There is this Yoruba proverb which states that it is the man that cuts down the tree that has the burden or problem, as the tree will spring up and grow again. If the intention is to do away completely with the tree, the appropriate thing to do is to uproot it once and for all, and forget about it. In like manner, if one chooses to eliminate the snake, killing it outright, is the answer; not bruising it. To bruise it is to look for trouble, as the viper will ultimately fight back, this time more ferociously and in a deadly way.
Though I am not an expert in war strategy or tactics, neither am I a soldier or conflict analyst, but as a layman or even a novice, I know you can never shave the head of a man in his absence, neither can you fetch water with a basket. This will be an exercise in futility no matter the efforts or ingenuity..
When one looks at the current security challenges facing the nation, one cannot but marvel at the magnitude and quantum of damage these have inflicted on Nigeria and the holocaust is still counting, as the assault on the nation by the demons of destruction for now is unrelenting.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin, revealed that the military was “currently confronting the security threats across the nation.”
Speaking last year in New York at a reception organised in his honour by the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations, New York, General Olonisakin pointed out, “By my own estimation, we have about 14 security threats that we are confronting; ranging from terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping, cultism to issues linked to armed robbery.”
Olonisakin was at the United Nations headquarters for the Second Chief of Defence Conference, alongside over 100 other Chiefs of Defence Staff all over the world.
According to him, “We are handling operations in all the geo-political zones of the country, but, the major one is the one in the Northeast, which is Operation Lafiya Dole. We have, of course, operations down South and taking charge of militancy and oil theft; we also have that in Lagos. But the major one is Operation Lafiya Dole, which, of course, since we came on board, has stepped up the scheme.
“Right now, we have been able to decimate Boko Haram, but what they are doing right now is hitting soft targets, through suicide bombers.”
Without equivocation or fear of contradiction, the Federal Government of Nigeria, especially under President Muhammadu Buhari, and the military have done substantially well in efforts to contain the security challenges, especially the Boko Haram sect.
While the insurgency has been degraded to a remarkable level, efforts have begun on the resettlement of the millions of the Internally Displaced Persons to their permanent homes. Besides, the reconstruction and rehabilitation of trillions of naira worth of destroyed infrastructure, has begun in earnest.
However, there appeared of recent a lull in the prosecution of war against the insurgency with visible evidence portraying the terrorists to once more be on the prowl with impunity and tenacity. Though the prosecution of war against the insurgency is based on carrot and stick approach, available evidence on ground points to the fact that the Buhari administration has relapsed more to the defensive position as more abductions by the terrorists have forced the Federal Government to the table to dialogue with the insurgents and possibly, succumb to the whims and caprices of the same. This weak position of the Federal Government emboldened Boko Haram leadership to dictate terms to the federal authorities.
This war of insurgency is getting almost to a decade and sanity is still illusive, as the insurgents are becoming more destructive and heartless, causing nightmares to the people. The more prolonged this war of insurgency becomes, the more complex its ripple effects will be
This war of insurgency is getting almost to a decade and sanity is still illusive, as the insurgents are becoming more destructive and heartless, causing nightmares to the people. The more prolonged this war of insurgency becomes, the more complex its ripple effects will be.
The situation becomes more disturbing with the alleged postulation that the military does not know exactly the enemy it is fighting or the absence of definite Marshal plan to end the war, a situation which has inadvertently given birth to vested interests in the ongoing war against the insurgency.
At best, what could be said so far in this war against the insurgency is that, the snake has been bruised, not killed or that the tree has been cut down but not uprooted. Should this be the case, then all is not well and may not be well until we change our strategy on the ongoing war against insurgency, so that in the ultimate, it will not eat up all of us.
According to Albert Einstein, “The world, as we have created it, is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking”. What has become of the Boko Haram war currently is what we see and make of it. If the concerned authorities want it to be as it is expected, then the present mode of thinking and operation must change for the desired result.
When Al-Shabaab attacked the Kenyan Mall and the State University, President Friday Uhuru Kenyatta was very decisive in action. The security agencies were very rapid in reaction, as, before the shout of Jack Robinson, several suspected personalities including politicians, businessmen and others were arrested and their accounts frozen, followed by a full-scale investigation. In the process it was discovered that some prominent Kenyans were the masterminds of the attacks. As a matter of fact, it was revealed that the Al-Shaba group that attacked the University where some students were killed was led by a son of a cabinet Minister who was at the time a law undergraduate of the University.
Apart from reacting with a cautious but meteoric speed to check the onslaught of the terrorist group, the Kenyan government took further proactive measures to halt likely damage of Al-Shabaab to the Kenyan nation. One of such steps is to outlaw not only Al-Shabaab but similar militant groups and unauthorised religious bodies in the country. Today, the Kenyans sleep with their eyes closed. Can this be said of Nigeria?
*Izekor, journalist and public affairs analyst, is a member, Board of Advisers of The Point.
