The operations and increasing sophistication of the attacks by Boko Haram and its affiliate, Ansaru, bear the strong imprint of foreign connection and support. While the sect may have started its murderous exploits with local backing and funding, its operations have since gained international currency.
The latest suggestion of Boko Haram’s strong affiliation to international terror groups is fuelled by the recent seizure of a cache of arms shipped into Nigeria through the Turkish Airlines, a company 49 per cent owned by Turkey’s government. “I do not know whether these (weapons) will kill Muslims or Christians. I feel sinful,” Mehmet Karatas, an airline executive who allegedly confessed his guilt over the shipment, reportedly told Mustafa Varank, an adviser to Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan.
Although officials of the Nigerian Navy said they took delivery of some arms flown by Turkish Airlines into Lagos, these arms movements are weighty issues at a time of virtual war in the North-East. The issue should not to be taken lightly as Boko Haram attacks escalate in spite of a state of emergency declared since last May.
According to Abdulrahman Dambazzau, a former Chief of Army Staff, “the home-grown terrorism” that the military tackled during his tenure in 2009, has metamorphosed into a bigger group, after being hijacked by foreign elements. Apart from the fatal bombings of the United Nations and the Nigeria Police headquarters in Abuja in 2011, Boko Haram has wreaked so much havoc in the country, arising from its enhanced international capacity.
Since December, the group, campaigning to overthrow Nigeria’s legitimacy and enthrone its own warped Islamist ideology, has attacked soft targets like the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State, as well as churches, villages and public buildings, such as police and military barracks. The group deploys well-honed military tactics and sophisticated weapons that some military units do not boast and once incapacitated five aircraft at the Nigerian Air Force station in Maiduguri during a daring assault on the airbase.
Since December 2013, the salafist extremists have slaughtered about 1,500 innocent Nigerians and security agents, while about 7,000 people have died from the group’s onslaught since 2009. The Goodluck Jonathan Administration has yet to tackle this threat with the firm resolve and action that it deserves. Yet, the evidence of collaboration of foreign rogue elements with Boko Haram that is subjecting Nigeria to intense pains is very glaring.
In January 2013, the State Security Service uncovered a terror cell in Lagos allegedly linked to Iran’s Republican Guards, while a ship bearing 13 containers of arms and ammunition was impounded by Nigerian officials at a Lagos port. Though Iranian officials claimed the weapons were destined for the Gambia, the deadly cargo exposed the reality of foreign sponsorship of terrorism in Nigeria. It was a similar story in Kano, last May, when Nigerian Army Special Forces uncovered an arms cache in a house belonging to some Lebanese nationals.
Nigerian authorities need to understand that terrorism is a global phenomenon, and that it spreads virulently in failing states like Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, and in fragile states like Nigeria. Since the Turkish Airlines arms import story broke, Nigeria has not done the basic thing serious governments do: invite the country’s envoy to demand explanations, which, if not satisfactory, should compel stronger diplomatic action.
Irresponsible foreign elements are exploiting our weakness to sponsor terrorism in Nigeria. It should not be so. The European Union and the United States acted promptly to impose sanctions on Russia after it annexed Crimea, which belongs to restive Ukraine. Likewise, sanctions by the West have badly harmed the Iranian economy after it failed to tone down its controversial nuclear enrichment programme. This is how focused countries handle any threats to their territorial integrity.
It is foolhardy for the Federal Government to think that it can defeat Boko Haram all alone. The US officials insist that the dangerous Islamist sect has ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates in north-west Africa, Somalia’s al-Shabab and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. With the collapse of Libya after Muammar Gaddafi’s death in 2011, and the routing of al-Qaeda rebels in Mali last year in a campaign led by France, Nigeria has witnessed a steady rise in the influx of arms being used by Boko Haram to perpetrate terror.
Two weeks ago, it was alleged in the Senate that insurgents were using helicopters to ferry in jihadists and arms to the areas they targeted. This calls for more aggressive military and diplomatic offensives by Abuja. As Enyinnaya Abaribe, a senator, rightly said, “Nigeria has the right to pursue the attackers to the countries where they came from.” There should be no room for sentiments again, Abuja should not waste time in taking this road.
Jonathan must muster the strong political will to pursue the murderous groups, and investigate and prosecute individuals associated with them. Nigeria has to forge strong collaborative relationships with its neighbours – Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic – to curtail the movement of arms, men and materials being used to attack Nigerian territory. It is our government’s duty to take all necessary action against any neighbouring country allowing the rebels to use its territory as a base to launch attacks on Nigeria.
Jonathan has to move decisively against countries such as Iran, China, Russia and Lebanon, whose nationals have often been linked to illegal arms importation into Nigeria. Any foreign national caught for these crimes must be prosecuted, and not let off the hook as 15 Russian sailors were last year, who had the charges of illegal arms importation into Nigeria filed against them withdrawn by the Federal Government, following alleged pressure from their home government. Nigerians who run foul of the law outside our shores are not shown leniency, so foreigners who violate our laws should also be treated with firmness where our national security is at risk.
Punch
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