Following recent fluctuating fortunes in the ongoing counter-insurgency campaign in the North-Eastern part of the country, Nigeria’s elaborate celebration of the defeat of Boko Haram last year now appears to have been short-lived or even premature. While the military may have easily got away with the claim of winning the battle for territorial control, it is becoming very difficult to defend the claim of having defeated the die-hard Islamist terrorists who are still causing a lot of havoc in that part of the country.
The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, a Lt.-Gen, once confessed that he was baffled by the resilience of the group, despite the offensive of the Nigerian military. The reason is however simple: Boko Haram has proved to be well-schooled in the archetypal tactics of terrorism warfare by constantly modifying its approach, depending on its fortunes in the course of the war. A good example of this has been its recent tactical change that has witnessed a resurgence of suicide bombings and kidnapping of women. In fact, the most mindboggling has been the reported kidnap last week of 10 policewomen, though the police have since denied this.
For a group that is still holding over 100 schoolgirls out of the 276 it had kidnapped more than three years ago, it is another slap in the face if it is true that 10 more women have been added to their collection. This would be taking audacity too far. If the police are not safe in Nigeria, what is the hope for ordinary citizens? In other parts of the world, the police would go to any length, not only to secure the release of the ladies, but to ensure the arrest and prosecution of these audacious criminals. That is the least that should be expected from the Nigerian security system.
Rescuing Boko Haram captives may be tough because kidnapping has become a major source of funding for terrorists the world over. A 2014 report by The New York Times claimed that al-Qaeda raked in $126 million from ransom between 2008 and 2014, while the same report, citing news releases and statements from the United States Treasury Department, put the amount within the same period at $165 million. Part of the reasons for the recent clampdown on Qatar by its Gulf State neighbours, according to a report by the Financial Times, was because of the $1 billion the government allegedly paid to terrorists to secure the release of 26 members of the Qatari royal family who were kidnapped while on a hunting party.
Before the latest kidnap incidents, there has been some prolonged and seemingly unstoppable frequency in the activities of suicide bombers in the North-East. For example, during the last Eid el-Fitri celebrations, eight people were killed in multiple suicide bomb attacks in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital and epicentre of the ongoing war against Boko Haram terrorists. According to the state Commissioner of Police, Damian Chukwu, nine attackers sneaked into the city to carry out attacks that left 13 other people wounded.
In May, five internally displaced people were attacked and beheaded by Boko Haram members in Nguro, near Konduga, just as a lone suicide bomber was shot dead while attempting to enter a military barracks in Maiduguri. In April, it took the instinct of a dog which identified a suicide bomber and attacked her to save what could have been a tragedy at a wedding ceremony. An attack by suicide bombers at Madagali village had in December resulted in the death of 57 people, with 177 others, including children, wounded.
The university community has not been spared by these agents of death who have reportedly struck six times on the campus between January 16 and June 25 this year. Because of its strategic location on the outskirts of the city, the University of Maiduguri is easily accessible to suicide bombers. It was actually the main target during the last Muslim festivities.
After several of such attacks that have also claimed lives, including that a of veterinary medicine professor, Aliyu Mani, the university authorities have decided to dig trenches to stave off future attackers. The state Governor, Kashim Shettima, has reportedly approved N50 million for that purpose. But such a response can only reduce, not prevent, access by people who are determined to die and take others along with them.
Boko Haram’s guerrilla tactics have also claimed the lives of many Nigerian soldiers and officers. For instance, Christopher Oguntoye, a lieutenant, was murdered in Magumeri in an ambush in March. Towards the end of last year, some three officers were killed by the fundamentalists, including a Lt.-Col., Muhammad Abu-Ali. Another report quoting the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Lucky Irabor, a Major-General, said in January that an officer and four soldiers were killed during an operation in Bulakesa.
These are all evidence that a lot still needs to be done to uproot the fundamentalists from that area. There is a lot that can be achieved through the use of technology and intelligence. Has anyone bothered to find out why suicide bombing is not taking place on a daily basis in Israel, for instance, despite the volatile security situation in the Middle East? How are the Israelis able to stop suicide bombers before they even take off? It is because they can deploy the right technology to monitor prospective troublemakers even before they take off from their bases.
Whatever Nigeria is doing now in the war against terror does not seem to be yielding the right result; there is a need to change. Terrorism, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is a stubborn phenomenon and that, in contrast to conventional warfare, decisive victory over terrorism is rare. When countermeasures block one avenue of attack, terrorists often improvise some new means of inflicting damage. Counterterrorism strategies must continually adapt to – and preferably anticipate – changing terrorist tactics. That is the challenge before our military. The fight against terrorism is a collaborative venture because their atrocities transcend boundaries. Even if Nigeria does not have the right technology and training, there is nothing wrong in collaborating with others out there who are ready to share and to help.
