Eddy Odivwri
So much has been said about having to change the Service Chiefs, seeing that they have practically come to their wits’ end in dealing with the Boko Haram menace. But I hear the more people demand a thing, the more Mr President resist what is demanded. That means that but for the public outcry against the Service Chiefs, he probably would have sacked them. But he doesn’t want to be interpreted as pandering to public clamour. So, the Service Chiefs, still have the longer end of the ace.
Thus, apart from the lack of new ideas and strategies from the tired service chiefs, the other reason why this trouble will stay longer is the so-called policy of de-radicalisation of arrested Boko Haram terrorists. For the life of me, I do not see the wisdom of arresting those who want to kill us, we use public funds to feed them in prison custody and later we send them to a –de-radicalisation school and eventually release them back to society.
One regular prayer point in one of the modern churches is “kill them before they kill you”.
But here, we spare those who want to kill us. Not even the Pope can be that pious and gospelleds.
Many such so-called de-radicalised insurgents have gone back to banditry with fiercer determination to undo humanity.
Just last Monday, the Borno State Commissioner for Information, Mr Babakura Jato announced that 1,400 Boko Haram suspects who were arrested between 2018 and now have been “cleared and released”, even as some of their original communities rejected them. Gush, what is the wisdom? Is it merely to satisfy the silly demand of Amnesty International?
There was one such fellow called Usman Sani who was in Kuje prison for over three years. He was set free under the de-radicalisation scheme and he soon went back to rejoin Boko Haram and got arrested again. A source in Kuje prison with whom Usman had frequent interactions told stories of his plan to even kill more people (perceived as his enemies) when he gets out again.
Were it not for this catch-and-release policy the stock of Boko Haram would have long depleted. But the more they are “technically defeated”, the more they swarm on us and do us harm.
It is even worse that government pays ransom to get certain persons released from Boko Haram captivity. That, no doubt, inflates the purse and vault of the criminals
The Adamawa CAN chairman, Pastor Lawan Andimi was brutally beheaded because the ransom of N50 million raised by CAN was below the Two Million British Pounds demanded by the Boko Haram captors.
With such huge ransoms, their armoury is always renewed, restocked and updated. But hey, why has government and all its intelligence network been unable to block the source of arms to the bad guys? Is it not ironical, for instance, that the spate of attacks got even worse when the borders have been shut for over five months?
And as former Speaker, House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara recently put it, “Our region (North east) is now a killing field”.
Everybody is saying the same thing. Perhaps only the members of Miyetti Allah see all these differently.
Everybody cannot be playing politics. Human lives are too precious to be reduced to articles of politicking. It is high time the President woke up and did something tangible and re-assuring, if nothing else, in deference to the oath he took to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians. He cannot and should not be feeling cool in the face of these killings.
