Abstract
The focus of the study is media perspectives on Boko Haram insurgency and herdsmen-farmers clashes in Nigeria. These security issues have been commented on, in Nigerian newspapers. In order to show the social attitudes of different news organisations in Nigeria to the operations of Boko Haram insurgents and nomadic herdsmen, the study analysed news editorials from The Punch and The Guardian (South-Western region), Vanguard and The Sun (East) andLeadership and Daily Trust (Northern Region). The editorials were those published in the heatof the conflicts between 2014 and 2016. The analysis focused on the representations of Agents and activities and media’s perspectives on both security issues through the analysis of process options. Our findings show that all the newspapers syntactically positioned the Boko Haram insurgents and cattle herders as Agents of destruction and death and syntactically portrayed Nigerians and farmers as the victims /affecteds of these security issues. The process options show that the newspapers did not, in any way, try to obscure the activities of these groups, rather, they decry such.
Highlights
Incidents of terrorism have been reported frequently by newspapers organisations in Nigeria and such reports are dominated by those on Boko Haram insurgency and Fulani herdsmen attacks
The activities of Boko Haram insurgents began around 2002, in northern Nigeria, when they functioned as a local Islamic group
Boko Haram insurgents have been driven by a desire for vengeance against the Nigerian government, Nigerian military forces, schools
Summary
Incidents of terrorism have been reported frequently by newspapers organisations in Nigeria and such reports are dominated by those on Boko Haram insurgency and Fulani herdsmen attacks. The activities of Boko Haram insurgents began around 2002, in northern Nigeria, when they functioned as a local Islamic group. The activities of Boko Haram insurgents in the country underwent two phases: a) (2002 to 2009) when the group mainly organised teachings and philanthropic visits to the needy); and b) (2009 to date) the period of violent movement (cf Shuaibu/Salleh/Shehu 2015: 254-255). According to Voll (2015), attacks from the Boko Haram sect have been frequent and callous due to the killing of Muhammad Yusuf, a perceived leader of the sect, by Nigerian military forces. Boko Haram insurgents have been driven by a desire for vengeance against the Nigerian government, Nigerian military forces, schools
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