It appears the Boko Haram insurgency is becoming seemingly intractable .Yes ,intractable because it seems to be getting stronger in spite of the state of emergency in the North east and another security measures in place.When you add the fact that ours officials boast of higher intelligence ability, you now wonder:what exactly is going on?Why is there no sustained end to the attacks?
The unfortunate Monday success of the Boko Haram in Maiduguri sect was ironically best captured by Brigadier General Chris Olukolade,director of defence information when he described what happened in Maiduguri thus: “Nigerian security forces today repelled a pre-dawn attack on Maiduguri by suspected terrorists. Military locations such as Nigerian Air Force Base and some Nigerian Army locations in Maiduguri were targeted during the attack.
In what has really frightened many, he said
“Three decommissioned military aircrafts as well as two Helicopters were incapacitated in the course of the attack. Two Air Force personnel were also wounded while 24 insurgents died during the exchange of fire.
He added that“Security forces are in pursuit of the terrorists in the Djemtillo general area along the Maiduguri/Banishek axis. Movements in Maiduguri and environs have been restricted. Citizens are enjoined to report any of the fleeing insurgents, most of whom could be identified with gunshot wounds whenever they are sighted.
The defence spokesman said“Meanwhile, normal flights operations to and from the Maiduguri Airport which were earlier temporarily disrupted has resumed”.
These are clearly officially crafted words to hide the fact that Boko Haram launched a surprise attack on military and other installations in Maiduguri.What is amazing is the fact that this happened after six months of state of emergency in Borno ,Adamawa and Yobe state.In fact recently, some gunmen launched an attack in Yola killing some suspected civilian JTF members.
At a chance meeting of some politicians earlier in the week, the Maidguri attack and ASUU crisis came up for mention and everyone lamented the fact that the war against Boko Haram is stalled by a clear lack of political will.I also agreed with this position.
Let’s see the picture:Boko Haram launched a suicide attack on the Force Headquarters and went scot- free.Even the Inspector General at that time ,Mr Ringim was keen on sitting tight in office until he was booted out.Again, the sect got bolder ,attacked the UN House in Abuja,launched attacks against media houses with a blistering blast at Thisday and The Sun offices in Abuja and Kaduna respectively.Yet again, came the very tragic Madalla bomb blast.Recall the Suleja bomb blasts including one at INEC office in Suleja.
As all these blasts continued, it would seem that we were all merely praying for it to end even as the sect kept getting stronger.The attacks in Maiduguri had its precedent too in the massive attacks on Kano,in fact that was an amazingly coordinated attack that no one appears to have given Nigerian details beyond media reports.How was security in Kano so embarrassingly breached.Mum has been the word from official circles.Don’t forget even the Emir of Kano later became targets of Attacks.Very strange times in deed.
Then came the major salt to injury:Boko Haram attacked the headquarters of One Mechanized Division in Kaduna and exploded a suspected car bomb at the entrance which shook Kawo convulsively.Then there was another attack on a church right inside Military Cantonment in Jaji,Kaduna.There were also reports of other explosive dropped close to NAF base in Mando area.That was swiftly denied.
What cannot be denied is that despite all these breach of security, no top security chief whether IG or army chief any of the service chiefs has ever bothered to resign or apologize to Nigerians.We are made to believe all is well when it is not.What we have received are unbelieveable assurances that everything is being done to tackle the menace.If everything is being done,why has it become so evident that the sect can launch massive attacks despite huge financial investments .Is anyone more interested in seeing public funds flowing into “security” endlessly.
After the Maiduguri attacks just like others, there should have been at least a major political casualty in terms of some topgun resigning or being forced to quit and a new man appointed to show seriousness.I suspect that President Jonathan is too trusting of his service/security chiefs.We may not have evidence against any of them sabotaging the system but we have evidence from Boko Haram’s endless attacks that under their watch ,the on-going state of emergency is a massive failure.
Sadly, Boko Haram is not the only security issue facing Nigeria.You could list the Niger delta crisis which is a fall out of environmental degradation, poverty, unemployment, the spread of small and light weapons,,desertification and desert encroachment, piracy on the high seas, drug trafficking, cybercrime , human trafficking, other cross border crimes, electoral rigging and post election violence, among the growing list of Nigeria’s contemporary security challenges . The point that must be emphasised here is that most of these issues are inter- related.Don’t forget that corruption as we have it now is a serious security challenge as well.
And as experts have argued, there ought to be a more fundamental security strategy in place beyond the use of force to tackle Boko Haram and other security issues.As a knowledgeable student of Security Studies,I know that Military strategy alone as a means of combating contemporary challenges is old fashioned and unrealistic.While studying in the 2013 pioneer class of Master in Strategy and Security Administration,MASSA at Nigeria Defence Academy, NDA, Kaduna our evidently highly knowledgeable lecturers kept reiterating this fact.
Today the best way to guarantee security is through massive development.And for a country like Nigeria, a comprehensive industrial development strategy to tap and harness the natural and human resources across the country is urgently needed. I believe those in positions of know this fact.What is lacking has been political will to get our priorities right ,tackle these challenges to save the country.President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of special intervention programme for the North East may be commendable.But it has to be a National Economic Emergency Programme to make sustainable impact towards guaranteeing national security.
Danlami,publisher,Newsdiaryonline.com is also on the Editorial Board of Lagos based The Union Newspaper Email:dnmodu@gmail.com
