Resurgence Of Boko Haram …Appraising The Socio-Political Imperatives

Gen Kenneth Minimah and Chief John Oyegun

Before the political campaigns that ushered the general elections of early this year, Nigeria was a bitterly divided country, where virtually every issue of public concern was politicised, as none saw anything good in the actions of opponents. Of great concern was the daily carnage in parts of the North-East orchestrated by the Boko Haram extremist Islamic group, which horrors rather than unite Nigerians even proved more politically divisive.
Consumed by jaundiced political views, beclouded by considerations bordering on individual ambitions and spurred on to unrestrained criticism by the ‘destroy and win at all costs’, syndrome, the political class reduced an otherwise national emergency, to the perceived ineptitude of the government in power.
At some point, the insurgence in parts of the North-East was blamed on institutional neglect of the zone, which the Jonathan administration could not address. They held that the key reason for the killings was poverty. And the solution? The replacement of President Goodluck Jonathan with an experienced military general, who was sure to inspire patriotism among the rank and file of the military. Such patriotism would indeed drive the Nigerian troops to not only expand their modest exploits but indeed end the Boko Haram-inspired insurgency in no time.
These views quickly gained currency and became a major campaign weapon of the then opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) with its flag-bearer, and now President Mohammadu Buhari anchoring his priorities on the war against terror and indeed on corruption. With that assurance, many Nigerians were hopeful that the daily carnage, abductions and destruction of public and private property would abate in no time.
Nigerian troops also would be better inspired to face their constitutional role of protecting the country and fight the insurgency to an early end. It was indeed expected that stories of indiscipline and betrayal among troops would be a thing of the past and with the expected renewed commitment, built on the modest gains recorded by Nigerian troops, in the dying days of the Jonathan administration.
Instead, from the body language and public speeches of the Chief of Army Staff, Gen Kenneth Minimah, a fresh court-martial may be imminent. “I must set up court-martial. If you are in my position and you did nothing, you are not worth being a Chief of Army Staff. I have no regrets I am setting-up more courts-martial to try people who ran, showed cowardice, abandoned troops and equipment and ran away. Why are you in the army? That is not the army,” he said.
There, indeed had been such court-martial earlier and several soldiers found guilty. But because the outcome came at a time when all eyes were set on political gains, many Nigerians called for the pardon of the affected soldiers, thus, demonising the military top leadership and indeed the government.
But crime of any kind is contagious  and is fertilised by the hope of escaping punishment. It is therefore, no surprise if many more troops continue to endanger the lives of their colleagues and indeed other defenceless civilians, by abandoning sophiscated weapons for enemies, in shameful expression of cowardice. At other times, some troops simply disobey orders, with the claim that they were not supposed to die for nothing.
What will then be the outcome of another court-martial now? How will it be received by the political class? Would ethnic considerations and political differences not send the outcome of such court-martial to the dustbin of history, as did the earlier ones?
That is not the most of my worries. Why is the insurgency escalating now more than about two months ago, when Nigerian troops recovered all territories annexed by Boko Haram? What happened to the sophiscated weapons displayed after those conquests. Whither the multi-national force being mooted by the present administration.
In the past two months alone, more than 500 people have been killed in various attacks, most of them in this month. On Wednesday, July 1, this year, a Boko Haram attack left 150 dead in Borno State, although many said that was official figure. That the deaths may be more.
On Sunday, July 5, twin blasts in Jos left 44 killed and 47 injured, according to the North Central Coordinator of NEMA, Abdulsami Muhammad. Earlier same day, a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber disguised as a worshipper and detonated an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Potiskum, in Yobe State, killing the Pastor and five others.
On the eve of that attack on Saturday, unknown gunmen had struck at Cigama village of Birnin Magaji Local Council, killing 31 people while dozens sustained various degrees of injuries. Although Mohammed Bala Gasam, chairman of the local government area gave the figure as 31, media reports said more bodies were recovered thereafter.
Twenty four hours earlier, same gunmen were suspected to have killed six people from Kokiya and Cigama villages in the same Zamfara State.
Only last week, another suicide attack in Zaria, Kaduna State, claimed as many as 26 lives leaving scores injured.  Infact, it was so serious, Hiat NEMA called on public spirited individuals to come forward and donate blood to save the injured. There is the likelihood that the casualty figure may rise.
Last week Monday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) disclosed that Boko Haram insurgency and incessant communal clashes in the North-East of the country alone had displaced over 1.4million persons. In the said statement, Borno State led the pack with as many as 1,002,688, while, Gombe has the least with 16, 984.
Next to Borno is Yobe State with 125,484 displaced persons, currently living with relations and other family members in Damaturu, Potiskum and three other towns in the Northern part of the state.
Perhaps, the most disturbing aspect of the report is that children less than 18 years constitute 56 per cent of the IDP population and more than half of them are below the age of five. Expectedly, 95 per cent of the displacements was caused by Boko Haram insurgency, while five per cent was forced to leave their places of origin because of communal clashes of various ethnic and religious groups.
These figures are indeed mindboggling and demand urgent steps to address. They demand the kind of pro-active steps the then opposition, APC promised as contained in its development blue-print.
Most importantly, Nigerians expect new ways of combating the insurgency and save the country the daily carnage being reported. The primary responsibility of any government, as APC constantly reminded the Jonathan administration, is the protection of lives and property. That indeed became the party’s major campaign promise.
Therefore, the increase in the spate of killings in parts of the North can no longer be ignored. President Buhari and his team of technocrats must brace up for the challenge, far better than the last days of the Jonathan administration not worse, as seen today.
Infact, many Nigerians have started giving up on the administration’s promise to end the insurgency in the shortest time possible. Instead, there seems to be a disturbing increase in number of deaths, mostly orchestrated by female suicide bombers.
Disturbed by the ugly trend, the Kaduna State government recently banned street trading and begging. But isn’t that merely scratching the surface?
Since most of the killers are women covered in veils, what stops the government from outlawing any kind of dress code that secures the killer until she and others are killed? At war time, extreme measures are taken. So, why not temporarily outlaw the female-dressing that covers all parts of the body and help conceal killer weapons.
Wouldn’t such a call be interpreted as invasion of religious privacy and rights? Yet, that’s a major challenge. Even now, there is no telling if the Chibok girls are intact, as abducted, 456 days ago, or converted into killer machines.
This is why it is most annoying that in the midst of all these, the APC has been busy bickering over positions in the National Assembly, with no effort yet to unveil its Blueprint of change as promised Nigerians.
My Agony is that the ruling APC is yet to consider the heightened resurgence of insurgency as a national emergency.  What it appears to consider the more urgent, is that of party supremacy in the selection and or election of leaders of the National Assembly. And for that, all other concerns must wait.
That is not the change, for which Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for its principal, President Mohammadu Buhari. A little more of patriotism, selflessness and sense of urgency is required to reassure Nigerians that theirs was not a wasted mandate.

Soye Wilson Jamabo