Nigeria, March 20 -- I am tired of writing about Boko Haram. It is mentally exhausting to be chronicling death, destruction and despair for over two decades. The Boko Haram narrative started with its founding in 2002 (some say earlier, others say later) in Maiduguri, Nigeria, by a cleric, Mohammed Yusuf. Originally, the group appeared with a noble objective to "purify" Islam and oppose Western culture, education and influence. It started as a non-violent group focused on proselytisation, but then started engaging in violent acts. The government of the day, led by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, was not ready to accept violent groups and ordered that they should be obliterated and they were wiped out.

Mohammed Yusuf was martyred by the Nig...