Mohammed yusuf biography
Boko haram leader mohammed yusuf!
An introduction to Boko Haram’s ideologues: from Yusuf to Shekau
By the time Muhammad Yusuf became leader of Boko Haram in 2003 he was already entrenched in the Islamic activism of the region.
Mohammed yusuf biography
Born in January 1970 in Jakusko, Yobe state, Yusuf dropped out of school and received Islamic education from his father and other prominent Islamic teachers in Nigeria, Chad and Niger. In the 1990s he was a member of a Shi’a sect, Islamic Movement in Nigeria, under the leadership of Ibrahim El-Zakzakky, but increasingly came to support a stricter interpretation of the Qur’an.
By 2001, Yusuf had moved away from the Shi’a doctrine to align himself with Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam of Kano in the Izala movement.
When Sheikh Ja’afar later broke away from that movement to form the salafi organisation Ahl Al-Sunna, he made Yusuf leader of its youth wing. Yusuf was seen as the likely heir to Sheikh Ja’afar on account of his brilliance, but after meeting Muhammad Ali he became further radicalise