Editor's note: Idoko Ainoko NAIJ.com contributor from Ahmadu Bello University,
Zaria writes on the activities of Boko Haram and its possible premise on
religion.
Ainoko, however, highlights major arguments to show that
operations of the most dreaded group operating in the north-eastern part o
Nigeria is not based on an religion - not even Islam - as widely believed by
many.
What has been the
consistent campaigns of Boko Haram insurgents is the desire to establish an
Islamic State, opposed to the ideals of western education. It has been at the
core of the vigorous attempts to impose their own version of Islamism on
Nigeria.
Boko Haram has been
seeking to forbid Muslims from participating in any political or social
endeavor laced in Westernization.
Therefore, at the point
terrorists seized swathes of territories in Nigeria’s northeast, the insurgents
declared them their “Caliphate,” and administered them with some strange
Islamic doctrines opposed to anything sane to Islam. Insurgents deposed or
killed the incumbent religious leaders and replaced them with those appointed
by them.
At the peak of
terrorists’ atrocious and violent raids of communities and villages in Nigeria,
they indiscriminately murdered both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
The Boko Haram
jihadists abducted children and women, whom they abused and contracted into
forced marriage.
They killed Christians,
politicians, security agents and even Islamic clerics who opposed their
ideology were executed. Such acts defiled all known creeds of Islam.
In justifying their
devious and absurd acts through circulated videos, the fanatical factional
leader, Abubakar Shekau normally quoted copiously from the Qu’ran.
But all Islamic leaders
and clerics in Nigeria have declared their ideology and murderous instincts as
un-Islamic.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: Gunmen allegedly attack another
Anambra church, kill policeman, civilian
Perhaps, it was this
sustained condemnation that sprouted the internal revolt within Boko Haram, as
in the open bickering Abu Musan al Barnawi harshly scolded Abubakar Shekau and
expressed deep aversion to his style of Jihadism, which spares no one and is
too bloodthirsty.
Musab al Barnawi, the
son of the founder of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf and Shekau’s former publicist
loudly decried and denounced the style of Jihad mounted by Shekau as
anti-Islam, questioning his tactics.
However, in spite of
the wide condemnation of the ideology of the Shekau-led faction of Boko Haram
and its atrocious outings, Shekau has kept aligning it with a religious flavor.
But in recent times, the religious content of Boko Haram appears to be waning.
The emphasis on
establishing an Islamic Caliphate or theocratic state has dwindled
considerably.
Something striking
happened in December 2016, when Nigerian troops invaded the formerly dreaded
Sambisa forest.
Raging troops
dismantled Sambisa forest and penetrated it’s Camp Zero, where Abubakar Shekau
had been dwelling in protective custody of his lieutenants. Shekau had escaped
before the invasion of Sambisa, but Nigerian soldiers recovered some items in
Camp Zero, Shekau’s residential shrine.
The recovered items
included a Abubakar Shekau’s personal copy of the Qur’an and flag, their insignia.
Shekau abandoned these religious instruments which gave him inspiration to
torment Nigerians.
Symbolically, it meant
the religious content in Boko Haram terrorism fled with him, much as it marked
the defeat of the religious sect of Boko Haram insurgents by the Nigerian
military.
And probably, Shekau
has been unable to lay his hands on another religious book to contrive fresh
demonic doctrines to terrorize the people.
READ ALSO: Charly Boy, celebrity activists, others
collected N300 million for anti-Buhari protest - Group alleges
So, the capturing of
Sambisa forest, the fleeing of Shekau and the subsequent surrender of scores of
Boko Haram’s top commanders to Nigerian Army had essentially announced the
defeat of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria.
The clearance
operations conducted in the Northeast by Nigerian troops was basically to
cleanse communities of remnants of fleeing terrorists.
Some terrorists fled to
neighbouring countries, where they got nourishment and regrouped. They have
continued to stray into Nigerian territory to launch intermittent attacks on
soft targets, mostly around the Lake Chad Basin of Borno state.
These acts have
heralded the morphing of the group from a religious sect to a gang, greased by
the economic interests of the sponsors.
It is therefore not
completely strange the sudden resurgence of suiciide bomb attacks and
abductions, particularly in Borno state.
It is a good guess that
the terrorism emphasis and heat on Borno is also economical, hence large
swathes of land in the Lake Chad Basin, with crude oil deposits has spiraled
into the state.
Experiences have
indicated that politics of the control of oil resources is shadowed in some of
the countries where terrorism has continued to fester. Afghanistan and Syria
are classical examples.
It is curious that
Nigeria’s neighbours, Chad, Niger and Cameroun together with Nigeria
collectively formed the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to battle
terrorism in the region. The outfit was designed to function in unanimity in
battling acts of terrorism in these countries.
However, while Nigeria
has actively backed the MNJTF to actualize its mandate, the other
partner-countries are not keen about its functionality. Records indicate that
these other countries have largely ignored funding of the security outfit meant
to combat terrorism.
It is very safe to
conclude that MNJTF exists only in name and Boko Haram terrorists who flee
Nigeria find safe abodes in some of these neighbouring countries, where they
recuperate and gather fresh momentum to attack Nigeria.
READ ALSO: I see you everywhere in the press, it's
very good - Buhari tells Lai Mohammed as they meet in London (Video)
MNJTF has remained a
toothless bulldog in tracking fleeing terrorists in these countries; hence the
current insecurity around Borno spurred by terrorism is now greased by economic
interests.
An American conflict
resolution expert, Mr. Richards Murphy recently provided strong insights that
linked France’s silent force in the resurgence of Boko Haram in Nigeria.
He argued that France
through its proxies and former colonies could probably be funding Boko Haram
terrorism in Nigeria to shut out Nigeria from drilling the crude oil resources
in the Lake Chad Basin.
Murphy says, “It is not
surprising that Boko Haram fighters that earlier fled into these neighboring
Francophone countries have slinked back to renew attacks in Nigeria shortly
after the French summit that was supposed to have fashioned a solution to their
madness.
If the authorities in
Nigeria get their homework right they should have observed by now that
something has changed. The true intent of Boko Haram is emerging and doing so
fast.
A pointer to this is
the July attack on the team of researchers that went prospecting for petroleum
in the Lake Chad Basin area.”
Earlier reports
indicate the illegal exploration of crude oil on the Nigerian side of the Lake
Chad Basin. Chad Republic is reported to have engaged in this unwholesome act
using the 3D oil drilling method, which it exports through the permanent
Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading, (FPSO) vessel, with a capacity to
store 2million barrel of crude oil.
And quite obnoxiously,
France provides support by allowing the crude oil purportedly stolen from
Nigeria to be oil shipped with tankers for refining at the international
refineries in the Port of Le Havre in France. And the scheme, it does appear,
is to frustrate Nigeria’s moves to drill oil in the Lake Chad region, while
Chad continues to feast on the resources, with France as a vicarious
beneficiary.
It explains the failure
of the fire of Boko Haram terrorism to extinguish in Borno, comparatively with
the peace and calm which have returned to Yobe and Adamawa states hitherto
similarly terrorized and Nigeria generally.
Commenting on the
recent Boko Haram ambush on oil researchers in the state, Murphy hints that “…
the attack was major, not one of those skirmishes where Boko Haram fighters
want to inflict damages, instill terror and flee back into their hideouts.
READ ALSO: Ex-Abacha man Bamaiyi says President Buhari's
close allies making gains from his sickness
The intention was
apparent annihilation on a scale that will ensure no scientist would be willing
to return to the area for any prospecting.”
“Secondly, the
intensity of the attack was possible with a combination of sophisticated
weaponry and accurate intelligence that made the ambush deadly. Both
considerations suggest state backing for the terrorists and only one country
has demonstrated interests that correspond to such capacity in the past. It has
the resources to match.
Furthermore, not much
is heard anymore of Boko Haram’s desire for strict implementation of Sharia,
which implies that the crux of the matter is about cornering resources and not
the creation of a theocratic state", he warned.
Therefore, time has
come for Nigeria to act decisively. The Nigerian military has silenced the
religious Boko Haram sect.
The emergent sect
terrorizing parts of Borno at the moment is the economic wing of Boko Haram,
heavily funded by interests bent on stealing Nigeria’s crude oil in the Lake
Chad Basin.
Nigeria needs to
seriously examine this angle. It is good news that the relocation of Nigerian
Service Chiefs to Borno state is not only to halt terrorists attacks on soft
targets, but to unearth reasons why terrorism has resurfaced in that part of
the country.
PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best
news on Nigeria’s #1 news app
No half measure should
be applied on this mission, until the truth is exposed.
With these emerging
insights, the United Nations (UN) is urged to show greater interests by
investigating the veiled forces promoting terrorism in Nigeria, at this stage,
before it enlarges to plunge Nigeria into the experience in Afghanistan or
Syria and the likes.
The French President,
Mr. Emmanuel Macron is also pleaded to re-examine the interests of France in
the Lake Chad Basin to possibly make amendments, where it exacerbates
terrorism.
No comments:
Post a Comment