Barely a
week after the Federal Government secured the release of 82 Chibok girls, one
of the swapped Boko Haram Commanders, Shuaibu Moni, has issued a threat to
bomb
the Federal Capital Territory. In a new
video clips released by Abubakar Shekau, the sect leader, Moni was seen issuing
threats to Nigerian authorities and President Muhammadu Buhari, saying “there’s
been no ‘sulhu’ dialogue with government and there won’t be. Only war is
between us.”
The video
clips released on Friday also showed some abducted Chibok girls explaining why
they would prefer to remain in the custody of the terrorist sect rather than
return to their families. A negotiator who facilitated the recent release of
the girls had said some of the abductees were reluctant to be freed. In the
video, one of the girls, clutching an AK47 rifle, responded to questions from a
man believed to be a Boko Haram commander, saying ‘they (their parents) are in
town of infidels, we want them to accept Islam and join us to practice the
religion and rest in the hereafter.”
However,
while the Nigerian Army has dismissed the two video clips as mere propaganda
which should be disregarded, a renowned security expert, Dr Ekhomu Ona, has
expressed serious concern over the threat, arguing that the swapped commander
now has a better inside knowledge to plot a good attack. His words: “Returning
Commanders of Boko Haram to the battlefield is not a great idea. However, we
have no choice in this case because we have to secure release of our girls. And
I praise President Muhammadu Buhari for that.
But then, we really have to take it as a credible threat. The sun news reported.
It is a
credible threat because we have active terrorist cells that are all over the
country. We have them in the Kogi axis; we have them in the outline districts
of Abuja. As someone who just returned to the field, he has better inside
knowledge now to carry out the threat. Prison is the prime radicalization
ground for many extremists. That is where they meet and share ideas.
Ona further
noted that freed Boko Haram members were the forerunners of major attacks in
the recent past. “Prison gives them opportunity to be together and to plot good
attacks. Besides, there is a lot of
radicalism in those cells which have not been well infiltrated by our
intelligence agencies,” he added.
According to
him, the Federal Government must focus on effective control of explosive which
the Boko Haram relied upon in its terrorist activities. “There is a poor
control of explosive ordinance in the country. Today, explosive ordinance is
available everywhere for people who do blasting and quarrying, for farmers who
need fertilizer. There must be a focus on controlling explosive in the
country,” Ona admonished. “Another thing is that what is bugging them has not
been resolved in the society. These people are saying that there is a lot of
corruption in Nigerian society, there is injustice. You are a liar if you say
we don’t have corruption and moral depravity in our society today. They believe
it is only under Sharia that these can be resolved, which is wrong,” he added.
I can assure
you the military is working hard behind the scene to contain the threat.
The
Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Sani Usman, in a statement
made available to Sunday Sun, debunked the claims in the video clips where the
terrorists boasted about indoctrinating some of the abducted Chibok school
girls in captivity, saying “the terrorist has lost touch with current
realities”.
He,
therefore, called on Nigerians not to give in to the antics and empty threats
by the terrorists especially now that the counter insurgency war is in its
critical stage that requires more patriotism and security consciousness by all
and sundry. Usman said “Gone were the days when people glamorized terrorists
and their criminal acts, adding “Nigerian Air Force is unrelenting in its
bombardment, while other Security Agencies are equally doing their best.”
“We should
not give in to terrorists’ propaganda and empty threats.
We have come
to a very critical stage of the fight against terrorism and insurgency in
Nigeria that require more patriotism and security consciousness by all and
sundry,” he concluded.
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