|
2021-09-06 Africa Subsaharan
|
|
Tension as U.S. moves to name Boko Haram sponsors
|
[GUARDIAN.NG] Nigerians have expressed doubts about the willingness of the Federal Government to embrace the offer by the U. S. government to help and identify the sponsors of Boko Haram
 ...Nigeerian Islamist group, formerly paying homage to al-Qaeda, then, when the money ran out, to the Islamic State, and headed by nutcase Abu Bakr Shekau. Once he exploded in a gunfight with ISWAP, many in the group surrendered to the govt and others went with their new overlords. The remainder are a shell of their former selves, stmbling glassy-eyed and lonely through the Sambisa Forest and the soothing waters of Lake Chad, asking themselves What is truth? , or maybe just I wonder what's for dinner? I hope it's not rhinocerous again! ...
, which has waged an insurgency war on Nigeria in the last 12 years.
Some security experts, former diplomats, and leaders of some socio-cultural/civil society organizations in the country who spoke to The Guardian said embracing the proposal was the best option for the country at this point, but were skeptical about President Muhammadu Buhari’s disposition to the offer.
Continued from Page 2
Recall that the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, had during a round-table on U.S.-Nigeria military cooperation with journalists in Abuja, last Monday night, declared that her country was very eager to partner with Nigeria on identifying Boko Haram sponsors.
A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services, Dennis Amachree, asserted that the U.S. had been positively disposed to supporting Nigeria, especially in the fight against terrorism, noting that the question was whether the Federal Government would embrace the current gesture.
He said: "Are we ready to arrest and prosecute these sponsors when exposed? Are we simply going to lock them away as has been done in the past? These are the concerns and the Americans may lose interest if we don’t take it seriously.
"Nigeria will do well to accept the offer as the country is really at a crossroads and will accept any help she can get. United States agreeing to support Nigeria means that they will come with some of their cutting-edge technology, which will boost the capability of Nigerian security agencies."
A former Naval Chief, Rear Admiral Godwill Siempre Ombo, simply said: "These are touchy questions. Who truly wants to end issues in his or her life that will not embrace any support to end such issues?"
To a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, "if the government of Nigeria is serious about the need to bring Boko Haramism to an end, the government should consider it as an opportunity to be taken advantage of."
He added: "I remember that in 2020, either in July or August, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, accused the international community, particularly the big powers, that they were blocking all Nigerian efforts to deal with the Boko Haram group.
"Lai Mohammed by that time was accusing the United States, the big powers, their allies, holding them responsible for the government of Nigeria’s inability to contain Book Haram insurgency.
"Now, a year after, the U.S. is offering to assist in knowing who is doing what, who is funding Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. It will be very illogical for the government of Nigeria to have accused the big powers in the year 2020 that they were blocking their efforts, now when they are de-blocking your alleged efforts, it will not make any sense for the government of Nigeria to refuse.
"What I am saying, in essence, is that the first point is that the government of Nigeria wanted assistance, but it was allegedly blocked. Now that the U.S. is giving the opportunity of de-blocking, it is only logical to accept.
"The second point is that the Nigerian people have been asking President Buhari to seek international collaboration to end Boko Haram. If the government accepts, he will be doing so in the spirit of public request that Boko Haram cannot be suppressed without international support. So, if they accept the support, it is consistent with the spirit of the public in Nigeria.
"Thirdly, the reason we should support U.S. to reveal is that Nigerians themselves have been accusing the Nigerian government that the government knows all those who are responsible for Boko Haram.
"Theophilus Danjuma had already accused the military of aiding and abetting Boko Haram. Dr. Malaifa Obadiah told us the report of the meeting with Boko Haram commanders.
"Just last week, Commodore Omowunmi on Channel TV said that from 2007 to 2009, nothing has happened to the people they arrested for Boko Haram, that government knows. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said there is a Fulani
... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity...
sation agenda. So, if Nigerians know those who are in charge but they did not say it, we need the intervention of a country like the U.S. to reveal the secret."
In an interview with The Guardian, the front man of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Emmanuel Yawe, noted that the time has come for the government to swallow its pride and cooperate with the American government to expose those behind the terrorism and banditry that have nearly torn the nation apart.
According to him, the offer by the U.S. government to assist Nigeria in finding solutions to the current insecurity by exposing those behind it would go a long way in bringing an end to the challenges.
Yawe said: "For many years now, we have been battling with these security challenges. Our students have been captured; the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) was invaded and many people are still with kidnappers. And our government has not done anything. If the U.S. is offering to render assistance, we should quickly accept it since our government appears to be incapable of identifying those behind insecurity and cannot combat it.
"We are in a desperate situation in Nigeria today. We should accept the American offer and allow them to help us out of this critical situation."
A former Secretary-General of ACF, Elder Anthony Sani, also said that the ability of the American government to confront and defeat terrorism was not in doubt, adding that, "the U.S. has done this in the past by not only exposing those behind terrorism but also fighting them."
His words: "Terrorism transcends national boundaries. That was why the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest......
’s Al Qaeda could base in Afghanistan and attack New York Twin Towers and Pentagon on 9/11. That was also why America put up a coalition of 66 and now 102 countries of all faiths to fight ISIS.
"It is all because terrorism is not a local phenomenon, but a global threat. That accounts for why America put a price tag of $7 million on late Sheik Shekau. And when you consider identification of sponsors of terrorism as part of the mechanism to fight it, then there is nothing wrong in America helping Nigeria to know the sponsors with a view to curbing it."
The ACF chieftain noted that sharing of intelligence between and among nations could go a long way "in improving the efforts to end the menace of terrorism that is now a global phenomenon."
He added: "This underscores the need for collective approach as against leaving the fight for individual countries, many of which lack the wherewithal to confront the menace of terrorism alone.
"The time it took America to fight terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the time Somalia has been fighting al-Shabaab
...... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them...
without successes should underscore the need for collective approach against the war against terrorism."
On his part, National Publicity Secretary of apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Alex Chiedozie Ogbonnia, told The Guardian in Enugu that with rising insecurity, the country needs as much collaboration as possible to curb it. He stated that current developments were indications that Nigeria’s security forces could no longer handle the security of the nation.
Ogbonnia said: "The level of insecurity in Nigeria requires international collaboration to overcome. Over the years, it has been proven that there is no way we can overcome the security challenges we have by ourselves without international support.
"We have always asked for international intervention; even in the time of  Goodluck Jonathan
... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau.Other than that he's pretty useless as the Boko Haram debacle shows..
, we had sought the support of the international community. The problem is that the government has not wholeheartedly defined support so that other people can appreciate the enormity of the problems they have.
"For instance, if you surf the Internet, the global community sees herdsmen as a terrorist group. But in Nigeria, they are treated with kid gloves. What you call unknown button men, how can something remain unknown for a long time and you have security professionals? The advanced society hates this kind of double-dealing.
"If Nigeria begins to define things the way they are and with sincerity of purpose, you will see a way out of the security challenges we have. When the citizens are in danger, they run to them for the protection of their lives and property. When on the other hand the government appears to be overwhelmed because unscrupulous elements are in control of instruments of violence, there will be a problem. 
|
Posted by Fred 2021-09-06 00:00||
||
Front Page|| [12 views ]
Top
File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)
|
|
18:16 3dc
17:57 Huputle+Cherelet4131
17:53 SteveS
17:52 SteveS
17:49 lord garth
17:26 trailing wife
17:21 M. Murcek
17:17 lord garth
17:03 trailing wife
16:57 trailing wife
16:57 trailing wife
16:41 swksvolFF
16:36 swksvolFF
16:26 Skidmark
16:25 Grom the Reflective
15:31 European Conservative
15:30 Grom the Reflective
14:45 NoMoreBS
14:39 NoMoreBS
14:39 Frank G
14:35 NoMoreBS
14:31 NoMoreBS
14:30 Penguin_of_the_Desert
14:17 NoMoreBS
|
