It's extremely relevant. It answers the most basic question about the tragedy: motive. This wasn't an isolated incident committed by a rogue individual. It was

It's extremely relevant. It answers the most basic question about the tragedy: motive. This wasn't an isolated incident committed by a rogue individual. It was done by an organized militant terrorist organization, whose primary goal is to establish Islamic Sharia law through terrorism. As for your question about the translation, I am not an expert either, but there is an entire section of the relevant Wikipedia article about the etymology of the name: "In the town of Maiduguri, where the group was formed, the residents dubbed it Boko Haram. The term "Boko Haram" comes from the Hausa word boko figuratively meaning "western education" (often said to be literally "alphabet", from English "book", but the Hausa expert Paul Newman says it derives from a Hausa word with meanings such as "fraud" and "inauthenticity")[35][36] and the Arabic word haram figuratively meaning "sin" (literally, "forbidden").[37][38][39][40] Loosely translated, the name could mean "western education is sinful", which might symbolizes its strong opposition to anything Western, which it sees as corrupting Muslims.[41] However, this interpretation of the name is disputed.[42] Locals who speak the Hausa language are also unsure what it actually means.[43]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boko_Haram#Etymology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boko_Haram#Etymology