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NEW THREATS TO PEACE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA


For those hoping that the amnesty committee inaugurated yesterday would bring relief to Nigeria’s troubled north, that hope is taking a turn for the worse. There is not going to be peace in Nigeria’s north in the immediate future at least unless something more efficient than setting up a committee and offer of amnesty is on the agenda.

But why is immediate peace threatened? Why is more danger looming? Another Islamic sect, an off-shoot of the dreaded Boko Haram has managed to gain recognition with the international media. Named Ansaru, its spokesman and leader Abu Nasir had an interview with the New York Times. The group however, is opposed to killing of Nigerians and prefers kidnapping to such violence. It does not have anything against killing foreigners and is suspected to be responsible for kidnappings of foreign construction workers in the north.


With the Federal Government acting like a headless chicken on the issue of insurgence and President Jonathan’s recent pronouncement that the casualty figure from Baga were exaggerated by the international media, it is painful to note that there just might not be an end in sight within the short term at least.

Members of the militia group have been arrested before. Bomb factories have been discovered. The JTF has leads that bring them to the point where an exchange of gunfire resulted in civilian deaths. Something is obviously wrong with the all the approach taken thus far in ending the terrorist militancy. It is on the failure of these approaches that probably compelled the northern leaders to pressure the federal government to begin negotiations with the terrorists with a view to offering them amnesty.

Time and again, criminals are brought to book through intelligence and articulate surveillance. Guns and jeeps, will only result in the JTF taking out their frustrations on civilians and a few terrorists. The terrorists are happy with that arrangement. The arrested detainees surely must have clues that can be put together. Improved surveillance of persons in the north has to be brought to the fore. Offering amnesty to a terrorist organization is simply put an admission that corruption and mediocrity are not over amplified.

Ansaru may not have gained national prominence owing to their less violent orientation but it is worrisome to note that they have links with both Boko Haram and Al Qaeda. The inability to stem a tide usually leads to an increase in that problem’s presence. If hawks lose their ability to hunt snakes, the population of snakes will increase leading to a decrease in the population of rodents and other creeping creatures. With the inability of the federal government’s security apparatuses to hunt down terrorists, the civilian population is threatened and that threat just worsened.

Another way to curb growing spate of terrorist presence is to employ a foreign security organization or consultant with a track record of terrorist infiltration. Nigeria outsources everything except ‘garri’. There is nothing wrong with continuing out-sourcing to counter-terrorism.

No doubt, terrorism is a growing global phenomenon and the world is struggling to contain its tide. It is not peculiar to Nigeria. Yet Nigeria was not previously in the category of nations with such extremist tendencies. How the stem was allowed to reach this extreme is unknown. Over 3000 lives have been lost owing to the activities of the Boko Haram. Calculating the economic loss resulting from their activities is a burdensome task. Estimates are not good enough.

Governors in Nigeria’s north have continued to depend solely on the federal government for a regional challenge that has threatened the survival of its citizens. True, security is on the exclusive list. It is not illegal if a northern security arrangement geared towards intelligence gathering and prosecution is set up. Peculiar situations require peculiar measures. The northern governors need to justify their security votes.

With the president underplaying the number of civilian casualties and making declarations bothering on international media bias, the future of northern Nigeria is indeed bleak for both Nigerian citizens, foreign workers and tourists alike.

Ansaru has been in existence for over two years. How many more are out there looking to deteriorate an already bad and deplorable situation? With such efforts as amnesty being government’s resort, there is great reward in and prospect in setting up a new terrorist organization. Even banks will finance such a setup for its immediate and long term benefits.


With persons like Abu Nasir and Ansaru out there, Nigeria is fast becoming another Afghanistan. Experts have opined that people will develop suicide tendencies when their lives have no worth. Improving access to quality education, diversifying an economy dependent largely on farming among other things will help foster improved quality of life such that natural life preservation and survival instinct is revived. 

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