by Chris Okotie
“No God condones this terror. No grievance
justifies these actions. There can be no reasoning
– no negotiation – with this brand of evil.
The
only language understood by killers like this is the
language of force” – President Barak Obama on
the ISIS terrorist group.
The Federal government’s widely publicized
ceasefire agreement with the Boko Haram
insurgents was met with more violent attacks,
and the capture of more territories by the
Islamists. Their leaders even went ahead to
disavow any negotiations with our government,
with a firm promise never to make peace.
Of course, Boko Haram has made good its threat.
The bombings have continued unabated; and as
you read this, the North Eastern towns of Gwoza,
Mubi, Michika, Gulak, Madagali, and several
obscure villages are still occupied by the
insurgents. During the week, Gombe and
Potiskum were attacked, with a lot of casualties.
Same familiar story!
Atrocities being committed by Boko Haram in
these captured territories include rape, forced
marriages and conversions to their bizarre brand
of Islam; beheadings, random executions and
looting. As far the insurgents are concerned, we
are all infidels.
The Chibok girls remain in captivity, with no hope
they’d be freed soon; we have reportedly lost
some of these hapless girls to snake bites and
sickness. This current level of pessimism is
informed by the hopelessness of the war effort
and the government’s apparent lack of an
effective strategy to defeat the insurgents.
Clearly, our military is now in disarray, with
soldiers fleeing the front as the insurgents
advance, almost unchallenged.
So sad, the Cameroonians, supposedly our
partners in this terror war, gleefully advertise
stories of deserting Nigerian troops who seek
refuge from advancing Boko Haram fighters in
their territory. Obviously, for a country like Nigeria
which prides itself as the largest, most powerful
black nation in the world, with the biggest
economy in Africa to boot, our management of
this war does no justice to our image.
Indeed, it merely exposes the false optimism
which our outlandishly great power image
confers. How is it possible for a middle – sized
regional power, which defected Ebola with adroit,
efficient execution, that even the world powers
envy, seem powerless against about 10,000
bandits and terrorist?
Defeating Ebola and a successful war on terror
are all about logistics, efficient management of
crisis and coordination. Why we can’t replicate
the Ebola winning strategy in this terror war is
confounding. Ebola is as lethal as Boko Haram,
with potential to decimate populations much
faster than terrorists. Yet, we acted swiftly and
contained it, to the admiration of the world.
In Ebola’s case, we adopted an effective bi-
partisan approach, not often seen in our strife-
ridden polity. What has aggravated this terror war
and made it so difficult to manage is, chiefly the
failure of a divided, acrimonious and antagonistic
political class, to unite against the common
enemy of the nation.
There are Boko Haram
sympathizers in the political parties, in the
military, Intelligence Services and the Jonathan
Administration. Therein lays our failure to win
this war.
It was easy for Gen. Yakubu Gowon to lead
federal forces to overcome Biafra in just 30
months, because he had behind him a cohesive
administration and competent, efficient war
machine. And he acted swiftly to replace even his
most popular commanders when they performed
below expectations. President Jonathan, who has
neither a strong war machine, nor a loyal,
cohesive administration behind him, may need to
look at Gowon’s template in his execution of this
terror war.
You don’t keep a failed group of war commanders
when your troops are being routed on every front,
and territories lost randomly, almost on a daily
basis. I made this point in my latest syndicated
article coming out shortly. Even, football coaches
replace under-performing star players when the
team seems to be headed for defeat. President
Jonathan should have wasted no time in sacking
his entire war team and replace them with more
proactive generals and advisers, in view of the
vanquishing of our forces by a rag-tag, but well
armed Boko Haram fighters.
He should not wait until the insurgents march
towards Abuja before he does something drastic
to save the situation, which is becoming fiercely
urgent. More urgent, in fact, than his re-election
bid, which obviously dominates his agenda at the
moment. Nigeria’s survival comes first before
anything else, including a Presidential election.
The ruling PDP tends to give greater priority to
perpetuating itself in power than destroying the
insurgents who pose such a potent threat to our
sovereignty. That’s not realpolitik, its bad logic.
Like I wrote elsewhere, this war should be at
heart of the President’s agenda; without it, he
cannot transform Nigeria, no matter how effective
his Transformational programme is.
Boko Haram, like all Islamists everywhere,
espouse a virulent brand of austere, absolutist
Islam, driven by atavistic impulses. It takes more
than mere grandstanding to destroy this barbaric
group of deranged individuals.
No comments: