Boko Haram: Fall of Sambisa Forest

A milestone in the quest for victory over Boko Haram insurgents was recorded on December 22, when the Army captured “Camp Zero,” the sect’s fortress located in the heart of Sambisa Forest, in Borno State. The place has been their base since 2013 when they were dislodged from Maiduguri. More remarkably, the 219 Chibok schoolgirls are believed to have been hidden there since their abduction in 2014.

Inside Sambisa is a two-layered underground building, built by the military in 1980s for the training of the defunct National Guard operatives, but was abandoned, only for the insurgents to seize hold of it as their abode. They shielded themselves with landmines that made the forest impenetrable until recently. According to media reports, 4,200 troops invaded the forest after an effective deployment of five mine-detecting armoured vehicles the United States donated to Nigeria. About 1,200 people were arrested in the fortress, comprising captives, insurgents and foreigners that provided them with technical assistance, just as many of the fundamentalists were killed.

This is a major victory for the military. While eulogising the Army for the feat, President Muhammadu Buhari noted that the “terrorists were on the run and no longer have a place to hide.” But as heartwarming as this might be, it is nevertheless dangerous too. It is a point the Director of Defence Information, Rabe Abubakar, emphasised when he “advised Nigerians to be wary of the fleeing insurgents who may likely (be getting away in) disguise.”

However, Boko Haram is far from being crushed. The group has killed over 20,000 Nigerians and rendered over two million others internally displaced since its murderous campaign began in 2009. The sect is now being ranked alongside ISIS and al-Qaeda as the world’s deadliest terrorist groups, thus making Nigeria, Iraq and Afghanistan the most unsafe nations globally. The evil ideology that drives Boko Haram terrorism forbids the Islamists from retreating. Its psychopathic leader, Abubakar Shekau, boasted in a new video that the group was in no mood to run up the white flag.

And, true to type, the military’s defeat of Boko Haram in Sambisa Forest has turned the insurgency into a new and equally dangerous phase in the jihadists’ bloody desire to create a caliphate. A possible option is the stepping up of suicide bombings and other forms of terror tactics as they flee. Two of them were nabbed in Ikorodu, Lagos, and Abuja a few days after the Army’s fusillade of bullets put them on the run. One of the suspects, one Usman, pretended to be an Islamic preacher at Utako Market when members of the Abuja Municipal Area Council Marshall Guards apprehended him and handed him over to the appropriate authorities. The military should not celebrate just yet. The failure to locate and rescue the remaining Chibok girls will continue to blight any military gains.

The fleeing terrorists must be tracked to avoid the escalation of the carnage they have caused since 2009. Their survival strategies have always been to embed in rural population, worship centres, markets and motor parks, hide under the bridges and uncompleted houses that often serve as home for the less privileged.  After they might have been integrated or mastered their new environment, they then launch attacks with Improvised Explosive Devices at soft targets. The inescapable reality is that Boko Haram will go on bombing and killing unless and until it is faced with a ceaseless combination of sound intelligence gathering and formidable military action.

The military, the police and other internal security agencies should step up their game.  The unchecked influx of people into Lagos easily makes the city one of the most vulnerable to terror attacks. In the past, the Army had smoked out suspected terrorists from their hideouts in parts of Lagos. For instance, the attempts Boko Haram fugitives made in 2013 to penetrate Lagos in the wake of the declaration of a state of emergency in the North-East, was aborted by the vigilance of the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Lagos, which arrested and paraded 42 of the insurgents. This dreadful episode and the confusion in the jihadists’ camp are enough for Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and his security council to map out a most effective counter-intelligence response to any terror challenge immediately.

Having put the insurgents on the run, the military, police and the intelligence outfits should beat the iron when it is hot.  An effective war against terror is intelligence-driven globally. Therefore, our strategy requires a constant review and better coordination. The era of inter-agency rivalry that undermines operational efficiency should be an embarrassment that belongs to the past.  This is the only operational template that can crush Boko Haram. The trophy for such victory will ultimately be the return of the other Chibok girls; and the incapacitation of Shekau and his fellow bandits.

Courtesy: PUNCH