Bogged down in an interminable war with Boko Haram, Nigeria is witnessing severe collateral damage. Apart from provoking an unending civilian carnage, it is also contending with a mounting death toll in the ranks of the military. To the mortification of all, the insurgents have continued to stage daring attacks on troops and military formations, including a recent ambush on the Maiduguri-Damaturu Highway, in which officers and soldiers were slaughtered. This substantiates the fact that the insurgency is still firmly entrenched in the North-East.
Mainly because of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen attacks, the Global Terrorism Index 2018 ranked Nigeria as the third most terrorised country in the world in the four years to 2018. Yet, the singsong of the Muhammadu Buhari administration – and the military – has been that Boko Haram has been “technically defeated,” or that the insurgency “is on its last leg.” That is not true. In the face of the relentless killings by the Islamists, that mantra has become painfully monotonous. The authorities should stop talking and face down the terrorists who continually change tactics.
The recent ambush of a convoy of commercial buses near a checkpoint in Jakana, about 50 kilometres to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, was another lethal blow from the horrific sect. Exploiting the confusion, they reportedly opened fire on a military convoy that later arrived there. Not long after the ambush, a colonel, who was the commander of a nearby formation, a captain, four soldiers and some civilians lay dead. In broad daylight, Boko Haram murdered 60 mourners again at a graveside in Nganzai, northern Borno State, on Saturday. This is a staggering loss.
For the past two years, Boko Haram has been putting enormous pressure on the military. Although it has not been able to capture towns as it did during the tenure of Goodluck Jonathan, its success rate in attacking military formations in the North-East has become unnerving. In the process, it has sent many military officers to their untimely death, capturing arms and ammunition and laying waste communities and villages. Its morale boosted by these attacks, it is doggedly furthering its terror campaign aimed at establishing a caliphate in the country.
A few days to Buhari’s inauguration for his second term at the end of May, the terrorist group attacked a military convoy, which was shepherding a group of evacuees to safety. Scores of soldiers reportedly died, being the second setback the troops were suffering within a week. Late last April, the media was awash with the gory news that insurgents slaughtered five Nigerian troops, and 33 soldiers of the Multinational Joint Task Force during a double attack on Gajibo, Borno State. The Islamic State West Africa Province, a break-away faction of Boko Haram, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Starting from 2017, the Islamists have been killing officers, soldiers and civilians and rendering several communities in the North-East region unsafe for farming. To move from one location to another in the region, troops lead vehicles in a convoy. Sadly, this is not a guarantee of safety as the jihadists have launched repeated attacks on these convoys. To date, the 10-year-long insurgency has claimed about 100,000 lives, Kashim Shettima, the immediate former governor of Borno State, said. It has pushed about two million others into displaced persons camps. Twice, the fundamentalists have stolen girls from secondary schools in the North-East. This they did in April 2014 at Chibok (Borno State) and in February 2018 at Dapchi (Yobe State). The insurgents attacked Jakana again on Tuesday, killing scores.
Babagana Umara, the Borno State governor, told a House of Representatives delegation that the insurgency would not end soon because Boko Haram seemed to possess more technological weapons like drones than the military. But, the Nigerian government persists in its delusion that Boko Haram is no longer a formidable fighting machine. Undoubtedly, giving the bin Laden treatment to Shekau and his henchmen needs to be a high priority for Nigeria. To make headway after the horrendous 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the United States targeted al-Qaeda leadership. Brookings Institution says, for a decade, the United States relentlessly pursued Al-Qaeda, targeting its leadership, disrupting its finances, destroying its training camps, infiltrating its communications networks and ultimately crippling its ability to function. Deliberately, its forces went after Osama bin Laden and executed him in May 2011 in Pakistan; its other leaders like Anwar al-Awlaki, Abu Yahya al Libi, Sakhr Taifi and Faruq Qatani were also systematically taken out by air strikes and drones. With this, al-Qaeda has been weakened. By taking them out, the government forces would gain a significant momentum before the terrorists can regroup. The military ought to reorder its strategy by establishing light, but well-equipped, squads that will swiftly provide reinforcement during Boko Haram attacks and ambushes.
In addition, the troops in the frontline have to be motivated with adequate allowances and early rotation to keep them battle fit. As Umara requested, the military should reinforce its strength against the insurgents. The terrorists’ sources of arms, ammunition, equipment, finance and foods should be painstakingly investigated and blocked. Buhari should seek further assistance from the West in terms of intelligence and military technology. In Iraq, the collaboration with the West made the difference against ISIS. Nigeria should also work more closely with regional allies to ensure cooperation on intelligence and border security.
Islamist terrorism is a tenacious movement borne out of the Salafist ideology. It embeds itself in weak or failing states like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Ultimately, Nigeria must confront and eradicate Boko Haram’s extremist ideology, which festers on unjustified, misguided and indiscriminate killing of people as a religious duty.
