BOKO HARAM’S RUINOUS RESURGENCE   

It is not for nothing that Boko Haram is the face of terrorism in Nigeria. After all, it was formation and operation of the group in Borno in 2009 that opened the floodgates of terrorism in Nigeria. Now, about two decades later, the group, which is lethal in its conception and ruthless in its operations, appears keen on making a strong comeback.

Years of relentless attacks on the terrorist group by the Nigerian army has steadily diminished a group that was once bent on taking territory and spreading terror across Nigeria. But with the Nigerian army spread thin by its efforts to combat bandits in the country as well as meet the challenge posed by the Lukaruwa terrorist group, Boko Haram is bent on quietly reclaiming the perverse prominence it lost.

On 4 January, a deadly attack on Sabon Gari in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State killed at least six soldiers. A similarly audacious attack in Gana town, Zamfara State, saw many people, including women and children abducted.

Beyond the obvious disaster that insecurity breeds, Nigeria has an even more pressing reason to press on with the total decimation of Boko Haram group. Apart from being the flagship terrorist group in the country, a forerunner which made it easier for other terrorist groups to find a footing in the country, the group’s ideology has always posed a mortal threat to what Nigeria needs to do and should be doing for its citizens.

For Boko Haram, western civilization is a sin which must be done away with. This civilization which the terrorist group broadly and fluidly defines to include western education means that western education has become too dangerous and must be endangered by terrorist activities.

Education, which is the hallmark of civilization, has been the chief target of Boko Haram’s campaign of death and destruction since the group spiraled out of control in 2009. Schools have been razed, teachers beheaded and students displaced as communities which were finding the equality that education, the great equalizer, confers, have seen painstaking gains garnered over the years wiped out by devastating attacks.

In many ways, the disastrous abduction of the Chibok girls in 2014 and the Dapchi girls in 2018 very much define what education represents in  the book of Boko Haram. It is a mortal threat to them, and all that they represent  and espouse.

The reemergence and resurgence of Boko Haram is very much  about the war against education in Nigeria. The group’s public aim from the beginning  has always been disrupting the society and endangering its future. It was formed to destabilize education in Nigeria and create a situation where education is inaccessible and  impossible for many children who will in turn provide the resources terrorism needs to maintain its operations and continue to scar  the country, entire families and communities.

The Nigerian Army has shown supreme fortitude in what has been an extremely difficult battle. However, efforts must continue despite the sacrifices made so far. No sacrifice must be deemed too difficult for  country in the current circumstances.

Boko Haram paved the way for terrorists to flood Nigeria, it is important that they be vanquished once and for all. It is easier said than done but committing to the battle is committing to Nigeria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Nigerians must support the war against Boko Haram and all its splinter groups in whatever way they can. It is key  to the fight to keep the country safe and sanitized.

Kene Obiezu,

keneobiezu@gmail.com

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