On the night of 14 April 2014, a group of militants attacked theGovernment Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria. They brokeinto the school, pretending to be guards and telling the girls to get outand come with them. A large number of students were taken away intrucks, possibly into the Konduga area of the Sambisa Forest whereBoko Haram is known to have fortified camps. Houses in Chibok werealso burnt down in the incident (Perkins 2014)According to the police approximately 276 children were taken inthe attack of which 53 had escaped (Premium Times 2 May 2014). However, other reports were that 329 girls were kidnapped, 53 hadescaped and 276 were still missing (Mclean 2014). The students arebeing forced into Islam and into marriage with members of BokoHaram, with a reputed ‘bride price’ of 12 dollars each. Many of thestudents were taken to the neighboring countries of Chad andCameroon (Heaton 2014). On 5 May, a video in which Boko Haramleader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the kidnappingsemerged. On 9 May, former Boko Haram negotiator, Shehu Sani statedthat the group wanted to swap the abducted girls for its jailedmembers (IANS 10 May 2014). On 12 May, Boko Haram released avideo showing about 130 kidnapped girls, each clad in a hijab and along Islamic chador, while it demanded prisoner exchange (Thornhill2014). On 24 June, it was reported that 91 more women and childrenwere abducted in other areas of Borno State (Pflanz 2014). Furthermore, the militant group kidnapped the wife of Cameroon's viceprime minister, Amadou Ali, and killed at least three other people inan attack at the northern border town of Kolofata, In May, BokoHaram also kidnapped 10 Chinese workers from northern Cameroon(Al-Jazeera 27 July 2014). In addition to these kidnappings, Boko Haram has massacredcivilians. On 5 May, at least 300 residents of the nearby town ofGamboru Ngala were killed in an attack by the militants after Nigeriansecurity forces had left the town to search for the kidnapped students(Faul 2014). On 22 July of 2014, the militant group again attacked thenearby villages killing at least 51 people including 11 parents of theabducted girls (Al-Jazeera 22 July 2014). The unprecedented kidnappings and attacks on civilians shocked theinternational community as well as the Nigerian government andpeople. On 14 May 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan declared a stateof emergency in the states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa in a bid tofight the activities of Boko Haram. However, the governmentresponses have been criticized by Nigerians as delayed and ineffective. Parents and others took to social media to complain about thegovernment's perceived slow and inadequate response. The Economist"labeled President Goodluck Jonathan as incompetent," saying thatJonathan and the Nigerian military "cannot be trusted any longer toguarantee security for Nigerians," adding that “the worst aspect of theNigerian government’s handling of the abduction is its seemingindifference to the plight of the girls’ families (The Punch 10 May2014). The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNICEFcondemned the abduction. On 22 May 2014 Boko Harām was officiallydeclared a terrorist group affiliated to al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda in theIslamic Maghreb by the United Nations Security Council. Internationalsanctions including asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo wereimposed against the Islamist extremist group. The United Kingdom, theUnited States, France, Canada and Israel have agreed to send expertsto Nigeria to assist in the search for the students. With the above-mentioned situation in mind, this study explores howmuch Boko Haram has utilized the religion of Islam to justify theiratrocities. This research assumes that the militant group may not becategorized as a religiously oriented political group even though itclaims ‘Islamic’ identity as the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, SheikhAbdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh, a Sunni Islam cleric, describedBoko Harām as misguided and intent on smearing the name of Islam(Aziken 8 May 2014). This paper hypothesizes that Boko Haram hascommitted the above-mentioned kidnappings and attacks from its ownpolitical and criminal purposes, not from its religious fervor. In orderto demonstrate the political use of Islam by Boko Haram, this studyanalyzed the speeches and communiqués made by the group.

보코 하람이 2014년 행한 인질 납치와 테러 공격은 아프리카 지역은 물론전세계 여러 정치행위지들에게 적지 않은 충격을 주었다. 이 과정에서 나이지리아 정부는 물론 국제사회는 보코 하람을 '이슬람 테러 단체'로 규정하고 군사적 조치로 대응하고 있다. 반면, 보코 하람의 이념적 행위적 특성과 그 본질에 대해서는 명확한 연구나 분석을 내놓지 못하고 있는 상황이다. 본 연구는 보코 하람이 이슬람적 이념과 정치행태를 보이고 있으나 실질적으로는 이슬람을 이념적 수단으로 이용하는 정치 혹은 범죄 집단이라는 가설을 바탕으로 한다. 보코 하람의 정치종교적 담론을 분석하기 위해 본 연구는2014년 4월 여학생 인질납치 사건 이후 공개된 보코 하람의 비디오 성명을분석하였다. 케이에이치코더(KH Coder) 분석방법을 이용해 비디오 성명에담긴 명사, 대명사, 그리고 동사의 빈도수를 측정하여, 보코 하람의 이념과 행태를 양적 및 질적으로 분석하였다. 더불어 단어의 동시발생(co-occurrenceof words) 분석 방법을 통해 성명에 담긴 단어들 간의 상호유기적 메시지 전달 방식을 분석하였다. 비디오 성명을 분석한 결과, 보코하람은 '이슬람적'보다는 '정치적' 혹은 '범죄집단적' 행태에 가까운 이념과 행동양식을 더 중시하는 것으로 나타났다. 이슬람의 가치에 대한 메시지를 전파하는 것보다, 이슬람을 이념적 수단으로이용해 나이지리아 정부와 비무슬림에 대한 반감과 적대감을 표출하는 수단으로 비디오 성명을 활용한 것으로 드러났다.