How to End Boko Haram Fire-Back

By

Muhammad Ajah

mobahawwah@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

Whether Boko Haram is a terrorist or religious group is not a case to debate. Whatever nomenclature that has been ascribed to the group, the problem is that it has become a thorn on the flesh of Nigerians: government and the governed alike. If it is believed to be a terrorist group, then it is easy to conquer them because as one of the past Inspector General of Police would hold, operation fire for fire was the best option to fight criminals. They can easily be detected and crushed because they really have no spiritual backings.

 

But if the group is believed to be a religious one, I am afraid they can be bought over with material inducements or defeated completely except when their demands are met. Religious beliefs are the hardest things that can accept death because they are made to become part and parcel of one’s life and transferred from generation to generation. Religious beliefs run in the body of the adherents and more often is death the only cut between the duo.

 

There are certain problems in human life that cannot just be overcome by force or the application of both force and inducements. When the cause of the problem is known and it is justifiable, it becomes very deadly to apply force. Take for instance the Niger Delta insurgency. How many Niger Delta people especially the youths lost their lives in the cause they strongly believed in – emancipation of the Nigeria Delta as encapsulated in the meaning of MEND? The people became like the Gog and Magog who come out in folds when a section is annihilated.

 

The Boko Haram as an analyst rightly said is quite a product of the haram in the boko. Haram is illegality, unlawfulness and obscenities. These abstractions are definitely the order of the day in Nigeria most especially among the high level of the citizenry. One needs not get lost imagining what a society can turn to become when uprightness and mercy are drifted off the hearts of many citizens and cruelty, injustice, discrimination, inhumanity, corruption and lawlessness take over the society.

 

After only two years of its existence, the Boko Haram has displayed that it can do its desires anywhere and anytime. The group had held its first base in Borno hostage and gradually it is spreading like a wide fire. Its spread can be attributed to the mishandling of the situation by the security authorities concerned. It is fresh in memory that the most famous leader of the Niger Delta struggle in recent time, Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo continually warned that if the federal government killed him, thousands of Asari-Dokubo would emerge and strike even harder than the original Dokubo.

 

So the federal government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo thought it wise not to apply excessive force. Obasanjo openly said the best option to adopt was the stick and carrot tactics. While minimal force was applied, there was wide room for negotiation. This yielded some results because this kept the militants hopeful and less ferocious until when late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who had a stronger political will, declared an unconditional pardon codenamed amnesty for all the Niger Delta militants - including those who definitely did not and have not returned their arms.

 

I know that Obasanjo did not really like the situation in the Niger Delta but he was quite tolerant because he knew, probably and yet despite a milito-civilian, the consequences of killing the leaders of the struggle. Asari-Dokubo abused Obasanjo to his face, remained quite unchanged even in the prison and was ready to stage physical combat against any Nigerian citizen who stood against the demands of the Niger Delta people. The well-known Niger Delta militants were not killed except for those who fought themselves. After the amnesty, those who were behind the bars were unconditionally freed and now they are being trained to become useful citizens.

 

On its part, the security chiefs played along with the Presidency and exerted the greatest level of caution. I was present in one of the events when arms were mobbed by the federal government from the militants in Port Harcourt. Some of the militant leaders challenged the army chiefs at the Bori Camp and the army never reacted negatively at least on the spot. Their utterances were carefully made to guard against inciting the militants even though it was reported in some quarters that some unscrupulous and unpatriotic soldiers used incisive means to prolong their stay as guards in areas where they made some personal gains.

 

Also, the leaders of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereignty of Biafra (MASOB) were severally arrested but not killed. They were often imprisoned and released. Even though the MASOB hardly used arms, its call for separation from Nigeria cannot be regarded a welcome demand. There is hardly any segment of Nigeria which does not claim marginalization. The north has been on power for a longer period than the south, but poverty, backwardness and health hazards are more visible in the north. So, for MASOB to begin to think that taking up arms may be the best option is far from being the reality. MASOB must not forget that the three-year civil war which ultimately brought the Igbo to nearly second class citizens was cause by the same agitation for cessation.

 

The above analysis clearly pinpoints where the government got it wrong from the onset. The killing of the Boko Haram leader cannot be distanced from being a primary cause of this rampage by the group. Maybe if the leader was alive, things would have not gone worse. One Muhammad Yusuf has been killed. His beliefs were injected into the blood of thousands of Nigerians. Now, thousands of Muhammad Yusuf are fighting and still injecting the same beliefs into many more Nigerians. This is happening despite the cruel treatment against arrested members of the group.  

 

Apart from this great mistake committed by the police about two years ago, the Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim felt it was business as before. He felt as the highest authority of the police that he should match words with actions instead of the reverse. Maybe he thought that instead of accepting failure as the IG, he should employ media war with the insurgents. Rather than do his work secretly as security ethics demand, he preferred to pursue cheap popularity with the claims of dutifulness and responsibility. He carelessly proclaimed that the Boko Haram would be rounded off. 

 

The immediate response to such utterances was the target for his life by the group. This manifested only a day or two days later. On Thursday 16th June, 2011, the IG himself escaped death just behind the Police Headquarters from bomb explosions whose responsibility was openly claimed by the Boko Haram. Several innocent citizens were killed and about 70 cars at the parking lot of the police headquarters were burnt.

 

Bomb explosion at Police Headquarters by a tiny but determined group! Wonderful but quite funny enough! The IG, despite his alleged complexity in the last general elections, has presented his incapability and lack of statesmanship to handle the complex internal security threats facing the country. He can quietly throw in the towel or be shown the way out by the President. If he did well to the conviction of the President in the last elections, he can retire and be compensated with another national duty that has no link with the security. That is if he must work for the nation at any capacity. Our national security should be more important than any individual consideration.  

 

What is the way out. First of all, let the federal government quickly go into dialogue with this group. It should not be mistaken that those who will dialogue with the government from amongst the group are bad. If that concept is nursed, then it will lead to the arrest of the mediators and subsequent deviation from the ultimate aim of the whole exercise. Remember that kidnappers and also the Niger Delta militants perfected their dealings sometimes through mediators.

 

Secondly, instead of going to Borno for mass arrest of members of the group – maybe some innocent – their new leaders should be identified for the dialogue, without much dependence on the traditional leaders as immediate past experiences in the Niger Delta have revealed. Borno may be their stronghold but not their locations alone. Let there be a careful plan for this move because our security seems to be mostly reactive. The security will arrest some people and soon forget. These people live within Nigerians. Just as an analyst said, they are moving about even in Abuja like the Niger Delta militants did.

 

Lastly, the solution to all these is government’s sincerity in providing basic social amenities to the people. The wealth of the nation is there in surplus. What is lacking are the Nigerians who can fearlessly transform Nigeria. What happens if Boko Haram is finally calmed down? Are Nigerians satisfied with the multifaceted problems amidst vast heath and wealth? Is it not more practical than theoretical that militancy, Talibanism and all forms of civil disobedience would persist so long Nigeria remains misled?

 

Muhammad Ajah is a writer, author, advocate of humanity and good governance based in Abuja   E-mail: mobahawwah@yahoo.co.uk