Resurgent Boko Haram

In spite of repeated assurances by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari that it is winning the war against Boko Haram, many Nigerians are not in any form of doubt that the war against the terrorist group has achieved far below the hype.

President Buhari had in his inaugural speech to Nigerians in May 2015 promised to tackle the deadly group headlong with every arsenal at his disposal. To demonstrate his seriousness, he soon after ordered the relocation of the Defence Headquarters from Abuja to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, which has also been a hotbed of the insurgency attacks, and said that the military high command would remain in Maiduguri until the fight against Boko Haram was won.

In October of that year, Buhari said his government was determined to completely rout Boko Haram by December 2015, hinging his determination on the ability of the Nigerian military, who he ordered not to allow the insurgents to attack, seize, ravage or hold any Nigerian territory.

During a meeting with the Commander of United States Africa Command, Gen David Rodriguez, in his office at the Presidential Villa, Buhari stated that with greater support from his administration in terms of improved training, equipment, logistics and welfare, the Nigerian Armed Forces were well positioned to meet the December deadline which they had been given to end the Boko Haram insurgency.

“Structured attacks by the insurgents have reduced and by the end of the year, we should see the final routing of Boko Haram as an organized fighting force,” he said.
And indeed, Nigerians witnessed less of the Boko Haram attacks. And after just six months into his administration, President Buhari had boasted in an interview with BBC that his government had “technically won the war” against Boko Haram and that the militant group could no longer mount “conventional attacks” against security forces or population centres.

“Boko Haram has reverted to using improvised explosive devices (IEDs), indoctrinating young guys; they have now been reduced to that. But articulated conventional attacks on centres of communication and populations, they are no longer capable of doing that effectively,” he had told BBC.

In his first anniversary speech in May 2016, Buhari said before his administration came into power, “Boko Haram had captured 14 local governments” in the North-East, “driven the local authorities out, hoisted their flags”, but that from day one, his government had purposely set out to change Nigeria.

“We reinforced and galvanized our armed forces with new leadership and resources. We marshalled our neighbours in a joint task force to tackle and defeat Boko Haram. By the end of December 2015, all but pockets and remnants had been routed by our gallant armed forces. Our immediate focus is for a gradual and safe return of internally displaced persons in safety and dignity and for the resumption of normalcy in the lives of people living in these areas,” he said.

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, had followed up with further hype of the achievements of the administration in the fight against insurgency, saying the war against the sect had been “largely won”.

But security analysts had argued that the government had exaggerated the scale of its success against the terrorists. And later events would prove that the government had celebrated too early as Boko Haram gradually resumed sustained attacks.

But as the insurgents continued to make their presence felt throughout the northeast, Lai Mohammed quickly adjusted his tone, claiming in February this year that members of the sect were based in Kogi State and had fought along Islamic State in Libya and were planning to acquire bomb-making chemicals and high-calibre weapons to perpetrate acts of terror, including attacks on banks, arms depots, and prisons.

“The group is an affiliate of the dreaded terrorist group, Boko Haram, and its Nigerian cell is allegedly based in Kogi State, in North-Central Nigeria,” Mohamed had stated in a statement.

“One Usman, an IED apprentice, left the cell some time back to join Islamic State in Libya. The new desire to acquire IED precursor chemicals could suggest that Usman or other persons may have returned from Libya and have acquired IED-making skills intended to increase the activities of the group,” he said.

But while the government celebrated its war victory, the insurgents have in recent times resumed their attacks. Eight people were killed and 15 others injured in early July when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives at a mosque in London Ciki area of Maiduguri.

A week earlier, suicide bombers had killed at least 19 people and injured 21 in Maiduguri when the bombers detonated improvised explosive devices strapped to their bodies at different locations, police officials confirmed.

Only last week, about two suicide bombers killed themselves while attempting to attack a hospital in the Mule area of Maiduguri. The suicide bombers, a male and female, had attempted to gain entry into the General Hospital and blew themselves up in the process.

Earlier, the insurgents abducted four persons contracted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and lecturers at the University of Maiduguri. One of their victims died from injuries he sustained during the onslaught.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million made homeless in northeast Nigeria since the start of Boko Haram’s armed campaign in 2009.

The attacks, which first caught the attention of Nigerians shortly after the death of Mohammed Yusuf, the group’s founder, in 2009, have left thousands of innocent citizens killed in the most dastardly manner. Reports show that in 2013, over 1,000 people died as a result of Boko Haram conflict.

A recent report released by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has shown that religious freedom conditions in Nigeria are being strained by Boko Haram’s terrorist attacks against Christians and Muslims.

The report which also laments recurring sectarian violence and escalating interfaith tensions in the country states that  although the Federal Government of Nigeria does not engage in religious persecution, it, however, fails to implement effective strategies to prevent or stop terrorism or sectarian violence and does not bring to justice those responsible for such violence.

According to USCIRF, based on these concerns, it in 2015 recommended that Nigeria be designated as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). USCIRF had first recommended that Nigeria be designated a CPC in 2009. Nigeria was on the Commission’s Tier 2 (Watch List) from 2002-2009, but USCIRF regretted that the US State Department has not designated Nigeria a CPC.

The USCIRF report also observes that the military’s heavy-handed techniques have been counterproductive because they fails to protect communities and at the same time alienate civilians from the central government, consequently fuelling recruitment or passive support for Boko Haram.

The report also cites corruption as hampering the military campaign against Boko Haram.

“Despite a Nigerian military budget of $5.8 billion, the U.S. State Department and Department of Defence report that the funding is ‘skimmed off the top’ and there is low troop morale in the JTF. Soldiers are poorly trained and equipped, and at times are reported to run away or not engage a better armed and trained Boko Haram,” it said.

Reports are now emerging that during the week, villages in the affected areas in the northeast where community life had returned recently are again being deserted as villagers are no longer sure of the victory, especially as the insurgents are now attacking many villages, where they kill and plunder.

Even as Acting President Yemi Osinbajo last week issued a fresh order directing Tukur Buratai, chief of Army staff, and Sadique Abubakar, chief of Air staff, to relocate to Maiduguri with immediate effect, some security suggest that besides working harder to defeat Boko Haram in the field of battle, there seems to be urgent need for Nigerian forces to improve on their information management so as to effectively counter Boko Haram propaganda.

 

CHUKS OLUIGBO & NATHANIEL AKHIGBE