Renewed Boko Haram attacks in the last one week have prompted Nigerians to ask if the insurgent group has been defeated as government claims or whether it is alive and still kicking as it is widely believed in some quarters. In this report, IBRAHEEM MUSA chronicles the various attacks in this year.
Lai Mohammed claim
On Sunday, November 26, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, commissioned Pulaaku radio station in Yola, the state capital. At the event, he said that the war against Boko Haram has entered an intelligence-driven phase, requiring public enlightenment and information dissemination. According to him, the terrorist group has been defeated and recent suicide bombings are the last kicks of a ‘dying horse’.
However, ‘’these kicks may be dangerous, but they don’t last long. Progressively, they become weaker and weaker until the horse finally dies,’’ the minister pointed out. In addition, he claimed that the insurgency has been degraded and its surviving members are on the run, the constant refrain in military and official circles. However, the situation on ground is at variance with the minister’s optimism.
Last Saturday, a day before Alhaji Lai came to Yola, the insurgents had attacked Magumeri, a town which is 40 kilometers away from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, killing three soldiers and wounding six others at night. Specifically, the Secretary of the local government, Alhaji Wakil MallamTawu, said the attack was a failed attempt on a military base.
Earlier, the insurgents had launched a devastating attack on in Mubi last Tuesday, four day before the Magumeri attack. On the morning of November 21, a suicide bomber stormed a mosque, killing over 50 worshippers, during the morning prayer . According to Amnesty International, the attack is the second deadliest this year and it came a day after the terrorists abducted and beheaded six farmers in Masu community in Mafa local government area of Borno state.
Significantly, Boko Haram insurgents have recently stepped up suicide bombings in the north east, barely a year after the military had recaptured territories they had previously controlled.
The fall of Sambisa forest
Specifically, the current military leadership has recorded a lot of success, especially in the liberation of captured areas, killing and arrests of some key Boko Haram commanders, as well as the fall of Sambisa forest, the command and control centre of the terrorists on December 23, 2016. Significantly, these feats have attracted local and international commendations and as a result, the government had declared Boko Haram as “technically defeated”.
On March 27, 2017, Nigerian Army hosted its small arms completion at Sambisa forest to celebrate its capture, seven years after it last held at the Command and Staff College Jaji, Kaduna state.
According to Army spokesperson, Brigadier General Sani Kukasheka Usman, hosting the completion in the forest was to further “consolidate” the gains recorded in the fight against the terrorists group. Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, Minister of Defence, retired General Mansur Dan-Ali, all the services chiefs, some members of the National Assembly, Defence attaches of over 20 countries, as well as local and foreign media organizations attended the event.
In his speech, which was delivered by the Minister of Defence, President Muhammadu Buhari vowed that “never again will Boko Haram occupy any of our land.” He said holding the championship in Sambisa forest was an affirmation that government has “resolved to stamp out all activities and operations of the Boko Haram insurgents from our territory.”
According to him, the championship is a “showcase of the clear effect and degradation of the Boko Haram terrorist group with the destruction of Camp Zero in the heart of the famous Sambisa forest.” Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Buratai, said the army plans “to effectively dominate all hostile territories in the North East.”
Sporadic attacks
Since the fall of Sambisa forest, the brazenness with which Boko Haram used to operate has somewhat reduced. However, sporadic attacks still continue on soft targets. On May 13, 2017, twin suicide attacks rocked University of Maiduguri, when hundreds of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UMTE) candidates were set to write their exams. Three days afterwards, suicide bombers struck in Shuwari and Mandari villages of Konduga local government area, leaving scores dead, including the bombers. Similarly, a female suicide bomber stormed UNIMAID on May 18.
In addition, 13 people were killed and 24 injured in three suicide attacks on Jiddari/Polo area of Maiduguri metropolis on June 8. Ironically, the incident took place a day before Acting President Yemi Osibanjo launched the federal government Food Intervention Programme for Internally Displaced Peoples in Maiduguri. Eleven days after, on June 19, 17 persons died while 11 others sustained injuries, when suicide bombers detonated their bomb in Kofa village, in Borno state. On June 25, 16 persons, including a security guard attached to UNIMAID, were killed in separate attacks on the campus and surrounding communities of Kaleri and Muna Garage in Maiduguri.
Also, on July 7, security operatives repelled suicide attacks on University of Maiduguri, leaving two bombers dead. Five days after, four female suicide bombers, 12 Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) members and seven villagers were killed and 23 others were injured in Molai Kura outskirts of Maiduguri.
‘Boko Haram requires new tactics’
Boko Haram abducts university lecturers
Significantly, the insurgents went from attacking the ivory tower to abducting university lecturers.
On July 25, a group of geologists and technologists from the University of Maiduguri were ambushed by Boko Haram at Magumeri area of Borno state.
Specifically, the contingent was exploring for oil in Lake Chad and they had collected soil samples and were on their way back to town when the insurgents struck. According to reports, 12 soldier escorts and some staff of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were killed in the brutal ambush. Initially, the army had claimed it rescued some persons among the oil exploration party, but it later apologised for misinforming the public.
On July 28, Boko Haram released a video of some of the kidnapped lecturers, namely Yusuf Solomon, a senior lecturer at the geology department of UNIMAID, Ibrahim Yusuf; a lecturer in the same department and Haruna, a driver attached to the university. Solomon, who spoke in the video, appealed to the federal government, the government of Borno state, the university community, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the media to help in their rescue. He said their captors promised to release them if the Boko Haram’s demands were met.
After spending 42 days in captivity, Solomon wrote his wife Hannatu a letter on September 4, appealing again for their rescue. According to him, “I want to emphasise that delay in getting our freedom poses risk to our dear lives. We never expected we would spend over 42 days (as at 4 September) in captivity because the project has presidential orders to explore hydrocarbon in the (Lake) Chad Basin. The government should please continue negotiating with the present contact given to them by the University of Maiduguri as a means of contacting soldiers of Khalifa under the leadership of Abu Mus’ab Albarnawi. We plead with the government to treat our freedom with all sense of urgency and sympathy so that that we can be reunited with our families. The use of force is a serious threat to our lives.” Till date, nothing has been heard about them.
Insurgents kidnap police women
On June 20, 14 women, mostly police officers, were kidnapped and scores killed as Boko Haram terrorists ambushed motorists along Maiduguri- Damboa- Biu Road. The women, according to reports, were conveying the corpse of the late Sergeant Rahila Antakirya to Lassa village in Askira -Uba local government for burial. At first, the incident was denied but the insurgents released a video showing 10 distraught women, believed to be the kidnap victims.
One Amina Adam Gomdia who spoke in Hausa, described the five women in their midst as public servants who are also breadwinners in their families. The second woman who spoke, Deborah Philibus, claimed that Boko Haram insurgents have been taking care of them, including treating their injuries, and that they have not lacked food, water or other necessities. On behalf of the 10 women, Gomdia and Philibus pleaded with the federal government not to forsake them, urging the authorities to do everything they can to rescue them as they has done with the Chibok girls.
Amnesty reports
In spite of claims by government and military authorities, the insurgent group is far from being weakened. Significantly, Amnesty International (AI) said Boko Haram terrorists have killed 357 civilians this year during 55 attacks in the North east. The organisation said August was the deadliest month as the militant group killed 100 people, followed by November, where 76 people have already been killed.
In September, the global human right organisation said Boko Haram killed more people in the North east in 2017 as against 2016, despite military intervention. In a statement, Country Director of Amnesty International , Osai Ojigho lamented penultimate Tuesday’s attack in Mubi that killed at least 59 people.
The military/ experts explain
Military and security experts have agreed that Boko Haram terrorist sect had lost considerable capacity to hold territories but it continued to launch uncoordinated attacks, especially on soft targets and against the civilian population. In addition, the present administration has spent considerable fortunes in equipping the military and it has dealt devastating blows on the terrorists.
However, Boko Haram is yet to be completely defeated but both Nigerian military and the regional Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) have degraded its territorial control. However, the group has responded by increasing its use of asymmetric (non-military style) attacks, such as suicide bombing, kidnapping, seen in recent years.
Hindrance to the war on terror
According to the United States Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism report 2016, which was published in July 2017, one major hindrance for fighting terrorism in Nigeria is the limited level of inter-agency cooperation and information sharing among security agencies. “Border security responsibilities are shared among NPF, DSS, Customs, Immigration, and the military. Coordination among agencies was limited. Cooperation and information sharing in the northeast increased between Immigration and the Nigerian Army,’’ the report said.
Last week Wednesday, President BuhariWednesday approved the setting up of an intelligence fusion centre in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, for gathering and sharing intelligence among the security agencies in the country. In a statement, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said the centre will further aid the war against terror.
Changing strategies/tactics
Given the complexity and root causes of asymmetry warfare, the federal government has begun to realize that pure military engagement cannot provide sustainable solution to asymmetric security threat, Speaking at a 4-day International Seminar on “Managing Asymmetric Security Challenges in the 21st Century”, at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja, the Minister of Defence, who was represented by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin, said the complexity and causes of the threats call for a new strategy. In this regard, a political, socio-economic-military approach that would see the civilians and military actors and agencies working and complementing efforts of each other in order to achieve the set objectives is required.
According to him, unlike the cold war era when the understanding and managing of national and international security threats was excessively in military terms, the post-cold-War era is seeing the emergence of security threats mostly from within. These threats, he pointed out, are multi-faceted and multi-dimensional nature, thereby shifting the concept of security beyond only military-centered definition and approach.
With this new approach, it is hoped that Boko Haram will not only be technically defeated but incapacitated enough not to stage attacks on soft targets.
