Based on President Muhammadu Buhari’s announcement, the Sambisa forest became deceased at about 1:35 pm on Thursday, December 22, 2016. Monday, March 27, 2017, three months after the demise, marked the official funeral of the forest. And in the words of the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, “I, Kashim Shettima, is proud to have witnessed this funeral and congratulate all of us for being witnesses to the triumph of good over evil.”
Governor Shettima, who was speaking at the official opening ceremony of the Nigerian Army Small Arms Championship in Sambisa, declared, “By this bold and creative decision to hold the Nigerian Army Small Arms Championship right here, I do not have the slightest doubt, that the fate of the notorious Sambisa is totally sealed. Our military has changed the use of Sambisa from being a point where attacks on Nigeria and Nigerians were being coordinated by terrorists, to a new point where soldiers are trained to become excellent shooters whose precision is to defend Nigeria and Nigerians.”
Shettima pointed out that because of the symbolic importance of the fall of Sambisa, his administration was taking steps to preserve this watershed in the life of the people.
According to him, “Very soon, the Borno State government will request for partnership with the Federal Ministry of Defence and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in constructing a National Museum that we might call Sambisa & International Research Centre, for the purpose of documenting all de-classified information, to preserve valuable materials recovered by the Military in relation to the fight against Boko Haram insurgency and to document the history of the crisis from the days of the Taliban to Boko Haram. Importantly, our aim is to also document responses by successive political and military leadership and the eventual fall of Sambisa forest under the administration of President Buhari.”
EGO MUST GIVE WAY TO SANITY AND COMMONSENSE. PEACEFUL RESOLUTION IS PREFERABLE TO WAR OPTION, WHICH CONSEQUENCES NO ONE CAN PREDICT. LET THERE BE PEACE IN PDP
Governor Shettima declared that the Borno State government would, from this year (2017), begin to declare December 22 of every year as Sambisa Memorial Day and mark it as public holiday in the state. The holiday is to celebrate the strength and victory of our armed forces, remembering the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency and the families they left behind and remembering members of the Nigerian Armed Forces and volunteers who gave their lives, in the cause of the fight.
No doubt, the military has given the true account of itself. With the assistance of the volunteers, it has degraded the insurgents. It won the confidence of Nigerians and the International Community by its physical occupation and presence in the forest.
However, it is not over yet. To liberate the entire Sambisa forest from the clutches of the insurgents is a task that must be done and effectively done. Apart from its professional competence, the military will need, in addition, the local sense of the natives vast in the history and norms of the terrain to defeat the enemies. Allowing them to stay longer than necessary is postponing the evil day. The Sambisa forest, which is 18 times the size of Lagos State, occupies a massive land of 60,000 Square Km.
All of Lagos is 3,345 square km. The forest occupies, among others, the Sambisa Game Reserve, hosting as many as “17 species of Mammals” that include elephant, antelope, African leopard, spotted hyenas, tantalus monkey, baboon, patas monkey, red fronted gazelle, Grimm’s duiker, hartebeest down to birds. Indeed, a veritable recourse base for tourism, honey bee farming, growing economic fruits and rich vegetation for many crops. The forest has some hills and rocks as well natural stream water.
It is therefore natural that the Boko Haram insurgents, having been forced out from the towns and villages, found the forest not only a safe haven but also a suiting fortress from where, for years, they attacked the military and the people.
Victor Izekor, a journalist and public affairs analyst, writes at thepointng.com
