These are desperately dangerous, bloody and extremely insecure times in Nigeria, particularly in the North-East, where Boko Haram Islamists have audaciously slaughtered scores of farmers. Having acquired ruthless notoriety, the insurgents attacked Zabarmari farmers in their rice fields, close to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to devastating effect. At the end of the invasion, they had slaughtered 43 farmers gruesomely, tying their hands behind them and slitting their throats. In gut-wrenching ISIS fashion, they heartlessly beheaded others. The latest killings prove that 11 years after it commenced its murderous campaign to establish a caliphate on Nigerian soil, Boko Haram remains a lethal force.
As the news of the massacre broke, panic and confusion gave way to outrage over the way the insurgents operated unhindered again for a long period despite the ongoing military onslaught on them. As the dust settled, Borno officials said 76 persons were murdered, apart from those kidnapped. Condemnation poured in from across the world. The United Nations, Pope Francis and aid organisations expressed disgust at the heart-rending attacks on innocent farm workers. State governors penned statements and visited their Borno colleague, Babagana Zulum. These occasional condemnations will not win the war; the global coalition will.
Although the Zabarmari killings unnervingly plumb the depths of humanity, mindless atrocities by Boko Haram have become all too insidious. In October, the unrelenting extremists drenched the irrigation fields near Maiduguri with the blood of 22 farmers in two separate incidents. Boko Haram, like all Islamist sects, mutates, carrying out devastating attacks on soft targets or detonating IEDs as it pleases. Between July and November, they attacked Zulum’s convoy on three occasions in spite of the tight security around the governor. Soldiers, police officers, members of the Civilian Joint Task force and civilians were killed.
Boko Haram has caused too much damage – physically, financially and psychologically. The New York Times reported on September 13, 2019 that Islamist extremists were better armed than ever and had more sophisticated drones than the demoralised Nigerian military. Though every state is responsible for its own citizens’ safety, it is difficult to understand why the Nigerian authorities have failed to procure needed arms and ammunition from any country willing to assist in ending the festering savagery.
Already, there is real fear of food insecurity as farmers and the over two million people displaced are afraid to return home and their farms. In all, the jihadists have executed 36,000 persons flagrantly, according to the international community. Former Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, put the death toll at 100,000. Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State Governor and Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum, claims that some of the insurgents that escaped from the Boko Haram territory are the ones prosecuting the banditry in the North-West, while some of them are involved in the kidnapping in the South-West.
Unfortunately, the Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) regime is not measuring up to Boko Haram’s bloody campaign. It is still living in the past; endlessly celebrating the initial success it recorded when it took power in 2015 by recovering the local government areas under the control of Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. Even more dangerously, the regime persists in deluding itself that it is winning the war. In the intervening period, Boko Haram has become deadlier. At will, it has attacked military formations, seizing high calibre weapons. It has retained its firm grip over the Lake Chad Basin area, prompting a coalition by Chad, Niger and Cameroon against it, but Nigeria suffers the severest tolls in the group.
The Boko Haram conflict is one of the biggest horrors hanging on the conscience of the country’s leadership. The asymmetric war and its bloody legacy will not fade away like a fleeting human shadow because Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram mimics aloofness from Buhari and his commanders. Plainly, it is poorly coordinated and is purposeless. For now, the Nigerian military is second best to the well-equipped, determined and misguided zealots, prompting the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, to admit to a long period of insurgency ahead. This has to change. Beyond his condemnation ritual, Buhari has to take real charge of this war; just like Chad’s president, Idriss Déby, has done on several occasions when Boko Haram attacked the country.
Not all is lost. With a renewed sense of purpose, Nigeria can put an end to Boko Haram, but for this to happen, the Buhari regime must be strategic. Tormented and overpowered by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2014, Syria and Iraq turned to the West for succour. By the end of 2015, a Western coalition led by the United States had conducted over 8,000 air strikes in both countries, the coalition said. With sustained attacks, ISIS had lost 95 per cent of the territories it claimed for its caliphate in Mosul and Raqqa, its nominal capital, by December 2017. The “state” was wiped out completely in 2019.
Clearly, Nigeria cannot win this war on its own. Buhari has to go all out and attract greater international assistance if he is serious about defeating Boko Haram, which too has foreign backing from ISIS and changed its name to Islamic State West Africa Province.
Additionally, the Nigerian authorities should prosecute captured Boko Haram suspects to a logical conclusion. Recently, the United Arab Emirates pointed the way forward by convicting six Nigerians for funding terrorism (Boko Haram) with $782,000. Using financial intelligence, Buhari should trace and unearth the sponsors and financiers of Boko Haram, bringing them to justice.
In this quest, Nigeria should swiftly revive its coalition with Cameroon, Chad and Niger, taking the lead with human and military resources, one of the six points proposed by Zulum. The nagging issue of inadequate weapons should be resolved. The coalition should collaborate to hold down recovered territories long enough to whittle Boko Haram’s influence. But the reality is that a military response is only part of the answer. There is the need to address the skewed unproductive federal structure and the systemic corruption that are jointly delivering poverty, unemployment and religious extremism in the country
