They thought that they could use Boko Haram to cripple the then government of Jonathan because they thought it was their inalienable right to continue to rule over the rest of Nigeria despite the fact that, they have de-industrialized and pauperized their states. Emphasis was placed on using Islam as a tool to cripple the minds of their people who is mostly gullible. Sharia law was imposed as a sort of opium to keep the average northerner to believe in the fathom utopia that religion was supposed to offer while the few rogue elites with their friend in power continued to plunder the north to the detriment of the masses. Its rather weird that the average northern elite will send their kids to the best schools both in Nigeria and abroad while they try to cripple the rest of the masses with the fact that all will be well so long as they attend Islamic schools and wreck religious havoc at the slightest provocation. It was the norm in the north that if there are religious riots,properties and churches are destroyed with the slightest whim while the northern elites looked the other way.
