Boko Haram’s Defiant and Dangerous Relocation

The sack of Boko Haram from its so-called caliphate in Borno State in the last few months came as a pleasant relief to Nigerians. This pleasure was, however, contaminated by the violent sect’s deft, dangerous moves from Nigeria’s borders in the North-East to the hinterland. It is confirmed that they have relocated into a large […]

The sack of Boko Haram from its so-called caliphate in Borno State in the last few months came as a pleasant relief to Nigerians. This pleasure was, however, contaminated by the violent sect’s deft, dangerous moves from Nigeria’s borders in the North-East to the hinterland. It is confirmed that they have relocated into a large stretch of forests from the North-East to the North-West, a measure that portends serious insecurity for villages, towns, highways and states in that corridor.
It took the alarm raised by Senator Isa Hamma Misau (APC, Bauchi Central) that the dangerous sect has infested Burra Forest in Ningi Emirate Council for both government and security agencies to come out of the denial that Boko Haram has actually been spreading out.  The senator told Daily Trust last week that, “Boko Haram insurgents are relocating to the Burra Forest. It is a very large forest extending to three states and it is from there that the terrorists are going to other places to unleash terror on people… They kidnap people daily, and receive between N3 million and N5 million as ransom.”
The forest which the Senator talked about is linked to several other forests. They include the Sambisa, Yankari, Dansadau, Falgore Game Reserve through Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State. Apart from Kaduna, the forests link Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Adamawa, Borno , and Jigawa States. In the last eight years since the insurgents went wild and violent in the North, their presence has been felt in each of these states in varying degrees. The military had to carry out special operations to chase them from camps in the forests. Having noticed near-absent security measures, the sect has decided to relocate there as its members escape from the superior firepower of the military in Borno State.
The insurgent’s infiltration of the forests puts Nigeria at risk. First, they will attempt to spread their violent brand of Islam in the communities around the forests where they have established their camps. That means, they will recruit more youths into their ‘army’ and reinvigorate their capacity to launch dangerous attacks. Secondly, their violent activities will hamper farming and grazing, the two economic activities that are the mainstay of both the North-East and North-West. Thirdly, with the money they generate from kidnapping for ransom, they can raise fresh cash to procure weapons for large scale attacks on government institutions, markets, places of worship and other soft targets, to prove that they are ‘alive and well.’ 
This development is coming at a time when the military seems to have been overstretched. There are various kinds of military operations going on in 30 of the 36 states of Nigeria. It is not clear if the army has the human and material resources to permanently keep soldiers in the long stretch of forests which are being invaded by insurgents. In July, President Muhammadu Buhari launched ‘Operation Harbin Kunama’ in Zamfara State, to deal with cattle rustlers, kidnappers and violent criminals who took over farmlands and highways in the North-West state. After few days of military operation, the criminals escaped from Zamfara to other locations. But because the military action was not sustained, as soon as the army left, the criminals returned to torment the people in a more wicked way than they did before ‘Operation Harbin Kunama.’ Such a short-term offensive against criminals points to the fact that the military may have been overwhelmed by the ongoing numerous operations.
We, therefore, call on state and federal governments to energize non-state actors to bring them on board in future anti-terrorism strategies. There is no gainsaying, the fact that the intervention of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) contributed enormously to the victory recorded by the military against Boko Haram in Borno State. The dedicated youths provided vital intelligence information to the military, leading to the capture of fugitive Boko Haram commanders and members. This approach can be replicated in states whose forests are being inhabited by Boko Haram.
No doubt, youths in those communities know the geography of the forests, hence they can detect the hideouts of sect members. If properly organized and encouraged, they will provide security agencies with the kind of intelligence required to expel the insurgents before they take deep root. Even if Civilian JTFs are not established, it is essential to give political support to hunters and local vigilantes, to enable them dislodge the sect from forests.
It is vital for government to retrain the Nigeria Police Force to rise to the occasion on this matter. Dealing with criminals of this nature could be handled by the Mobile Police Force, but over the years this has not happened, hence the army is dragged into what should be primarily police beat. Government should retrain our policemen so as to expose them to new security systems in order to meet current security challenges. It is believed that since most of our policemen left the Police Academy where they trained after recruitment, many have not returned to any training institution for refresher courses.  Only few of them have undergone special training on counter-terrorism strategies. Almost every policeman in the age of terrorism should be exposed to the new knowledge on how to tackle insurgencies, and this should be given adequate priority.
On its part, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) should embark on a nationwide campaign to teach Nigerians what to do to counter the activities of terrorists. They should be taught how to protect themselves; what signs indicate that one could be a terrorist; how to inform the police or other security agencies when a terrorist is noticed; how to discourage their wards from joining terrorists; and even possible self-defense strategies. With such orientation, the society will be put on alert against insurgents.
Various reports indicate that some security agencies and community leaders receive bribes from insurgents to give them information and cover against arrest. This is very unfortunate, but the onus rests of law enforcement agencies to fish out and deal with such corrupt elements whose activities help to entrench Boko Haram at new locations.
We congratulate the military for its successes so far. However, we urge them not to rest on their oars, but to frustrate the sect’s capacity to relocate to any other part of Nigeria.