After trading brickbats and pouring tantrums at each other over the Boko Haram insurgency, the unanimity and general consensus of purpose by government and opposition leaders, after last week’s expanded National Security Council meeting would seem a good gesture, but this would not in itself, end the insurgency that is threatening to envelop the entire country. After seven hours of hard talk in the Presidential Villa, government and opposition politicians who had been beating the war drums emerged from the meeting repentant, judging from their body language and measured comments over the Boko Haram attacks. The unofficial truce saw the President commending former Head of State and APC leader, Muhammadu Buhari, as well as Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu over their comments condemning the insurgency. That known parties pledged for the umpteenth time to end the insurgency was certainly no news. Nigerians want an end to the bloodletting. Time is gone past when statements of intent can be accepted as results.
The message from the security meeting was clear: Nigeria is at war; and all Nigerians must rally behind the President because the fight against Boko Haram is for the country. Boko Haram is after all neither for APC nor against the PDP; it is neither for Islam nor against Christianity; it is a scourge against Muslims as it is against Christians and combating it requires concerted efforts. In an unprecedented move, perhaps to underscore the unanimity at the security meeting, the five speakers who briefed the press were carefully chosen to reflect the geo-political spread of the nation. They were Governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Theodore Orji (Abia) and Kashim Shettima (Borno). Defence Minister, Lt. General Aliyu Gasau also spoke.
Collectively, they said in the face of the clear and present danger facing the nation, all parties agreed Boko Haram was the common enemy. They then turned to Murtala Nyako, Governor of Adamawa State, who retired from the military as Chief of Naval Staff, but who has been making tendentious statements; accusing the government of carrying out genocide against the north. Nyako was reminded that generals, either serving or retired, speak gracefully and do not talk like tribal warlords. Henceforth, if he must even speak, he should do so with measured words and temper. Nyako reportedly pledged to work with the government on security in the Northeast.
But by far the most worrisome, was the decision by the government to commit more financial resources to boost the military’s capability to fight the insurgency. What the government is saying, in effect, is that all the huge defence appropriations have failed woefully to translate into combat readiness of Nigerian military and allied agencies; and that the military has hitherto been ill-trained and ill-equipped for the Boko Haram challenge. This is unsettling as it is embarrassing. Spending more money however, is not a guaranteed game-changer. Due diligence must be conducted to establish the deficiencies in military capabilities to ascertain what exactly is required to defeat the terrorists. As Nigerians await the renewed commitment by the government, it is equally important to remind the security agencies, which are the direct beneficiaries that to whom much is given; much is expected.
The sophisticated Boko Haram methods, the brazenness with which they have, at will and unchallenged, moved large numbers of men and equipment over wide geographical areas and for many hours to achieve their objective to plunder, destroy and spread fear among the populace are sufficient reasons to perceive a palpable inadequacy in the effectiveness of military campaign. There is just no other way to explain the orgy of indiscriminate bestiality, in which thousands of Nigerians have been killed in extremely brutal manner by the terrorists. Scores of homes and places of worship have been razed and many villages sacked. Indeed, the entire North-East has become a killing field for the Boko Haram terrorists. The rural areas of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states have become unlivable as a result of repeated attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents. The recent bombing in the nation’s capital Abuja, which killed 72 people and injured 164, is a poster of how badly the nation is bleeding and proof that no part of the country is safe.
And it is most strange that all the killings happen in spite of the state-of-emergency and a heavy presence of military task forces made up of just about every component of the security forces. The question cannot but be asked: are there fifth columnists within the ranks or is the problem mere insufficiency in one form or another? It is hard not to conclude that soldiers are aiding and abetting the crisis in order to access the big security budgets. Nobody talks about huge security votes when there is peace. If the motivation is big budget, it stands to reason that the military and politicians will do everything to sustain the insurgency to ensure the security votes. If this turns out to be another opportunity for rent-seeking, then Nigerians are up against a worse enemy than Boko Haram.
It may just have been frustration that planted the weird possibility in the President’s imagination, that the government has been infiltrated by Boko Haram operatives. This is a serious allegation, from the commander-in-chief. Intelligence is crucial in any combat operations and if truly there has been an unholy alliance between officials in the commanding heights of government and the insurgents to put the latter a step ahead of the former’s efforts; that automatically makes the difficult mission impossible.
If after all is said and done and nothing changes; it is either the military at its current state and form is incapable of tackling the insurgency, which is very unlikely, or there is some merit after all in the President’s conspiracy theory that there are fifth columnists in government who are against the insurgents in the day and switch allegiance in the night to discredit his administration by making him look weak and incapable of defeating the insurgents.
Either way forward leads to a crossroad with no easy options. Since dialogue with the terrorists is now off the table, Jonathan can complicate matters by out-sourcing the Boko Haram campaign to soldiers of fortune and mercenaries. Alternately, he can swallow national pride; invoke Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution empowering him to request foreign military intervention; and sign a defence pact with the United States to allow US Marines and Special Forces to create a military base in northern Nigeria, from where they will wage the war against Boko Haram using all means possible, including drone strikes. The US has already designated Boko Haram as a terrorist group and the State Department has a $7 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau. Ultimately, Jonathan can succumb to reactionary politics by his opponents who have boasted that the insurgency will end the next day after he leaves office. He can stand tall by standing down and saving Nigeria from disintegration. After all, Jesus Christ taught with his life that sacrifice makes true leadership
