—Army ‘retakes Chibok’
By Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna, and Innocent Odoh with agency report
A former military governor of old Kaduna state, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd) at the weekend blasted Nigerian politicians for playing with Boko Haram insurgency saying the insurgents are only using North-east as launch pad to conquer Nigeria and West Africa.
He also argued that while the country is facing real war, politicians are only concerned about 2015 power struggle which he said is dangerous.
In a statement issued in Kaduna, Umar said “Obviously, to say that Nigeria is at war is not saying much nor is it news. Much of the world would recognize it as stale news. Yet, tragically, only the truly blind observer of events in Nigeria would be forgiven to think that majority of Nigerians honestly believe their country is indeed at war.
“How else can one describe the recklessness and the cold indifference being displayed by our politicians as they divert attention of the nation away from the killings and creating the impression that all that matters is the 2015 elections? And while our politicians dance away the nights and days to the wild cheers of their gullible and greedy supporters, town after town is overrun and brought under the merciless control of the insurgents.”
Arguing that it is a plot to invade Nigeria and finally captured West African sub-region, he opined “After the deed is done it is often too late to advice or call for caution. But it is impossible to hold back given the scale and direction of this tragedy for our country. And I feel compelled to appeal to all Nigerians to recognize that Nigeria is indeed at war. It is a war that seems set to engulf the entire country. We need to understand that the war in northeast is a war against Nigeria. The insurgents intend to use a conquered Northeast as a launch pad on which to invade and conquer the rest of the country and possibly the whole of the West African sub-region.
“Boko Haram is well funded by ALQAEDA in the Magrib, (AQIM) as well as the booty they acquire in the numerous territories they conquer. Nigerians must wake up to the reality that their only defence against the marauding insurgents is our visibly demoralized military. The Boko Haram cancer must be prevented from metastasizing. It is not true that the Federal Government is behind the Boko Haram nor is any anti President Jonathan politician responsible.”
Meanwhile, Nigerian army has said yesterday it has recaptured the north-eastern town of Chibok, which was seized by Boko Haram militants on Thursday.
There are reports of many Boko Haram members being killed in yesterday’s raid in the beleaguered town by soldiers.
Correspondents said Chibok was retaken late on Saturday, after dozens of military vehicles were seen heading to the village. A local vigilante force was part of the operation.
This was a joint operation by Nigerian soldiers with a large number of members of a local vigilante force. The success of the mission offers some hope of further success against the insurgents who have been seizing towns and villages in north-east Nigeria, often with little resistance.
The vigilantes would have been desperate to flush the jihadists out of the town and may have felt they had very little to lose by taking them on. A decision was clearly taken to retake Chibok as fast as possible. It is geographically no more significant than other towns and villages still in the hands of the jihadists but its name resonates around the world due to the tragedy of the 219 abducted school girls and so it was important for the government and military to win this battle.
Larger towns like Gwoza have been held by Boko Haram since August and it is surprising that there has not been more urgency to dislodge them from there. There has been a depressing diet of news from the north-east but the recapture of Chibok is a rare piece of good news from an area in crisis.
Boko Haram fighters kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the village in April, sparking global outrage.
The group, which said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, has repeatedly targeted villages in Borno state in recent months.