AS BOKO HARAM REGROUPS…Security agencies could do more to contain the violence
Boko Haram, the violent Islamic group that has for almost two decades terrorised our country, is again on the offensive. In the last few months, a dramatic rise in violence has sparked worries about security and safety, especially in the Northeast, the epicentre of their violence. Riding in utility vehicles, some of their operatives recently stormed Kwaple, near Chibok, Borno State, shooting sporadically and killing at least 14 mourners. A landmine explosion along Maiduguri-Damboa highway the following day also killed some soldiers, while another planted improvised explosive device (IEDs) claimed the lives of 26 people in Rann, Kala Balge local government area. Among the dead were four women, six children, and more than a dozen young boys.
Although weakened by military assaults and internal fighting in the long-drawn war, Boko Haram and its rival Islamic West Africa Province (ISWAP) have stepped up attacks in Borno, Yobe and environs since the turn of the year, killing dozens of farmers, fishermen and herders in a series of raids. The brutal insurgents sometimes turn their guns on soldiers and military bases as ISWAP did last January on the Nigerian Army’s 149th Battalion in Malam-Fatori, close to the Niger border. The costly attack that claimed a dozen soldiers reportedly lasted for more than three hours.
A disturbed Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum last week bemoaned the recent ‘military setbacks’ suffered at the hands of the terrorists many of whom have entrenched themselves in the Lake Chad islands, Sambisa Forest and Mandara Mountains. The upsurge of violence in Borno is a threat to a government that has been striving so hard to resettle many of the displaced people of the state.
However, there is no doubting the fact that the military has whittled down the striking powers of the terrorist group. The five-nation regional military coalition led by Nigeria has helped in recapturing much of the territory Boko Haram once controlled, and the insurgents no longer operate as freely as they used to. But there is also no doubt that the militant group still constitutes grave danger to their immediate and outlying communities, and to members of the armed forces. This has become obvious as the military alliance with the Lake Chad countries has been weakened by political conflicts, and the sharp edges blunted.
We warned, even after Sambisa Forest had fallen, that the combat mission was far from over because of the enormous potential for casual acts of terror by the insurgents. The growing stature of violence in the North-east has testified to that. Indeed, some reports say the terrorists are once again regrouping in the vast fortress in Sambisa from where they were dislodged almost a decade ago. Besides, some local government areas deep in expansive Borno State are said to be currently in the hands of the insurgents, and dictating the day-to-day activities of the locals, many of whom are farmers.
The increasing spate of attacks is stoking unease in many communities and hampering the return of some of the internally displaced persons living in the poorest of conditions in the camps. In the current state of the war, there is urgent need to scale up intelligence gathering to ensure these violent acts are nipped in the bud. There is also the need to re-strategise. It’s time the reactionary mode of operation gave away to proactive ones, and more importantly, done in a massive manner in an area or geographical zone instead of the present piecemeal approach that are largely ineffectual.
At a state dinner during his two-day visit to Katsina State last Friday, President Bola Tinubu pledged to deploy advanced technology to combat widespread kidnapping, banditry and terrorism across the country. Nigerians are waiting for the president to match his word with action.
