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How To Defeat Boko Haram: A Message To Nigerian Security Services / Is Boko Haram a pawn in the bigger political game? - Alexander Nekrassov / List The Problems In Nigeria And Your Possible Solution (2) (3) (4)
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Boko Haram. A Possible Solution? by Nobody: 7:49am On Apr 06, 2013 |
Boko Haram. A Possible Solution? Written by Nura Alkali I hail from Adamawa State, but I spent 13 years of my life pursuing a medical degree and a postgraduate qualification in Maiduguri, Borno State. Maiduguri is then my second home, and the current tragedy of that city disturbs me as much as anyone. During his recent visit to Maiduguri, President Jonathan denied allegations that soldiers of the Joint Security Task Force (JTF) are committing atrocities against innocent people. He also declined to offer amnesty to Boko Haram members, which the Sultan of Sokoto and many other Nigerians had called for. My message is apolitical. I neither seek to apportion blame on the causes of the insurgency, nor seek to argue the merits and demerits of a presidential pardon for terrorists. Instead, I am offering another strategy that could help bring an end to our collective suffering. In Borno State today, the list of fatal victims of Boko Haram reads like a book of Who is Who, and includes octogenarian war hero Gen. Muhammad Shuwa, Borno State ANPP Chairman Anwana Ngala, ANPP gubernatorial candidate Modu Fannami Gubio, and Goni Modu Sheriff, businessman and elder brother of Ex-Governor Ali Sheriff. Others include the Chairman of Kukawa local government Lawan Yarayi, Chairman of Jere local government Mustapha Baale, House of Assembly Member Modu Bintube, and the state PDP Vice- Chairman Ibrahim Gula. In Kano recently, Boko Haram attacked a motor park and killed 22 travellers. Before that, they had ambushed the motorcade of Emir Ado Bayero, who narrowly escaped death but lost some of his bodyguards. Suicide bombers had also targeted the Shehu of Borno and the Emir of Fika during Mosque prayers, where they missed their targets but killed other people. Hundreds of others have died in attacks on churches and military personnel, in addition to targeted assassinations of policemen, prison warders and village heads. However, each terrorist act is followed by the usual flurry of condemnations and blame-making, and then the world goes on as if nothing happened. Despite the tremendous loss of human lives, we live in fear and bicker among ourselves, instead of confronting the enemy. Some people say Boko Haram members are ghosts, but others say no, they have flesh and blood. Some say they are aliens from Niger Republic, and others insist they are bona-fide Nigerians. I find this kind of discourse exasperating. It is like a fire is consuming a row of houses, but instead of residents fetching water to douse the flames, they all gather on the street arguing whether fire is one of the four elements of nature in Greek philosophy. Predictably, the resultant confusion serves the interests of Boko Haram very well. In fact, Boko Haram members seek to kill us all, in their efforts to forcefully establish a pseudo-Islamic state in northern Nigeria governed by them. The Taliban of Afghanistan and Al-Shabab of Somalia have both attempted a similar venture, but what were the results? They took their societies back to the Stone Age before they were removed from power by multinational forces. Even if those regimes were to exist today, no sane Muslim would wish to live under their brutal doctrines. According to Taliban ideology, girls and women should not attend schools, and men without beards are flogged on the streets. The game of football is prohibited and UNESCO heritage sites are destroyed with dynamites, because they venerate idol worship. Our own extremists have gone a step further and declared western education as sinful. Thus, left to Boko Haram, I should not have been a medical doctor. We must fight back Boko Haram, if only to defend our lives and our freedom. But in a fight, the surest way to defeat is to be unarmed, and to lack intelligence on the enemy. Therefore, we must be armed and equipped with good intelligence, and then take the war right onto Boko Haram’s door-steps. Fortunately, the same Emirs and village heads targeted by them can be our assets in this endeavour. In the former Northern Region, the Native Authority hierarchy began with the ward head and ascended to the village head, the district head, and the Emir, who chaired the Emirate Council. This exists even today, albeit with limited authority. Yet, traditional institutions are still well-respected in our parts, being much closer to the people than state and local governments. |
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