Last week, a report which emanated from the United Kingdom warned of possible attacks by extremists sneaked into Nigeria from Syria by leaders of the terror group, Islamic State (IS). According to the report published in the UK SUN, Boko Haram operatives were also being sent to the Middle East for training in a chilling exchange programme. The report noted that there were fears in intelligence circles that the strong links between Nigeria and the United Kingdom would make it easy for Islamic State to send its killers to Britain to orchestrate terror attacks, death and destruction, adding that more than 150 British soldiers were currently conducting counter-terror training with Nigerian forces in an attempt to stem the bloody tide and stop the terror group from taking hold in Nigeria.
Responding to the alarm generated by the report in the polity, the Defence Headquarters declared categorically that Nigeria’s territory was not under any form of threat from the Islamic State. In the statement issued by the acting Director of Defence Information, Brigadier-General John Agim, the Defence Headquarters stated: “There is no concrete evidence on the ground to back the claim. However, it could be recalled that the Ali Barnawi faction of BHT in 2016 pledged alliance to the ISIS as a result of our troops’ fire power which dislodged them from Sambisa forest and surrounding areas in the North-East. The Armed Forces of Nigeria are aware that there is collaboration between terrorist groups. Thus, it is important to note that the activity of one group in a country influences other groups in other countries and because of this knowledge, activities of other terrorist groups usually affect our own military strategy. The Nigerian military will continue to condemn all tactics by terrorist groups of isolating the Armed Forces of Nigeria from any foreign collaboration.”
Commendably, though, the Federal Government adopted a more cautious approach to the security alert. It stated that it was not treating the report with levity, noting that every measure needed to protect the country was being implemented. Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.), said: “When information like this comes, we do not take things for granted whether it is true or not because it is security information. We are prepared to ensure that everything we need to do security-wise is being done.”
Without doubt, Nigeria’s current security profile is poor and disheartening. Contrary to the assurance by the military that “it is up to the task of defending the country and its citizens from every attempt to infiltrate it by criminals,” Nigerians, particularly in the North-Central geopolitical zone, have been dying in droves, as nomadic herdsmen inflict the most horrendous attacks on innocent citizens, burning up entire villages and, according to reports, even renaming the villages captured. Against this backdrop, it is reasonable for Nigerians to be worried about reports of foreign terror groups seeking to compound the misery with which they are all too familiar. If the armed forces have not been able to save Nigerians from cheap deaths at the hands of a rampaging band of herdsmen, just how can they be expected to relax in the face of alleged threat by the Islamic State, and accept that “the ill-motivated stories, clips and their claims” ostensibly made by Amnesty Internal “ should be disregarded”?
As nearly every Nigerian is quite aware, the country’s borders are porous. As we have consistently maintained in our previous editorials, these porous borders engender both security and economic threats and sabotage. This situation, we believe, needs to be addressed through more vigorous policing of the country’s borders and the building of border walls fitted with advanced security gadgets. Unless and until this is done, terrorists will continue to infiltrate the country. Besides, in the face of the tense security situation in the country, it goes without saying that the Department of State Services (DSS), Directorate of Military Intelligence and other organs of Nigeria’s intelligence architecture must redouble their efforts and ensure that the Islamic State does not gain any foothold on Nigerian soil. Already, Nigeria holds the unenviable record of simultaneously hosting two of the deadliest terror groups in the world, namely Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen, respectively. Surely, it cannot be expected to allow the Islamic State to be thrown into the mix?
We urge the Federal Government to do everything within its power, including seeking international help and collaboration, to ensure that the country does not become an outpost for the Islamic State. The country cannot afford such a fate. The security agencies should be given all the resources they need to ensure that Nigeria does not host the Islamic State and have full-blown war on its hands.
