Our country has become a killing field. Indeed, a new epidemic has hit the country like a thunderbolt. It’s the killing epidemic. Now, no day passes without the news of bloodbath across the country. If it’s not bombing by Boko Haram, it would be the invasion and massacre by Fulani herdsmen. This killing epidemic, a dangerous disease at that, is now a threat to the population of the country. To be sure, in the last couple of weeks, armed groups have been terrorising the nation, killing and maiming innocent Nigerians as well as destroying property. It appears that Boko Haram, despite the onslaught by the armed forces, is becoming more emboldened and daring that it has made the situation, “one day, one massacre.” On Wednesday, a district head in Borno and 18 others were killed by Boko Haram. The previous day, the group kidnapped schoolgirls in Borno, who were writing the West African Senior Secondary School Examinations (WASSCE). A day preceding that, on Tuesday precisely, the group struck the heart of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as a bomb neatly packed in a car exploded in the Nyanya bus terminal, killing more than 100 people. Indeed, since the week started, Boko Haram has killed hundreds of Nigerians, without batting an eyelid. Prior to this, the group had wreaked havoc in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. It had invaded secondary schools and kidnapped as well as killed harmless students in the middle of the night. The group had overrun markets, communities and worship centres and leaving on its trail blood of Nigerians, who did nothing wrong whatsoever. To say the least, the activities of Boko Haram have gone out of hand and beyond reason. I do not understand why a group of people would take delight in killing others. This, to say the least, is a declaration of war on Nigerians, be they Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv, Jukun, Ibibio, Ijaw and others. Any time a bomb explodes or a target is hit in the North, Nigerians are killed. And the casualties usually cut across. In all this, the North is the prime loser. Yes, as the bombs explode, people are killed, property destroyed, businesses are closed and insecurity overwhelms everybody. I do not see any Nigerian, in his right frame of mind, who would feel comfortable, living in any part of the North, including Abuja, the seat of Federal Government. Every part of the country has become vulnerable. And people say that since Boko Haram could hit Abuja, with such venom and devastation, the raging fire in the country has really gone out of hand. With the Boko Haram activities in the North, that part of the country has lost its soul, no matter how we pretend. No investor, be he a Nigerian or foreigner, would put his money in a place where the explosion of one bomb could wipe it out in a second. The reality, therefore, is that with terrorism, it’s nunc dimities for investment and business. With this, poverty in the North continues to increase. The burden is, therefore, on northerners and their leaders to work with government/security agencies in the quest for a lasting solution to the bloodletting occasioned by the activities of Boko Haram. Indeed, a time has come for northerners to see the insecurity in the zone as a collective problem, not that of Jonathan alone. Also, they must remove politics from it. Playing politics while innocent people are being killed will not help the nation. Passing the buck and faulting measures being taken to fight terrorism would not help the cause, either. When some northern leaders shouted about their plan to drag former Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika, to the International Criminal Court at the Hague over the way soldiers operated in the war against terror, I was rankled. Also, when some people warned President Goodluck Jonathan not to dare declare full state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states where partial emergency rule is in place, I also grieved. These people may think that they are protecting the offices of the governors of the states and preserving the status quo but they are directly and indirectly undermining the office of the president. Of course, some of these actions do not show that these people really want an end to terrorism. What security agencies need is co-operation and not condemnation. I would not believe that Boko Haram is better armed than the armed forces. I do not also think that the insurgents are better motivated than members of the armed forces in battle, in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, as some people are suggesting. What I see is lack of cooperation and, perhaps, connivance of residents in the affected areas as well as constraints of the armed forces. I believe that prompt information, for instance, from residents to security agencies, about the movement or infiltration of members of Boko Haram, would cause the preempting of the group’s attacks. Also, vigilance by residents would make a lot of difference. It took the emergence of the civilian JTF in Borno, for successes to be recorded, at a time, against Boko Haram in the state. Such cooperation is what is needed at all times. However, we should appreciate the constraints of the armed forces in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The troops are fighting what could pass for guerilla army, in Boko Haram. It would be easier to fight an enemy, in a defined war, than fighting Boko Haram, whose base is not known and whose targets are not predictable, in a country as wide as Nigeria. It’s worse that Boko Haram just wants to hit any target and grab the headlines. Also, the fact that the military is fighting in places where there is civilian population makes its task more daunting. I am persuaded that if the war zone were to be devoid of civilian habitation, to make face-to-face confrontation possible, I believe that it would take a couple of hours to stamp out Boko Haram. These are genuine constraints. However, this is not to say that the armed forces and the government have no blame whatsoever in the failures therein. It’s obvious that they need to do more, in the war against terror. It has been said that Boko Haram members are camping in the Cameroun forest, from where they cross into Nigeria, attack and return to their bases. The Federal Government should use all diplomatic avenues to get the cooperation of Cameroun to flush out the insurgents, camping in Cameroun’s forest. If blackmail is necessary, it should be used to extract cooperation from the central African country. This is necessary because as long as there is a berthing place for Boko Haram across the border, it will be difficult to curtail them in the three mostly affected states. I do not see anything wrong in closing the border for as long as it takes to get Cameroun’s cooperation. Also, the government should do more in the acquisition and deployment of gadgets that would help to fight terrorism. Severally, government has talked about plan to mount Close Circuit Cameras (CCTV) in Abuja and other places. It takes nothing much to get this done, if truly government is serious. This should be done. And it must be done, for the stage to be set for the use of technology to fight terror. Also, government should acquire bomb detectors in vehicles, with the capacity to scan areas, far and near. With such a device, bombs would be detected before they are deployed and exploded. Also, government should deploy devices that would jam bombs and, therefore, prevent them from exploding. These are technologies nations are using to secure themselves, in the face of terrorism. I dare say that with the striking of Abuja, nobody should be under any illusion that these bombers cannot strike anywhere in the country. This calls for vigilance by all Nigerians. As measures are taken to protect airports, government buildings/facilities, churches and other things considered as prime targets, conscious and sustained efforts should be made to put in place surveillance mechanism around schools, markets, motor parks, train stations in the cities as well as in the remotest places in the country. Boko Haram is on the loose and desperate. Desperate measures are required to arrest it. This hit-and-miss tactics, the government adopts, like, for example, checking vehicles, entering the airports when terrorists attack and going to sleep soon after that and not screen them again, would not help the nations. If we fail to arrest terrorism, Afghanistan looms, in a country that once affirmed: Though tribe and tongues may differ, in brotherhood we stand. Now brotherhood has been murdered by politics and self-importance; brotherhood has been sacrificed on the altar of religion and ethnocentrism; brotherhood has been killed in an attempt for self-assertion. No matter what those who feel nonchalant today about the insecurity pervading the country think, what’s obvious is that when it rains, it falls on everybody’s house. We are all involved and at risk, directly and indirectly. And the earlier we know that insecurity can truncate democracy and wipe out Nigeria, as a corporate entity, the better for all of us.
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 10:08:33 +0000
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