The Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009, when the militant Islamist and jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. The conflict is taking place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria's Muslim and Christian communities, and the insurgents' ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic state in the region. The radical preacher and leader of Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, a Boko Haram splinter group, Alhaji Ari-Difinoma, has surrendered to troops of the Nigerian Army on May 16, 2022.