The world changed dramatically on September 11, 2001 when 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes in the United States of America (USA) and used them for suicide attacks. Two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within two hours, both towers collapsed.
A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense), leading to a partial collapse in its western side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was targeted at Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. In total, almost 3,000 people died in the attacks, including the 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes.
The response of the Americans was swift as they launched an attack on al-Qaeda stronghold of Afghanistan which was then run by the Taliban who are sympathetic to al-Qaeda cause. That war has lasted for fourteen years now. The domino effect of 9/11 has remained heightened tension in some parts of the world as al-Qaeda and its affiliates went global by identifying with disgruntled group and subtly hijacking their causes to pursue their own goal.
This was why there are fears that Boko Haram, which has been terrorising the North East of Nigeria, may have links with al-Qaeda in The Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). After years of warfare trying to decimate al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the US – like the erstwhile Soviet Union before it – realised that might alone could not win the war. Thus, they resorted to a counter narrative which is aimed at changing the perception of the citizens of Afghanistan.
Back home, our security forces have battled Boko Haram for years with no end in sight, even though the new Chief of Defence Staff has given April as the deadline for the decimation of the group. However, I was glad when Prof Isaac Adewole, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan (UI), paid a courtesy call on Maj.-Gen. Ahmed Jibrin, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division of the Nigerian Army, Ibadan, Oyo State two weeks ago, which is bound to open a new vista in civil-military cooperation in the country.
Prof Adewole said there was need for strategic research into the real reasons for the escalating violence in the country, particularly the North East where the dreaded Boko Haram sect is gradually carving out an enclave for itself. When I first read the story, I re read it a couple of times to be sure the VC is not reported or quoted out of context.
For me, this is good news coming from the ivory tower that deserves commendation if it eventually pulls through. At the meeting with the GOC, Prof Adewole said the fight against Boko Haram requires academic and strategic research, and I tend to agree with his postulation.
I agree because terrorism is a serious threat anywhere. It is difficult to deter and defend, and it is a high priority on almost every nation’s international co-operation agenda. The struggle against terrorism needs greater effort with a global approach and civil-military co-operation, both nationally and internationally.
The vice chancellor proposed a framework in which UI would partner the Army to go into the “heart and soul” of the people and produce strategic methods of curbing the sect’s members.According to him, the declaration of the Chief of Defence Staff that the insurgency would end in April was realisable, with new methods and strategic research.
Hear him: “The Chief of Defence Staff said the insurgency will end in April. I do not have the facts and information that he has. But, I believe that winning a war involves winning the heart and soul of the people. The university can partner the military to find out what are the real reasons for the insurgency,” Prof Adewole said.
The vice chancellor also said the proposed partnership between the Army and UI’s Department of Strategic Studies would help in “re-teething and retooling” the military’s work force. This, to me, is one of the roads to travel because terrorist networks today are becoming more dispersed and less centralised. They are more reliant on smaller cells inspired by a common ideology and less directed by a central command structure. This is why it has become problematic to even identify who actually runs Boko Haram.
There is a palpable fear almost everywhere as terrorists have declared their intention to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to inflict even more catastrophic attacks in areas where they operate. Increasingly, sophisticated use of the Internet and media has enabled terrorist to communicate, recruit, train, rally support, proselytise, and spread their propaganda without risking personal contact. This is a major source of concern to us and governments across the world.
I must point out also that war on any form of insurgency is both a battle of arms and ideas – a fight against the terrorists and their murderous ideology. In the short run, the fight involves the application of all instruments of national power and influence to kill or capture the terrorists; deny them safe haven and control of any area and cut off their sources of funding and other resources they need to operate and survive.
In the long run however, winning the war means winning the battle of ideas, which even the world’s only super power, the US has grudgingly admitted. Ideas can transform the embittered and disillusioned either into murderers, willing to kill innocent people, or into free peoples living harmoniously in a diverse society. This is why the UI initiative should be adopted as a template for other varsities to adopt.
To wage the battle of ideas effectively and change the narratives, we must pinpoint what does and does not give rise to terrorism:Terrorism is not the inevitable by-product of poverty, even though poverty plays a role in recruitment drives. Many of the 9/11 hijackers were from middle-class backgrounds, and many terrorist leaders, like Osama bin Laden, are from privileged upbringings, just like our own “underwear bomber”, Abdulmuttalab.
Might alone – even though it has its place – cannot root out terrorism, in roads can be made by identifying a combination of intertwined factors which research can help bring out.
Segun Okeowo: Straightening the records
Your write-up titled “Remembering Segun Okeowo” in The Nation of February 6, 2014 refers. It is not correct to say that the marginal increase in students daily cost of feeding from 50kobo to 70kobo was responsible for the “Ali-must-Go” students crisis of 1978 led by the late Segun Okeowo. Rather, the increase was from 50kobo per day to N1.50kobo per day.
I was then a final year student of the University of Ibadan when the event occurred in 1978.The fact is that in our first year in 1975, feeding fees in all campus cafeterias was 70kobo per day i.e. 20kobo for breakfast, 25kobo for lunch and 25kobo for dinner.
When the news of the Dimka’s coup of February 13, 1976 got to the campus, Nigerian students immediately took to the streets to demonstrate against the coup, knowing neither the coup plotters nor their intentions.
As a result of this massive support, which the Nigerian students gave to Murtala’s government against the coup, the Federal Government, now headed by Gen Obasanjo after the assassination of Gen. Murtala Mohammed in appreciation and to further woo students’ support, reduced their cost of feeding from 70kobo per day to 50kobo daily i.e. 10kobo for breakfast and 20kobo for lunch and 20kobo for dinner. The students appreciated the gesture, which unfortunately did not last for more than one academic session
In 1978, as part of Governments’ economic policy styled austerity measure, General Obasanjo increased the feeding cost from 70kobo daily to N1.50kobo daily i.e. 50kobo per meal.
Nigerian students protested vehemently against the 300 per cent increase in the daily feeding cost. Government refused to rescind the decision and students called for the removal of Col. Ahmadu Ali as the Federal Commissioner for Education. This was the genesis of the “Ali -must- go” demonstration organised by National Union of Nigerian Students(NUNS) and led by Segun Okeowo now of blessed memory.
Dr. U. A. Uno, Calabar
