Investigate genesis of Boko Haram

This national embarrassment in 2009 was what led to the sporadic violence, including the recent bombing of the Force Headquarters in Abuja. In all discussions and debates on the Boko Haram phenomenon, few cared to mention the role Ali Modu Sherriff played in escalating the recent crises. In a country that takes security threats seriously, […]

This national embarrassment in 2009 was what led to the sporadic violence, including the recent bombing of the Force Headquarters in Abuja. In all discussions and debates on the Boko Haram phenomenon, few cared to mention the role Ali Modu Sherriff played in escalating the recent crises. In a country that takes security threats seriously, Sherrif would have been a special guest at the Nigerian security agencies to answer questions on the role he played in the 2009 crises. But today, Modu Sherrif, who is a star witness to the crises, is nowhere to be found. In fact, no one is even bringing him into the picture.

Modu Sherrif was alleged to have been the person who ordered the summary execution of Muhammad Yusuf, the late leader of the group, Alhaji Buji Foi, the group’s alleged financier and Yusuf’s in-law, who handed himself to the police and was assassinated while in detention.

The Boko Haram was a Maiduguri problem or rightly put Sherrif’s problem, which resulted as a fall out between himself and the people who supported him to come to power in 2003 and 2007. He knows quite well that he can’t afford to fight them because of his dismal performance on the way he ruled the state in his last eight years. Sherrif dragged the whole nation into it and today, Boko Haram, which started as a one state or one city problem has become an international problem.

Therefore, instead of looking at the root cause of the crises, we narrow our attention to the terror associated with the crises. No mention is made of Sheriff or the role he played during and after the crises. The President should as a matter of urgency direct the security agencies not only to investigate the Boko Haram crises, but also what led to the crises. Considering the condition of Maiduguri, the escalation of the violence, it is time for civil society organizations, human rights groups, the media and the Nigerian Bar Association to put pressure on the Attorney General of Federation to issue an arrest warrant on those responsible for the escalation of the Boko Haram crisis.

Nigeria cannot afford to continue allowing some people, just because they are politically powerful to threaten the unity of the nation and get away with it.

Kabiru Danladi Lawanti, Department of Mass Communication, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria