Defeating Boko Haram

The only existential threat to the Nigerian state is in the grasslands of Sambisa. A separate republic (a caliphate, really) has been carved out of Nigeria and landholders cannot claim their properties while travellers cannot journey through segments of Borno and Yobe states.

It does not do Nigeria any good to continue to downgrade this state of affairs by claiming progress against Abubakar Shekau and his Boko Haram horde.

Shekau can only be defeated if the military adopts traditional old-school pattonism by sending  division-size force components in a pincer-and-holding pattern against the occupying Boko Haram hordes and wear them out by sheer force of numbers and patience.

Wars involve grit and sacrifices with valour thrown in the midst. Thus, the ideas of appeasement, “de-radicalisation,” “human rights concerns” indicate that Nigeria’s military is weak and emasculated.

Also, the idea that only infantry soldiers from the South-South should lead the charge against Boko Haram smacks of outright deceit and cowardice.

In the ideal sense, an army division should comprise 100,000 men. This means that the resources of the Nigerian Army division at Enugu plus those scattered across the country (there is the 1 Division at Kaduna that my father served under), segmented into their specialist brigades, battalions, companies, platoons, and squads should push with immediate alacrity into Borno and Yobe States.

Also Read: Boko Haram has used 80 children for suicide attacks this year —UN

The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) agitators are smart because they have not taken up arms against the Nigerian state. Thus, it is futile to treat them as if they had.

Shekau can also be defeated by way of diplomacy if Nigeria is bold enough to confront Saudi Arabia on this front. Everyone considers Shekau a terrorist but Shekau sees himself as a modern-day jihadist fighting for the growth of Islam by means that are abhorrent to everyone else except to those who support his vision.

The formal appellation of Boko Haram says it all: Jamāat Ahl al-Sunna lil-Daawah wa al-Jihād or “Association of the People of the Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad.”

In truth, anyone fighting for Islam is a welcome friend of Saudi Arabia, whether the country publicly acknowledges this fact or not. What Saudi Arabia needs to do on the diplomatic front is to openly advise Shekau and the Boko Haram hordes to lay down arms, free all captives, and stop proselytising by way of coercion and terror.

Sunday Jonah

Federal University of Technology, Minna, 

Niger State.