WHILE declaring emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states on May 14, 2013, President Jonathan indicated that the move became inevitable to safeguard the territorial integrity of the country. As he pointed out, “Already, some northern parts of Borno have been taken over by groups whose allegiance is to different flags and ideologies. They (insurgents) have attacked government buildings and facilities. They have murdered innocent citizens and state officials. They have set houses ablaze, and taken women and children as hostages. These actions amount to a declaration of war and a deliberate attempt to undermine the authority of the Nigerian state and threaten her territorial integrity.” He explained that the insurgents sought to prevent government from fulfilling its constitutional obligations to the people as they pursued their fanatical agenda of mayhem, mass murder, division and separatism. The president, in a move widely applauded by Nigerians, however retained the democratic institutions in the affected states, indicating that the emergency declaration was targeted strictly at curbing Boko Haram insurgency and not the democratic institutions.
Three months into the emergency declaration, there is, in our view, a cause for cheer. The efforts made by the Armed Forces, in conjunction with other security agencies, have gone a long way to re-assert the nation’s sovereignty. To a large extent, the threat posed to the nation’s sovereignty has been checked. The military has recorded significant success in the arrest of suspected insurgents, recovery of arms and ammunition and protection of government assets. Socio-economic activities in the affected states are picking up, and there is enhanced public enlightenment and awareness. The military has destroyed many Boko Haram camps and effectively utilised the media to counter the ideological base of the insurgents.
As part of a viable counter-insurgency strategy, the military also mobilised the civil populace in the affected states for intelligence gathering, a move which has been commended by many Northern leaders as a pragmatic way of winning the confidence of the people by co-opting them into the fight against Boko Haram’s treasonable activities. Indeed, the clampdown on the Boko Haram yielded results last week in Adamawa State, as the Joint Task Force (JTF) announced the killing of two major suspects, Zakariyya Yau and Muhammadu Bama, on whom the Federal Government placed a N10 million bounty. Both men were on their way to Wukari in Taraba State for an operation when the JTF monitored them from their base in Borno State. The strings of success recorded in the counter-terrorism effort informed the statement by the Federal Government that the army was making progress in the war against Boko Haram.
In spite of these gains, however, there is an urgent need to re-examine the operational modalities of the military in the face of continued murder of innocent citizens by members of the sect. For instance, an attack by the sect in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State last Monday, left about 60 persons dead. The attackers did not spare women and children, as even infants were killed during the invasion. While the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, dismissed the attack as “desperate and isolated,” the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Sa’ad III, in conjunction with the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), raised issues which are still of concern to many Nigerians: “We are interested to know how the perpetrators gained access to the cordoned areas with such explosives and guns. Who were they? Why were they not prevented or arrested? What were the motives behind such repeated orchestrated heinous acts? Why should villagers in Bama, Malam Fatori and Konduga whose fellow Muslims had disproportionately suffered in the hands of gun men severally be hacked to death for no just cause?”
We advise the Federal Government to strengthen mechanisms to stem the spate of killings by the sect. Although dealing with guerrilla fighters is always a problem, the military should strive to improve on its intelligence gathering mechanism. Since the remnant populations of the insurgents are still in possession of a large cache of arms, there is an urgent need for active collaboration among the security agencies in proper policing of the nation’s borders.
The leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau, still traverses the land as a free man. He recently claimed in a video recording that Boko Haram was winning the war against the Nigerian military, while equally claiming responsibility for the recent attacks in different communities in Borno and Yobe states, including Malumfatori, Bama, Biu, Konduga, Gamboru Ngala, Gwoza and Damaturu. The security agencies have a bounden duty to ensure that he is tracked down in the shortest possible time. Finally, the affected state governments should ensure the sustained provision of the dividends of democracy so that the masses can have cause to cheer in spite of the difficult times created by a murderous few.
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