How To End Boko Haram Insurgency By Lt Col Sagir Musa

Sharing her experience of visiting
“Boko Haram torn Maiduguri” in an
article – “Inside the lion’s den of
Nigeria’s Boko Haram”, the 2009 co-
recipient of the silver prize from the
United Nations Foundation,
rewarded for her work in the
Democratic Republic of Congo and
also the face of Aljazeera English in
West Africa – the indefatigable and
ebullient Yvonne Ndege narrated a
story of her five days in Maiduguri –
the epicenter of violence
perpetrated by the armed group
Boko Haram.
She was sharp and succinctly
objective about the situation in
Maiduguri in her article -some parts
reads – “During my five days there, I
found Maduguri under siege by
Boko Haram fighters and the Joint
Task Force. The city has been
enmeshed in road blocks,
checkpoints and sandbags on
virtually every major road and
intersection. The city was patrolled
by heavily armed military personnel
donning ski masks, poised to fire at
any moment”.
She was perfectly right, for there
were/are road blocks, checkpoints
and guard duty posts strategically
located in identified flash points or
red spots in different locations in
Maiduguri. Such strategic locations
are usually reinforced with
sandbags to serve as cover,
protection or parapet from terrorist
fire. What Yvonne failed to observe
and report was the checkpoints and
roadblocks were not sporadic or
wide spread as to cover all the
nooks and crannies of Maiduguri
metropolis.
Areas without static deployment are
often covered with mobile patrols.
And that in terrorist environment,
no amount of troops’ presence can
guarantee ideal security since
terrorists always maximize the use
of surprise to circumvent counter
measures. Even though there are
road blocks, checkpoints, guards,
poor detection devices and mobile
patrols the elements of surprise can
still be employed to overwhelm the
human factor and undermine the
hard ware in a fortified security
system.
Time, as is said, is the terrorist’s
best friend and even a well
protected and hardened target will
experience slackened security
measures during long periods of
terrorists’ inactivity. Unless a suicide
attack is planned, terrorists will
want to strike when security is
laxed. That might explain many
terrorists’ attacks in several places
in Nigeria and Borno State in
particular. Hence, troops are trained
to be more watchful during
terrorists’ inactivity. My concern is
strongly about the incessant
callous, brutal, barbaric and impious
killings of people in some states of
the North -Eastern parts of Nigeria
particularly in Maiduguri. More
worrisome is the inhuman way the
terrorist perpetrates their dastardly
acts ranging from outright
shootings, macheting and
slaughtering of their victims using
knives and sometimes saw
machines from the back of the
victims’ necks till the heads are
severed. In some cases, victims’
throats were savagely slashed.
Recall, in April 2012, seven persons
were in the day time shot dead in
Monday Market. In July 2012, nine
construction workers working at
Shehu of Borno’s Central Mosque
were massacred, 2 Indians shot
dead in their factory and a suicide
bomber strapped with explosives
detonated bombs very close to the
Shehu of Borno and the Deputy
Governor of Borno State
immediately after the Friday
congregational prayer; – five people
lost their lives, four civilians and two
soldiers were seriously injured.
Similarly, three security guards in
Gombaru ward, a respected elder
statesman retired Maj Gen
Muhammadu Shuwa and a business
mogul Alhaji Girgir were in the day
time separately shot dead at
different locations in Maiduguri
metropolis, so also five people were
recently slaughtered in Musari
community located at the outskirt of
Maiduguri. Many security personnel
lost their lives through IEDs and
ambushes perpetrated by Boko
Haram Terrorists. The IEDs were
buried in the middle of or by the
road sides and detonated on the
unlucky mobile JTF’s troops on
sight. These killings mainly occurred
in the day time with many
committed in the markets, worship
centres and in family homes.
Unfortunately, unlike in Kano, Azare,
Birnin-Gwari, Rigasa, kuru areas of
kano, Bauchi, Kaduna and Plateau
States, all these obnoxious and
sacrilegious acts, all this savagery
have elicited not a single passive or
active resistance from the locals
who most times witnessed when
these inhuman acts were
committed. What I routinely hear is
the hollow, emotive and baseless
accusations against those that are
daily staking their lives for the sake
of the nation. It is normal that in an
effort to stem crime and criminality,
some communities in Nigeria have
since devised neighborhood
surveillance, alarm system and
other resistance measures to assist
themselves and security agencies in
combating insecurity in their
respective domains.
This aspect is totally lacking in most
crises pruned states of North
Eastern Nigeria, particularly in Borno
State. Therefore, there is the need
to remind the local communities to
rise to the daunting challenge, to
henceforth resolve to resist
attempts to annihilate their
communities by pre-empting
terrorists acts by way of giving
timely and accurate information to
security agencies and where
possible to actively react to this
madness since the Task Force/
security agencies cannot be
everywhere at the same time. Just
yesterday, while briefing newsmen
in Owerri, the Commissioner of
Police Imo State said – “A retired
police officer, who resides in Owerri,
was arrested for armed robbery on
29 December, 2012… He was
caught red handed when he broke
in to the home of his victim with a
loaded locally made double barrel
gun; his supposed victim disarmed
him and quickly raised alarm that
attracted his neigbours”.
This feat can be replicated
anywhere especially where there is
putative religious and conscientious
commitment amongst the people. I,
therefore, posit that whatever the
case, combating Boko Haram’s
insurgency will require military,
political and communal solutions.
The military’s role is simply to
restore law and order, protect lives
and properties of citizens and to
create an enabling environment for
political solution to take place which
the JTF has creditably achieved.
JTF’s presence and what it has been
able to achieve is based on the
premise that the government has
the capacity to checkmate the
activities of Boko Haram Terrorists
and crush them where they are all
out to confront the Government/
security forces.
Once an enabling environment has
been created, concurrent actions
should take place with the aim of
bringing the menace to an end.
Hence, it is my personal view that
the time for political solution to the
insurgency maybe now and the
security agencies must remain in a
staging position to act decisively
and appropriately whenever the
need arise. On the other hand, the
communities have a lot to do in the
area of giving timely and credible
information and to stop youths from
being recruited in to the group;
otherwise Boko Haram’s terrorism
will linger for a long time. All forms
of litany will not solve the
insurgency, except concerted,
coordinated, selfless efforts and
resolve of the Government, citizens
and the security agencies.