Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, looks at measures by the government in addressing the security challenges in the country.
After curious postponement, President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday, met with the 36 state governors and security chiefs in continuation of his administration’s efforts at ending the security challenges in some parts of the country.
The enlarged meeting of the National Security Council was a follow-up to an earlier one the president had with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors a week earlier.
Believing that the national security meeting, which was seen to be so crucial, would hold on Wednesday as initially speculated, the All Progressives Congress (APC) had to shift its congresses in the states earlier fixed for same Wednesday.
The Thursday meeting did not come to many as a surprise, coming at a time that, perhaps, there had not been any single event that threatened the collective peace and security of the country as the rampaging Boko Haram.
Until the terrorists took their dastardly acts to its current frightening dimension, there had been the temptation to treat their antics as threats that would ease off with time. In fact, President Goodluck Jonathan had, earlier in one of his interventions on the menace, assured that “Boko Haram will come and go. We are working very hard, we are changing our approaches, God willing, we will end Boko Haram.”
It did not, however, take long for the insurgents to prove the president wrong. Apart from raising the bar of their murderous activities against defenceless civilians in churches and other religious centres, the terrorists also attacked barracks, schools and other public places.
It was at this point that it became apparent to the President that there was need for a change in strategy, if the war against the insurgents would record any gains. Part of the agenda was to be harder on them. Jonathan had thought that going after the sect with a sledgehammer was the most effective approach in ending its campaign of terror.
“We will hunt them down, we will fish them out,” the president had declared in May 2013, while proclaiming a state of emergency on the troubled states of Adamawa, Bornu and Yobe.
Rather than tame the insurgency, the troops that the president sent appeared overwhelmed with the barrage of attacks from the terrorists on civilians and even their barracks.
Even with the extension of the emergency rule since November last year, Boko Haram fighters have remained unrelenting in their attacks. If anything, they have rather increased the tempo of their menace. On Monday April 14, for instance, the nation was thrown into mourning following an explosion that occurred in Nyanya bus terminus, at the outskirts of Abuja. There are still conflicting reports on how the blast happened. The police claimed that the explosion affected 16 high capacity buses as well as smaller commercial vehicles, some of which had loaded and were ready to leave. Another source said that three persons who boarded three different FCT high capacity buses may have been the ones behind the blasts.
Official estimates put the number of people killed in the explosion at 76, with many injured. Witnesses, however, maintained that the figures could be higher.
Same Monday, 234 students of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, also in Borno State, were reportedly abducted by the terrorists.
The Abuja bus attack came on the heels of similar offensive by the group on Borno villages, previously. Earlier, for instance, suspected members of the sect had invaded three villages – Ngoshe (in Gwoza local government area), Kaigamari (in Konduga) and Anchaka (in Bama) – in Borno, killing about 98 people and setting ablaze several houses and shops.
Before then, there was the killing of 59 pupils of Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, in a boarding school in Yobe State.
While the attacks went on, the nation was obviously at unease. While some commentators suggested change of strategies in tackling the menace, some accused the country’s leadership of not doing enough.
APC is, for example, known to be highly displeased with Jonathan’s campaign against the Boko Haram insurgency. Its interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, had on occasions, alleged that the federal government’s war against insurgency was unconvincing.
Apparently toeing similar path, Isotonu Achor, a security expert, had remarked: “Nigeria is now seen as a sick joke all over the world in the matters of security. For Boko Haram to breach the intelligence cocoon of Jaji and the headquarters of SARS (Special Anti-robbery Squad) means that nowhere is sacred again.”
Nyako’s bombshell
Adamawa State governor, Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd.), appeared more critical of the president. He had in a recent statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Ahmed Sajoh, particularly faulted the president for declaring a state of emergency in the state.
Not done with that, Nyako also wrote to his colleagues in Northern Governors’ Forum, accusing the federal government of embarking on what he alleged to be a full-fledged genocide in the North. In his letter dated April 16, Nyako noted that the adverse security situation in Northern Nigeria in particular and Nigeria in general is being felt by all, cautioning Jonathan to have a re-think on some of his actions.
According to Nyako, “While every state government is doing everything possible using virtually all its resources to stem the tide of near disaster facing all of us, especially in the North, it is a fact that the present federal administration has now become a government of impunity run by an evil-minded leadership for the advancement of corruption that is apparently enjoying the protection of the federal administration as a citizen of this country should enjoy but is being denied by the administration using its mass murderers/cut-throats imbedded in our legitimate and traditional defence and security organisations.”
He alleged that “the protection of life and property of innocent citizens in Northern Nigeria and recognising their human rights and voting right in the forthcoming general elections is no longer a cardinal principle of the administration”, describing it as “the beginning of genocide”.
Given the tone of the letter, some political watchers insinuated that Nyako was not speaking as a lone voice, but might have had the cooperation of some powerful backers from the North still bent on returning power to the region, an agenda they hold so dear.
Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Public Communications, Dr Doyin Okupe, however, hit back at Nyako, saying that his comment smacks of irresponsibility and betrayal of trust, given that the governor has been a consistent major beneficiary of the Nigerian nation.
Security meeting to the rescue?
It was in apparent bid to ease the obviously rising tempers in the land that the Thursday enlarged security meeting was summoned. TheNiche learnt that participants at the parley resolved to put aside their political differences and present a united front in the fight against Boko Haram.
The meeting also discussed the memo from Nyako to his colleagues in the North in which he accused the federal government of committing genocide in the North East, ravaged by Boko Haram terrorists. He was reportedly urged to be cautious, subsequently.
Besides, it considered the abduction of 234 schoolgirls from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, and the frequent clashes between Fulani herdsmen and local farmers in some Northern states.
Part of the agreement was to empower the military to contain the insurgents.
Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, disclosed to reporters that the meeting stressed the importance of rising above partisanship when dealing with security issues, as well as tackling it in an objective manner with security agencies being professional.
The council, he added, also resolved that “data should be shared across board among security agencies. A holistic approach in curbing terrorist activities, including the anti-poverty approach, should also be adopted”. Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji, and his Niger counterpart, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, spoke in similar respect.
More work ahead
Analysts are agreed that even with euphoria trailing the meeting, there are no immediate indications that the activities of Boko Haram would wind up in a hurry.
Last week, for example, there was a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), alleging that Boko Haram might have extended its tentacles to neighbouring Niger Republic where some of the leaders embark on a recruitment drive.
The report claimed that Boko Haram has the support of some criminal elements in south eastern part of Niger Republic, al-Shabab in Somalia and the al-Queda in the Maghreb (AQIM) in carrying out its terror activities.
Fears for 2015 polls
There are fears that the continued upsurge of violence in the North East may threaten the 2015 general elections in the affected areas. Already, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised alarm that unless something serious is done to checkmate violence in the zone, it would not only be difficult but risky conducting any election in the area.
INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, has urged the federal government to rise up to the challenge of arresting the menace of the terror group.
Any solution?
In the submissions of former Nigeria Military Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, there is need for the country to take close heed at this moment and recognise the severity of what is upon it. The nation, he said, must stand tall and united in going about the exercise.
Buhari called on the government to improve and re-define its strategy in the light of the expanding menace.
“Clearly, government’s intelligence gathering needs to be improved, so that it can break terrorist plots before they hatch. Moreover, it needs to enact greater social and economic reform in the blighted areas of the nation to win the hearts and minds of the people. Give the youth a viable alternative and they will not be duped by the lure of extremist dogma,” he stated.
A former chieftain of APC in Kwara State, Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN), who has now defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also stressed that the Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the North East is a war that could be won in unity.
Belgore had noted that no single event had threatened the collective peace and security of the country than the Boko Haram insurgency.
He charged Nigerians to set aside their differences and join in the campaign to end the killings in some parts of the country.
Aside these commentators, many argue that there is need for the Nigerian authorities to rise up to the duty of protecting the land. Since it became a public issue in 2009, Boko Haram insurgency is believed to have left over 3,000 people dead, including killings by the security forces. The time to act is now, they stress.
