia as a cash machine for terrorists. The Guardian of London. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com

World Bank. (2013). Human development report (p.159). Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org

Zenn, J. (2013). Boko Haram’s international connections. Combating Terrorism Centre, West Point, January 14. Retrieved from http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/%25x

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2016 Canadian Social Science



Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/css/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture