We should lose sleep. Plenty of it. The renewed kamikaze aggression of Boko Haram elements yells for frenzied vigilance. In the last couple of days, they have struck- wantonly with deadly competence. They left, in their wake, their signature mayhem-shattered limbs, dismembered bowels and dislocated lives. We beseech you our creator. Intervene. Save us from these benighted marauders. My solemn prayers.
Boko Haram is lunatic. Fact. Nothing new. Fact. This has been said before-repeatedly. Fact. It is stark raving mad. Fact. Again, nothing new. The renewed reign of violence confirms that it is at the extreme end of psychosis. Fact. It says something new. Fact. It says that it may be at its tether’s end. Most likely. Consider these. Cornered and isolated. Supplies cut off or substantially reduced. Routes for replenishment blocked or inaccessible. Mobility impaired. Field commanders arrested or killed, the resort to freight of death by human vessels as evidenced lately is a logical resort for deranged minds. I am fuming.
Unschooled as I am in matters of security, I can still hazard an educated guess or two why the fresh cycle of bloodbath via kamikaze. Its tail is in between its legs. The Nigerian resolve is cowing the rebellious spirit of these outlaws. The stare down has caused the insurgents to blink first. These attacks on soft target are eloquent testimonies.
I suspect strongly that it has dawned on Boko Haram is convinced that it is losing the battle. A well-orchestrated suicide mission among the population will achieve two objectives. One, it will rekindle rested fear. Two, it will erode the confidence of the military that has had an upper hand in flushing out and retaking swathes of land previously occupied by the invaders.
Truly, the Nigerian Military has found its mojo. A year ago, it was a pathetic almost whimpering bunch. Out gunned and ‘out motivated’, the insurgents routinely gave them a bloody nose. They had an uncanny knack of simply waltzing into and simply taking over lands and territories. They routinely made sacking military barracks and installations seem so easy as to find ‘conspiracy’ theories attractive. A ragtag army peopled by misguided youth making a continentally well-regarded army fleeing the battlefront? The idea seemed so remote as to invite the word impossible. But these and many more feats, Boko Haram achieved to the amazement of all and sundry. Cynics and pessimists blamed government. Theories, of the conspiracy kind, flew around recklessly. The military High Command had no answer.
Exactly a year ago, Boko Haram took the battle to the doorsteps of the current chief of defense, Alex Badeh. They sauntered into his ancestral home in Vimtim, in Mubi local government and annexed it. They renamed the commercial hub of Adamawa state, Madinatul Islam and established ‘sharia’ government with imam Shekau as the Amirul Mumineen’.
A bewildered Badeh was askance. A clueless order was equally askance. At the zenith of its power, Boko Haram dared the Nigerian state and almost won. There was palpable despair. Until the prospects of a possible loss of election seemed real, than the slumbering order woke up and ordered the end of the insurgency. From early this year to the conduct of polls, the might of the military was in full display. Also the state went into a diplomatic over drive. Our neighbours, once willing allies, were reluctant to help end insurgency because of reasons that were not totally unconnected for the healthy disrespect they had for the clueless one. But they thawed at the prospects of their economies ruined by the riotous rebels. With deals of regional cooperation sealed, the rout of Boko Haram became fait accompli. The resurgence of suicide missions lately is the gasping of breath of a dying dangerous militancy.
Let me sound monotonous. Boko Haram is evil. Its ideology is unbeknown to man.
The informed know that it is not fighting for God. It is nothing fighting for Islam. They are fighting for insane reasons. This is the time we should all be very vigilant. Such vigilance helped saved lives and limbs in Kano last Monday when the vessel of death, a teenager exploded with her cargo of death alone. This should cheer. But the shout of joy is stuck in the throat because of the jeer of the demented that still think wasting human lives is failure of the voters to vote ‘right’
Coke heads!
