Femi Macaulay
A governor should know if some parts of the state he governs are under the control of a rival power, shouldn’t he? So there was no reason to doubt Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum when he revealed that three local government areas in the state were still under the control of Boko Haram. The captured areas are Marte, Kukawa and Abadam, according to the governor.
The bad news was revelatory because the Federal Government had led the public to believe that the terrorist group had been incapacitated, claiming it had been “technically defeated.”
Zulum raised the issue when the Minister of Defence, Major-General Bashir Magashi (retd), visited the Government House in Maiduguri, the state capital, on December 16. Magashi was in Borno to assess the counter-insurgency operations.
Zulum was quoted as saying: “Under Kukawa local government area, Baga, Cross-Kauwa and Kukawa town itself need to be retaken; there must be military presence and with the resettlement of communities back in these three locations with immediate effect.”
The minister didn’t contradict the governor. Rather, the minister repeated the Federal Government’s time-worn reassurances: “We intend to re-design the battle to suit the environment we are operating so that with seriousness we can take on the Boko Haram and see to their end.
“I assure you; the Federal Government is doing its best to provide resources, both human, capital and equipment to ensure that the operation is done properly and with the speed it deserves.”
Magashi added: “We are in this operation for the past 10 years and the country cannot afford to continue in this battle. We must take the bull by the horns.
“We can do it and I reassure the people of Borno that the situation will soon come back to normal.”
But about a week later, Defence Headquarters (DHQ) spokesman Brig-Gen Onyema Nwachukwu, possibly in response to Governor Zulum’s information, declared that “Boko Haram is not occupying any part of this country.” He must have expected the public to take him seriously. But did his assertion reflect reality?
A December 24 report quoted him as saying: “I want to make it clear that Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) have been defeated and pushed into what we call the Tombus Islands.
“These are the islands between Nigeria and neighbouring countries of Niger and Chad, where they have their enclave and from where they come out and carry out attacks on soft targets. Boko Haram is not holding any inch of the country.”
Obviously, the minister of Defence and the Defence Headquarters spokesman are not on the same page. What is the true situation? Of course, the governor is expected to know if some parts of the state he governs are under the control of Boko Haram. Is Brig-Gen Nwachukwu spreading disinformation? The conflicting statements by Zulum and Nwachukwu about the dominance of Boko Haram are thought-provoking.
Ten years after the Boko Haram insurgency started, it is tragic that the war on terror is looking like a war without end. The President Muhammadu Buhari government says it has “degraded” Boko Haram, which means nothing if the insurgents are still in control of three local government areas in Borno State.
It is clear that the insurgents are still dangerously active. The objective of the war on terror should be to make the insurgents inactive. Indeed, the Nigerian military needs to demonstrate that it can win the war on terror.
A situation where some parts of the country are under the control of Boko Haram makes a mockery not only of the military but also the Federal Government.
It is a discredit to the Federal Government that Leah Sharibu, Boko Haram’s best-known captive, is still in captivity.
Christmas Day 2019 has come and gone. It was the second Christmas after Leah was kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists on February 19, 2018. She was among 110 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamic extremists from the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State.
Sadly, five of the kidnapped girls were reported to have died in captivity. Others abducted with Leah were set free on March 21, 2018. Those released were Muslims. Leah, a Christian, was not released because she refused to renounce her faith and convert to Islam.
A December 29, 2018, report quoted a friend of Leah’s mother, Dr. Gloria Samdi Puldu: “Leah Sharibu’s mother had a devastating Christmas; she has been down with serious fever and she is just recovering. It has not been easy spending Christmas without Leah. The hope of the entire family was that by this time, the assurances that the Federal Government gave to us when the three honourable ministers visited that Leah was going to be released would come true.”
She added: “We all had our hopes high, November passed, we are in December and thought that she would be out from captivity and be around on Christmas Day. Her birthday was on May 24 when she turned 15 years. It was a very devastating Christmas, despite the fact that our hopes had been completely in God.”
That was last year. This year, a few days to Christmas Day, the Northern Elders Christian Forum released a statement, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to give them Leah as “our gift for Christmas.”
The group’s chairman, Ejoga Inalegwu, who signed the statement, said: “We plead with the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to give the Christian community of this great nation, the Christmas gift by ensuring the release of our dear child, Leah Sharibu, from the brutal custody of the Boko Haram. We believe the government has the wherewithal and competency to effect her release.”
It is believed that Leah is alive. But she shouldn’t be alive in captivity. The Federal Government needs to do more than making promises to get her released. Leah has been in captivity for too long. As another year ends with Leah in captivity, the Presidency should redouble its efforts to bring her back home, since it claims to be making efforts to do so.
The Dapchi abduction compounded the still unresolved mass kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, in April 2014. Many of the Chibok captives are still in captivity. It is sad that an estimated 27,000 lives have been lost since the insurgency started in 2009. Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states are the most affected. The destructive activities of the terrorist group have made about 1.8 million people homeless and caused a humanitarian crisis. Worse still, Boko Haram is alive and well.
In the final analysis, disinformation won’t work. When Boko Haram becomes powerless, its powerlessness will be obvious.
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