Campaign On Exposure Of Boko Haram Sponsors Heightens

As Northerners Condemn Recent Attacks By Insurgents
SINCE the allegation by the military command that some prominent northerners are behind the sponsorship of Boko Haram insurgency in the north eastern states and other parts of the country ravaged by suicide bombing and other acts of terrorism, many Nigerians have been calling on the Nigerian Army to expose the financiers, so as to end the war against the sect.

Curiously, this is not the first time the region has been accused of being the financial root of the dreaded militant Islamic sect. Under the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, there were similar cries that the source of funding of terrorism in the north comes from some unknown Arewa leaders. However, that government didn’t do much to expose the culprits.

It is, therefore, interesting that the accusation is re-echoing during the time of President Muhammadu Buhari, who has vowed to annihilate the ruthless insurgents, with a deadline of three months given to the military command to accomplish this and put terrorism behind Nigerians. Under this pressuring Presidential directive, the Military may, as a matter of public and national interest, decided to unveil those behind the insurgency, thereby making the journey towards attaining peace and tranquility in Nigeria shorter.

The umbrella body of the North, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) recently insisted that the sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria should not be spared. It urged the nation’s military authorities to fish out the prominent northerners and politicians linked with the Boko Haram sect in the north and treat them as criminals.

The ACF reiterated the statement credited to the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman, who said: “The Nigerian Army wishes to inform the public and send a very strong and serious final warning to some prominent individuals and political groups, who hail from Borno State in particular and the northeast generally, that there is information of plans by some highly placed individuals and political groups to undermine and scuttle the fight against terrorism and insurgency in this country.” Arewa leaders said Nigerians must take this seriously.

The forum’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Mohammad Ibrahim, also said that Arewa leaders frown at the activities of “the unscrupulous individuals and their cohorts, who are determined to reverse the gains made and scuttle our efforts of achieving the Presidential directive to defeat Boko Haram terrorists within three months.”

According to him, ACF considered this statement of the Army “very grave, disturbing and worrisome considering the efforts being put up by the military and other security agencies to end the insurgency in the northeast region. It is callous, wicked and unfortunate that some prominent individuals place their personal benefits above national interest, the daily killings of innocent lives and destruction of property as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency in the last six years.

“ACF urges the military to thoroughly investigate the clandestine activities and other diabolical efforts of these politicians, expose and prosecute them to serve as a deterrent to others. Nigeria cannot afford to treat such unscrupulous groups or individuals with kid gloves at this material time that all hands are on deck to restore peace and order in the Northeast sub region and the country in general. ACF will support and encourage the military to take any lawful action against the so-called prominent elders and politicians undermining the effort of the Federal Government to combat terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria.”

Other northern leaders have also been speaking on the issue, which they say touches on the value and morality of the region, even as they debunked the military stance.

Elder statesman and Chairman of the Northern Elders Council, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, while faulting the claims, challenged the military to publish the names of the financiers of terrorism in Nigeria, if they have their facts right.

In an interview with The Guardian, Yakassai said the Buhari administration has already established supremacy in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency, just as he noted that the war against terrorism would be won in no distant future time.

Said he: “I think progress is being made in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency by the military, especially through the synergy of the combined efforts of the armed forces of the four neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin. The amount of intense military campaign is such that Boko Haram has no hiding place now.”

On the sponsorship of the sect, he remarked: “What the military is saying in this regard doesn’t make sense. Why would a northerner support the killing of his fellow northerner? For what reasons? May be they are looking for a way to escape. And I don’t think it would make sense to any right thinking person that some northern leaders will be sponsoring Boko Haram to kill their own people.”

While condemning the recent attacks by the insurgents, the Arewa elder advised the military to “build on the synergy they have established with their counterparts from the four neighbouring countries”.

However, there are other people, who believe the allegation against the unidentified northern elders is meant to hide the military’s shortcomings and its inability to achieve the defeat of the insurgents in record time.

On its part, the military has again said the nation is on the verge of winning the war against insurgency going by the Presidential order.

Consequently, Army authorities at the 1 Mechanised Division of the Nigeria Army, Kaduna, said it was making every effort to ensure that fleeing members of the sect, escaping from their stronghold in the north-east do not find new haven in other parts of the country.

The General Officer Commander (GOC) One Div., Major Gen. Adeneyi Oyebanjo, who met with religious and traditional leaders in Kaduna, said there should be collaboration in the efforts to capture fleeing members of the Islamic sect seeking refuge in the town.

Speaking at the meeting, General Ayebanjo said: “I have invited you here so that we can each find ways of securing our town, state and the entire Northwest zone. My area of command covers the entire Northwest, but since Kaduna is the headquarters of the North, as well as being my headquarters, I believe that it is a good idea to start my security initiative, which the President has mandated me, with Kaduna.

“The gains we are recording in finishing out members of Boko Haram sect in the Northeast is everywhere in the news. The terrorists are being beaten in dizzying succession and I have every confidence, God willing, that we shall end the insurgency before the end of this year.

“Hundreds are surrendering each week, and their bases captured and destroyed. The days of their impunity is getting to an end. So, all these bombings they are carrying out in markets, or the killing of people in isolated villagers are all signs of the last kick of a dying monster.

“Boko Haram is largely in disarray now, with some members running away to start new lives elsewhere. That is another problem, as they can regroup under another guise. That is the major reason I have called us to this meeting, because we have made several arrests in this town in the past few weeks. I want to appeal to the clergy to help in sustaining the peace we are enjoying in the Northwest now, by desisting from inciting and hateful preaching.”

The District Head of Tudun Wada, Alhaji Magaji Ahmed, while commending the GOC for initiating the meeting, explained that his community had formed a police-backed vigilante group to protect residents from the menace of a group of dreaded gangsters, known as Sara-Suka in some parts of Kaduna. He pledged the support of all religious and traditional rulers present at the occasion, noting that it was in the interest of all.

And to ensure the quick defeat of the insurgents, and checkmate other religious extremism in the north, the 19 Northern Governors’ Forum has inaugurated the committee of Attorneys General and Commissioners of Justice to review criminal laws and proscribe the recruitment of new membership for the dreaded militant Islamic group.

Governor of Borno State and Chairman of the Northern States Governor’s Forum (NSGF), Alhaji Kashim Shettima, while inaugurating the committee in Kaduna, said, “the Boko Haram insurgency, which has been raging for the past six years, is one of the many serious security challenges we are experiencing.

“It has been generally agreed that one of the root causes of the insurgency was unlicensed and inciting preaching by the sect, which inevitably stoked the violence and culminated in the extremely complicated and unconventional security situation facing this part of the country, especially the Northeast”.
The governor said there was need to review and beef up the necessary criminal laws to check the activities of the insurgents and other extremist religious groups in order to put an end to their terror.

“I must, however, commend the efforts of the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari for his remarkable achievement in the security sector. His dogged commitment and unwavering determination to ensure that the insurgency and its concomitant effects were totally eradicated within a specific time line are beginning to bear quite an appreciable degree of success.”

He said, “The committee should look at the condemnable activities of the so-called sponsors of the insurgency and come up with legally pragmatic, appropriate and proportionate punishment. It should also focus specifically on parents, who because of some pittance sacrifice their children as suicide bombers. Such parents must be made to face the full wrath of the law.

“Similarly, the issue of cattle rustling is gradually assuming a disturbingly unacceptable dimension, which often degenerates into the vicious cycle of unwarranted mass killings and deadly reprisal attacks.

“These are just few examples of the multifarious security challenges we are confronted with and in order to overcome them with appreciable degree of success, we need to adopt an effective legislative framework; hence the need for the review of the Criminal Justice System of the Northern States.”