Before we celebrate fall of Sambisa

Late December 2016, news filtered into town that the dreaded Sambisa forest had fallen to the Nigerian military. It called for instant celebration and President Muhammadu Buhari immediately seized the opportunity.

His war commanders arrived promptly at the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, Abuja to present him some insignias of office of the former lord of Sambisa Forest, Abubakar Shekau.

Many instantly congratulated the President for achieving the milestone in the anti-insurgency war and for “defeating” Boko Haram. Some announced the feat meant the end of Boko Haram. Spokesman of the

Federal Government and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed should not be missing in celebrating such a feat and he wasn’t.

He also promptly organised what I called a dance in the forest alongside BBOG campaigners and flew over the hitherto dangerous camps of Sambisa in an acclaimed quest to “locate” the remainder of Chibok girls abducted by the insurgents.

If Sambisa forest has fallen and the Boko Haram insurgents have been “defeated,” the government has apparently delivered on one of its key electoral promises 100 per cent. And some social media campaigners have started bombarding our lines with praises for the “change that is working.”

But beyond propaganda and back slapping that we draw out of the successes recorded at the anti-insurgency warfront, we cannot lose sight of the fact that kidnapping and armed robbery are fast spreading even within the same timeframe.

Yes, security of lives and property is gradually emerging in the North-East, the theatre of the insurgency war; even though some would say the situation was still tenuous, it is just accurate to associate the spread and intensity of the crime of kidnapping for ransom as one key aftereffects of that battle in the North-East.

It is unfortunate that as the Army and the Air Force advanced into Sambisa, the two vices kidnapping and armed robbery have also been on the upscale.

As the Villa raised the white flag on Sambisa forest, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Cardinal Onaiyekan is one person who has a reason to complain. For one year, he and his compatriots in the church have combed everywhere in search of Rev. Fr. Gabriel Oyeka who was abducted in October 2015 while travelling between Abuja and Onitsha. Nothing has been heard about the man of God and more than one year after, the Church is still at a loss.

Besides the missing Rev Father, the church had been hit severally in Kogi and Kaduna where priests have been abducted almost at will.

While kidnapping is not new to this  country as the South-East and South-South have demonstrated in recent past, no one can deny the links being demonstrated by the security agencies between the upsurge in that crime and insurgency.

Last week, abductors of the Turkish Scholl students and staff shock the nation with their demand for hefty ransom. The nation prays for a quick return of these children. But who knows where the huge ransom abductors have collected from their numerous victims in the past is channeled?

Last week as well, the nation was equally shocked by the demand of N250 million by kidnappers of the Director of Finance of Isa Local Government in Sokoto State, Alhaji Bello Bodinga, and three others.

The armed abductors of the Director were said to have operated on three motorcycles, obstructed the vehicle carrying the Director of Finance and demanded cash immediately but did not get any, thus the abduction.

The above are stories already told. There are several unreported cases. A friend returned recently from the North-West and told a story of how difficult things were in that zone. He said children are now being kidnapped for N15, 000 and N20, 000. He said that children are finding it difficult to go to school or far, as a result of the ravaging kidnaping.

Countless cases of kidnapping have been reported on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway. But reports are also emerging of many unreported cases. One native recently reported the presence of kidnap scouts on the road. What they do is to stand on the bad portions of the Expressway to take into account all flashy vehicles that drive towards Kaduna.

The job of the different sets of scouts is to relay the plate number, colour and make of the vehicle to the next spot, who also relay the message until the main operatives get the message at the appointed sport.

When the incident happens, many families easily choose to pay whatever they can afford because keeping to the words from the police could amount to living in a fool’s paradise.

One story was told of a banker who lied to the kidnappers but was given away by the call made to the Police by his wife. The abductors simply accused the man of lying and told him what his wife had told the police.

It all shows that despite the ferocious war the Army is engaged in at the North-East theatre of war, no one should forgo the need to ensure security across the country. It is possible the remnants of the insurgents are perpetrating terror in smaller scales or that they are seeking hard to come by funds to keep the war alive in the North-East.

For us to give Buhari the praise he deserves, all eyes must get closed while asleep. Everyone should feel safe to embark on journeys from North to South and vice versa.