While Buhari Sleeps -By Marcellinus Ojinnaka

Marcellinus Ojinnaka

…while Boko Haram may be difficult to track because they do not communicate their intents through social media, Nigeria’s current counter-terrorism measures certainly leaves a lot to be desired. About 40 days into his administration, President Buhari is still mulling what to do with the feckless army “Generals” he inherited who crawled on their distended bellies for four years until Boko Haram mutated from mere rural bandits into fearsome terrorists who want to annihilate the entire country.

Earlier this week, an horrific image of the Jos bombing surfaced online. A boy appeared to be squatting with his right hand over his left knee. His huge eyes, seemingly alive, looked past the camera into the abyss on the side, his clothes completely drenched in blood. But the horror dwelt squarely on his jaw line: it was no longer there. It had been completely blown off. What remained was a part of his upper lip carrying a single, gleaming white tooth so patently out of place in the mangled red mass surrounding it. I couldn’t tell for sure whether he was alive or dead. I also couldn’t contemplate his trauma and pain, both physical and psychological, if he lived. The photograph was tortuous.

This yet unnamed boy is one of the 92 dead or injured victims of the bomb blast and concurrent shooting in Jos last Sunday, according to the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) figures. Over the past weeks, from Plateau to Borno to Yobe and Kano states, suicide bombings, explosions, shootings and wholesale terror appear to have intensified. Churches and mosques alike have been targeted. Many lives have been cut short. Our government has continued to pretend it exists. Aside from temporarily surfacing to issue statements to correct rumors about who was appointed to what insignificant position and whether such appointment was indeed on a acting or substantial basis, President Buhari’s administration has spent its first 40 days in office looking from the sidelines, as if it is still the opposition party rather than the ruling party.

The frequent calls for patience on Boko Haram is becoming an insensitive overstretch of the forbearance of those in the terrorised areas. While relocation of command headquarters to Maiduguri was laudable, there has been no visible positive result from this move. Many questions remain: are there enough troops fighting this war? Are they well-equipped? Are they well-motivated? Is their welfare adequately seen to? Do they recognise that Boko Haram’s strategy has changed over the last six weeks and are they properly re-strategising to counter this?

During electioneering, Buhari listed promises to be fulfilled within his first 100 days in office. Almost halfway to the stipulated date, there is barely any chance of achieving the utopia he painted. Even the easiest one like the promise to declare his assets publicly and encourage his appointees to do likewise is still unfulfilled. While failed promises are a part of democratic processes, it becomes unconscionable when lives are being lost and our Commander-In-Chief responds only with press releases ‘condemning’ the attacks. Buhari promised us that “Boko Haram will know the strength of our collective will” from the first day of his administration. That was why we applauded his decision to relocate the command centre to Maiduguri while the war lasts. Since that euphoria waned, what we have been left with is the controversial relocation of Boko Haram suspects to Anambra state and diffidence on the part of the state in receiving these persons. There has been a sense of a loss of momentum considering the gains the military made against Boko Haram in the twilight of Jonathan’s failed administration. Candidate Buhari asserted that defeating Boko Haram “begins and ends with Nigeria. Now as President, Buhari seems more interested in criss-crossing the globe looking for support.”

To be fair, it is still early days for this administration and foreign support is indeed needed, especially from neighbouring countries. However, the continued killings in the North test the faith of a beleaguered nation. The frequent calls for patience on Boko Haram is becoming an insensitive overstretch of the forbearance of those in the terrorised areas. While relocation of command headquarters to Maiduguri was laudable, there has been no visible positive result from this move. Many questions remain: are there enough troops fighting this war? Are they well-equipped? Are they well-motivated? Is their welfare adequately seen to? Do they recognise that Boko Haram’s strategy has changed over the last six weeks and are they properly re-strategising to counter this?

These days they (Boko Haram) have vengefully resumed the act of randomised suicide bombings and bomb throwing. This mode of attack is more difficult to contain as it requires extensive intelligence gathering to be effectively countered.

The terrorists no longer seem interested in sacking communities and acquiring territory to administer and hoist their flag ala ISIS. This is perhaps a direct result of the military campaign some months back that sacked them from their headquarters in Gwoza and other seized locales and sent their depleted army scurrying back into the forest. These days they have vengefully resumed the act of randomised suicide bombings and bomb throwing. This mode of attack is more difficult to contain as it requires extensive intelligence gathering to be effectively countered. Western nations are more equipped to handle this kind of terror campaign by reason of decades of experience, extensive intelligence architecture, sophisticated data collection methods, frequent psychological and sociological analysis of terrorism, as well as producing a counter to western techno-social culture which the terrorists have mastered very well. But even in these advanced countries, there is an acknowledgment of the ineradicability of terrorism. President Dwight Eisenhower once warned against the consequence of the military industrial complex in the U.S. saying, “we will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.”

Nigeria needs to improve on its operational strategies on tackling Boko Haram. The idea of relying on local communities to provide information to the military about Boko Haram activities might be inadequate at this point. Our security agencies must begin to infiltrate Boko Haram ranks with moles to provide on-the-minute information on the what, where and how of bombing plots.

While reality may gesture towards the permanence of terrorism, and while Boko Haram may be difficult to track because they do not communicate their intents through social media, Nigeria’s current counter-terrorism measures certainly leaves a lot to be desired. About 40 days into his administration, President Buhari is still mulling what to do with the feckless army “Generals” he inherited who crawled on their distended bellies for four years until Boko Haram mutated from mere rural bandits into fearsome terrorists who want to annihilate the entire country. It is sad that to this point there is not one of these “Generals” who has been retired given their woeful record.

We are expecting Mr. President’s address on his comprehensive National Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Nothing short of a well-laid out plan with milestones and associated cost is acceptable.

Nigeria needs to improve on its operational strategies on tackling Boko Haram. The idea of relying on local communities to provide information to the military about Boko Haram activities might be inadequate at this point. Our security agencies must begin to infiltrate Boko Haram ranks with moles to provide on-the-minute information on the what, where and how of bombing plots. It is not a stretch to surmise – given their recent activities and the lack of any success at intercepting and stopping them – that we have no such assets at this point. This should not be too difficult to accomplish, given Boko Haram’s depleted ranks and desperation.

Buhari, a one-time army General, promised to redeploy troops “away from civilian areas in central and southern Nigeria” to the war front. This is sorely needed to – in conjunction with neighbouring foreign armies – box Boko Haram in and deal them a fatal blow. The more they are allowed to find safe havens within Nigerian soil, the more casualties we will suffer. Our approach must be multi-departmental, multi-layered and multi-national to achieve success. On the long term, the so-called soft approaches of economic empowerment and broadening opportunities through education and enlightenment should be pursued diligently. We are expecting Mr. President’s address on his comprehensive National Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Nothing short of a well-laid out plan with milestones and associated cost is acceptable.

It is said that death and taxes are the only certainties in life. Buhari’s inaction and the accompanying deaths so far test the validity of this assertion. Our unadulterated, nondiscriminatory loathing of public officials may well become the third certainty if Buhari ends up a failure.

​Marcellinus Ojinnaka is a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin.