Tag: JTF

Reports that some youths in Borno State floated a vigilante group to hunt suspected Boko Haram members must have come to many with mixed feelings. Operating under the banner “Civilian JTF”, the youths go from street to street and house to house, arresting suspects who they subsequently hand over to the “military JTF”.

Clutching cutlasses, iron rods and wooden batons, the youths were apparently emboldened by the relative successes by the military since the declaration of state of emergency and disenchantment with the lingering insecurity that has made life unbearable for them.

They had to take resort to self-help ostensible to complement the efforts of the military.

Given the intractable dimension the insurgency has assumed especially in that state, the reaction of the youths is quite understandable. With increased military presence forcing insurgents to flee, the youths must have mustered confidence that they can now turn against the insurgents without fear of reprisals as was hitherto the case. In the past, any attempt to expose the insurgents attracted severe repercussions from the marauders who had become law unto themselves. This made it difficult for civilians to volunteer information to the military and emboldened the insurgents to unleash more lethal attacks on their targets.

The reaction of the youths could therefore pass for a vote of confidence in the activities of the JTF. With increased cooperation from the civilian population, there is hope that the insurgents will soon be smoked out of their hideouts. This should be something to cheer not only for the military that has been battling allegations of human rights violations, but the entire Nigerian citizenry that is equally terrified by these terrorist acts.

Even then, the self-assigned crusade of the youths is equally laden with potent dangers. There is the risk of abuse. There is also the issue of the genuineness of those purportedly crusading as anti-insurgents. There is nothing to give comfort that the said civilian JTF is not a decoy by fifth columnists to mess up the renewed onslaught on the insurgents. Some other miscreants could equally hijack the exercise to wreak more havoc on the same society they purport to be crusading for. It could also turn out as another avenue for witch-hunting and scores-settling by the sponsors of the insurgency. These fears are real and have to be very carefully monitored.

Rather than take to the streets clutching dangerous weapons, the youths would be more effective in the areas of information gathering and espionage. They should be encouraged to supply whatever intelligence information they have on suspects to the JTF. They cannot possible be a parallel unstructured army because of the frightening prospects of sliding into lawlessness. We say so because there is the possibility of politicizing the entire exercise with more devastating consequences for the overall health of the campaign. Signals emanating from the political turf indicate a deliberate attempt by the political parties to put the Boko Haram insurgency to partisan advantage. At the moment, there is a deliberate attempt by the political parties to place the blame of the heightened security challenge at the door steps of each other. In a desperate attempt to gain partisan advantage, the parties now, seek ways to label their opponents supporters or sponsors of terrorism. The issue is not helped by the utterances of key political persons since state of emergency was announced in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

PDP publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh labeled the coalescing opposition as terrorists, sequel to a statement from the Action Congress of Nigeria ACN urging the National Assembly not to approve the declaration of the state of emergency by President Jonathan. Though the ACN later modified its stance urging the National Assembly to take a very dispassionate perspective of the matter, the cat had already been let out of the bag.

As that was not enough, Mohammed Buhari’s statement that the state of emergency is anti-North equally drew the ire of the government. It has elicited calls for his arrest and the trading of words between him and the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN.

The Boko Haram challenge is no doubt a very sensitive one. A lot of families have suffered immeasurably both in human and material losses. It is one issue that is laden with the prospects of inflaming tempers not only along sectional but ethnic and religious lines.

The positions political parties take on the matter are bound to affect their perception by the electorate and ultimately their electoral fortunes. Nothing illustrates this slide to partisanship more poignantly than a statement issued by the publicity secretary of ACN, Lai Mohammed in which the party reacted to insinuations by the PDP and the presidency that are intended to rope in the opposition or the leadership of ACN as sponsors of terrorism.

In that statement, Mohammed contended that the sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria are either within the PDP or are somehow associated with it. The party drew attention to a publication in the journal of the New York-based World Policy Institute in which some names of Nigerian sponsors of terrorism were published. Mohammed said a perusal of that document shows a former Nigerian Ambassador to Sao Tome and Principe and a serving Nigerian state governor, all members of the PDP as alleged sponsors.

Before now, we have equally been told by no less a person than the late National Security Adviser; Andrew Owoye Azazi that terrorism took to an all time high after the last presidential primaries of the PDP. The issue was also raised by Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu when he tasked the committee on amnesty to focus on the sponsorship of the insurgency as a way of getting at the root of the mater.

The point here is that there is an increasing focus on the sponsors of acts of terrorism in the country. What this indicates is that unless we expose those surreptitiously backing the Boko Haram insurgents, we are only scratching the surface of the matter. This point is unassailable.

It is in this effort to expose those responsible for the huge resources that sustain the insurgency that the parties want to take political advantage. As we get closer to electioneering campaigns, terrorism, religion and ethnicity will turn out as irreducible decimals that will shape political discourse. We will also begin to see attempts to link some of the candidates to Boko Haram. Issues as the sections of the country and states most prone to terrorism; the parties that control them and the positions of leaders on the matter are bound to be played up. From the current posturing of the PDP and the opposition, sponsorship of terrorism has become a major issue that will be put to advantage when the ban on campaigns is lifted. The way it is handled will determine the success or failure of the coming elections. Time will bear this out.