Cracking the Boko Haram enigma If the information emanating from the Army Defence Headquarters Abuja is anything to go by, then it looks like the federal government is at last piecing together the puzzles surrounding the dramatic kidnappings of more than 230 girls from Chibok, Borno State, with a view to cracking the enigma. Two days ago, the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade; announced that the military has infiltrated the Boko Haram intelligence network and gleaned a trove of information that would lead them into the arcane world of the sect, their sponsors and the way it operates. Definitely, what has led to the latest chest thumping and air of triumphalism by the military is the capture of some of the sect’s masterminds that include a businessman, Babuji Ya’ari, and two women, Hasfat Bako and Haj Kaka. With this development, the authorities will not only get to know the secrets behind Boko Haram’s startling escapades but more so, it’s near invincibility. For four years, the country has found itself caught in-between the anvils of this murderous group that relishes in bombings, mass murder, rapes, arson and pillaging in the name of religion. Increasingly, its members have become engrossed in politics and are lending themselves as tools to political mandarins who are forsworn to intimidate the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, or harrying it out of office, even before 2015. What started as a localised religious jihad has now acquired a life of its own and wreaking havoc on every facet of our national life, including the survival of some of those political mandarins backing them. In the past three weeks, the military has had cause to intercept and interdict bus loads of persons in Abia and Enugu states, suspected of being members or sympathisers of Boko Haram. Following this, a lot of hot air has been expended by those who see them as merchants of deaths on a mission to sow destructions and mayhem in some parts of the country, while their sympathisers are presenting them as victims of mass hysteria by those out to tar citizens from a section of Nigeria with the hate brush in order to persecute them. Whatever is the final outcome in the ongoing investigations, there is no denying the fact that the Boko Haram sect and its financiers have a hidden agenda to bring the country under their political and religious suzerainty. The federal authorities must therefore unveil those behind the sect whether local and international, and deal with them appropriately. In the fight against terrorism, no stone must be left unturned to root it out from the very fabric of our society. The danger in allowing the monster to go unchallenged is too enormous to contemplate Probably, those hiding behind the sect to destabilise the present administration are merely living in fool’s paradise to think that the jihadists will stop and give up their vision of utopia, the moment their victory over Jonathan is won. The history of international terrorism and its lessons are too recent to be ignored. Even the United States of America (USA)that was in the forefront of arming all sorts of terrorists groups in their quest for global hegemony and especially their ideological conflict with the defunct Soviet Union is coming to grips with the Frankenstein Monster it created. Osama Bin Laden was trained and armed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and even the late Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein held on to power through it’s military and financial support. In the end, both turned round to become America’s bitterest foes. For the avoidance of doubt, terrorism has no borders and those thinking that the Boko Haram will always remain a local guerilla outfit are mistaken in their calculation. Past investigations have revealed that leaders of the sect had their military trainings in both Somalia and Libya. Their sophisticated mode of operations lends credence to this assertion. If not, how and where did they plan the Chibok kidnappings to be able to flawlessly execute it, even while the soldiers sent to intercept them were fleeing in retreat? Sadly, the atmosphere in the country has been so poisoned by partisan politics, that anyone who praises the federal government’s effort in the fight against terrorism is lampooned as naïve. In a situation where the opposition is always bleating over the ineptitude of the Jonathan administration to bring back the abducted girls from captivity, such eventful act by the army may not mean much to them. Rather, all that matters is the circus of professional protesters who daily gather in Abuja to chant the “Bring back Our Girls” mantra. In this season of anomie, all rational thinking is thrown to the dogs, as political expediency takes the place of reasoned and informed judgements. Some critics will refuse to see any earth shaking victory in the arrests of these Boko Haram kingpins. Rather, what they are always looking out for are the missteps and lack of focus of the federal government to make the country safer for the citizens and foreigners. Now, that some small and sure steps are being taken to crush the insurgency, it behooves on all to give a helping hand to achieve this goal. The reason for saying this is that when it rains, it falls on everyone’s house.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 06:12:12 +0000
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