The Boko Haram Problem "Amnesty or Apprehension" by Dondumex

Yesterday, a statement came out that Boko haram has been offered an amnesty deal again after they rejected the first one and i don't think it will yield the required results.

The Boko Haram insurgency has not only been a thorn in the side of the Nigerian government but also a source of deep worry to its people. This terrorist group, responsible for the loss of thousands of lives and property worth millions, has turned the northern part of Nigeria into a complete warzone.
Many residents of Northern states like Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, have migrated to other parts of the country due to the ceaseless gunshots and explosions from improvised bombs detonated by these cold-blooded murderers.

Things never used to be this way but before further procession, a brief tour shall be taken into the history of these killers; how they grew in Nigeria, wrecked this much havoc and their alleged beliefs and motives for carrying out these crimes against humanity.
Boko Haram is a terrorist group and an Islamic sect that aims at establishing a fully Islamic state in Nigeria. These individuals believe that Nigeria is run by Non-believers or “infidels” as their present leader, Abubakar Shekau is quoted to have said, even when the country had a Muslim president. The sect is also known by another name, Jama'atul Alhul Sunnah Lidda'wati wal jihad which means “people committed to the propagation of the prophet’s teachings and jihad”. The name Boko Haram contextually means “Western Education is Sin”.

Research reveals that Boko Haram beliefs were greatly influenced by the teachings of Maitatsine Mohammed Marwa, a radical Muslim fundamentalist who greatly rejected the impact of Western Education brought in by the British after they colonized the Sokoto caliphate in 1903. Boko Haram members are mostly young uneducated and penurious northerners, unemployed students and workers. The sect was created in 2002 by an extremist Islamic cleric called Mohammed Yusuf in Maiduguri, Borno state. He was expelled from two mosques in the state for his radical views and brash statements. He later set up a religious center that comprised of an Islamic school and mosque called Markaz. Poor families sent their wards to the school because it had cheap tuition and it gave their kids a chance at proper education but unknown to them, the Institution had ulterior motives. They had primary political goals of creating an Islamic state and imposing Sharia laws and soon, the school/center became a training ground for future Jihadists.

For Seven years, the sect was not violent until 2009 when its members in Borno state defied a ban on riding motorcycles without helmets. This led to bloody clashes with security forces. This development led to the deaths of an estimated 700 people. In the process of all these, their leader, Mohammed Yusuf was captured and killed (he was shot in the base of his skull) and his lifeless body was shown on television. The security forces then declared that the Boko Haram menace had been eradicated not knowing that the battle had just begun.

This angered other surviving members of the sect greatly and they vowed to avenge the death of their leader. This occurrence also strengthened the urge to accomplish their goal of creating an Islamic state by any means possible. The terror group carried out its first attack in Borno state in January 2010 and it resulted in the deaths of 4 people. Ever since then, the sect has aggrandized the intensity and frequency of their assassinations, mass murders, suicide bombings. These rebels also aim at destroying the set political and religious structure of Nigeria. They have a belief that the country is not being properly ruled and that “infidels” have polluted it’s leadership.

Now that an understanding of the history of Boko Haram has been established, the central topic of this brief discourse, “BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY: AMNESTY OR APPREHENSION?” can now be focused on. First of all, with the current state of affairs in Nigeria and the extent of damage these extremists have caused, the only way to stop them is through apprehension. Apprehension in this context refers to use of military force. Amnesty on the other hand, is simply a pardon given by the government of a nation to a person or a group of people for committing a political offense. Amnesty is certainly not the way to completely blot out this insurgency. Below are reasons why.

In certain cases, the amnesty granted to such terrorist parties comes with providing them with jobs, accommodation and money. Now, why would the government of a nation provide housing, jobs and money to a group of individuals who “woke up one morning” and decided to start killing people all in the name of “religion”? Where is the justice in that? What of the families of the people who were murdered in cold blood, women who were violently ushered into widowhood? Little children who knew nothing about the saga made orphans, how would they feel when they know that the people responsible for scarring their lives are walking free, have jobs, earning salaries at the end of the month and living comfortably? That will be really unfair.

Granting the insurgents amnesty will only give the impression that Nigeria’s security agencies are highly inefficient and incompetent. Does it mean that the security parastatals of a country like Nigeria, the giant of Africa, a nation with a population of over 160 million people, cannot contain and eradicate a terrorist organization like Boko Haram? Why grant amnesty when we have a defense and security ministry? Why do we have the army, navy and air force? Their job descriptions encompass tackling this kind of problems. Like a quote by Benjamin Nyentahu, “The application of military force or the prospect of such application inhibits terrorist violence”.

Counter Insurgency, a term used to describe measures taken to control or completely eradicate insurgencies majorly focuses on the use of conventional military operations. David Galula, A renown French COIN expert, stated a general strategy to employ when attempting to capture and restore order to an area under full insurgent control;

1. Concentrate enough armed forces to destroy or to expel the main body of armed insurgents.
2. Detach for the area sufficient troops to oppose an insurgent's comeback in strength, install these troops in the hamlets, villages, and towns where the population lives.
3. Establish contact with the population control its movements in order to cut off its links with the guerrillas.
4. Destroy the local insurgent political organization.
5. Set up, by means of elections, new provisional local authorities.
6. Test those authorities by assigning them various concrete tasks. Replace the softs and the incompetents, give full support to the active leaders. Organize self-defense units.
7. Group and educate the leaders in a national political movement.
8. Win over or suppress the last insurgent remnants.
Notice the first step highlighted. Now using a real case study to prove this, during “Operation Moshtarak” in 2010, the United States and Afghanistan successfully suppressed the Taliban insurgency in the town of Marja, Afghanistan with the use of military Force. The Taliban had terrorized the town of Marja for a longtime but after the US and Afghan armies launched a full offensive that ended in December that same year, the insurgency was successfully controlled.

A saying goes, “punish one, teach a hundred”, the apprehension of these Boko Haram elements will serve as a deterrent to other “aspiring” terrorists or terrorist groups. Recently, a new terrorist group was discovered, they called themselves “Ansarul”. Research has shown that this group is an offshoot of Boko Haram and they are also as ruthless as the dreaded Jihadists.

“Kill the shepherd and the sheep will scatter”, further groups like this ‘Ansarul’ can spring up in the nearest future and wreak havoc and this can only be stopped if the first of their kind can be quickly apprehended. The grant of an amnesty to the Jihadists is a subtle invitation to future anarchy. With an amnesty, we can suppose that the likes of Kabiru Sokoto, a terrorist responsible for detonating a bomb that killed over 44 people on Christmas day in 2011 and other detained insurgency suspects will now be left off the hook and given a pat on the back for a job well done.

Speculations have arisen that amnesty was also granted to the Niger Delta militants and they dropped their weapons, let it be clarified that there is a thin line between the agitation of the Niger Delta militants and that of Boko Haram. The intentions, ideology, and modus operandi of these two groups contrast by far.

Boko Haram explicitly states its disdain for western education and that Nigeria must become an Islamic country while the Niger Delta militants were fighting for equitable distribution of Oil Money and environmental protection of their communities. Boko Haram is very ruthless, cold and undiscriminating: they target everybody – Christians, School children, fellow Muslims, ,Youth Corpers etc while the operations of the Niger Delta militants largely involved bombing/vandalization of Oil installations in the creeks .The militants had a Unified Command Structure whereas Boko Haram has splinter groups and a very loose control structure.

In conclusion, the Nigerian government has already offered the insurgents amnesty and it failed woefully. The insurgents rejected it, their leader, Abubakar Shekau was quoted to have responded with this statement, “surprisingly, the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon” (this is after they had killed over 4,000 people). And now again, the government has decided to table another offer of are “Amnesty?”. Would this really lead to the release of the Chibok girls and a total end to the scourge called Boko Haram?

Shekau...the current leader of boko haram is a psychopath...An intelligent Psychopath....see Psychopaths stop at nothing to get what they want. You can't just lure him out with premises of money..He will stop at nothing to get what he wants but I pray that the Good lord we serve will destroy him and his band of killers.

Like an old saying that goes “No matter how much you pet a goat, it will still eat your yam”, Boko Haram cannot be effectively stopped with an amnesty only apprehension can.

God Bless Nigeria