Army, Finish The Job in Borno
Repeated attacks by Boko Haram insurgents on the expansive premises of the University of Maiduguri [Unimaid] are a setback for Nigeria in the war against the insurgents. They are also a reminder that the war against the deadly and misguided sect is far from over and it requires another all out effort by the armed forces, the Federal Government, all security agencies and renewed active cooperation by our neighbours and by our fiends in the international community to bring this terrorist menace to an end once and for all.
The latest, dispiriting attack took place on Sunday last week, Sallah day. Borno State Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu, who gave details of the attack, said eight members of one family were among 16 people killed in multiple suicide bomb attacks in Maiduguri on Sunday night to Monday morning while thirteen others were injured. He said nine attackers sneaked into the city at night, broke into groups and went on to attack selected targets with a view to disrupting Eid celebrations. Among other targets, a male suicide bomber entered Unimaid’s premises and set off a bomb strapped to his body near the Rapid Response Services Office building, injuring three university security staff, one of whom later died in hospital.
Four female suicide bombers attacked other locations in Maiduguri that night but at 4 o’clock in the morning, two more female suicide bombers again entered Unimaid and exploded bombs near the Entrepreneurship and Skill Acquisition Centre and behind the Works Department. Luckily, they killed only themselves. City residents could not sleep that night because apart from the explosions, soldiers and policemen were firing throughout the night in order to scare off other suicide bombers. Some Maiduguri residents thought a major battle was underway.
Between January 16 and June 25 this year, Unimaid has come under Boko Haram attack six times. During the January 16 attack by four suicide bombers, five people including Professor Aliyu Mani were killed at a mosque during early morning prayers. On Saturday, May 13, security agents killed three suicide bombers when they attempted to get access into the university through the Department of Works premises. It is no surprise at all that the insurgents, with their well known antipathy to Western education, should target Unimaid, the single largest educational institution in the North East with an estimated 25,000 students. Even though schools in Borno State and all over the North East were closed at the height of the crises, Unimaid was never closed.
Though Unimaid right now is closed for the holidays, its staff and student unions are threatening to prevent its reopening in October “if the federal government fails to address its security situation.” The academic staff union ASUU, the non-academic senior and junior staff unions SSANU, NASU and NAAT as well as the Students Union Government [SUG] at a joint press conference in Maiduguri called on the federal government to immediately take all the necessary measures to provide effective security measures and equipment to protect the lives and property of the university community or face a closure of the institution.
Even though there are a lot of soldiers, plain cloth policemen and DSS operatives operating in Unimaid’s expansive premises, they can hardly secure all of it due to its huge area. Only the university’s frontage is properly fenced while the back of the entire university is only covered with trenches that were dug at the height of the insurgency. Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno responded to last week’s attacks by intensifying the digging of more trenches that the state government started three weeks ago. He released N50 million for the digging of more trenches. These trenches can stop insurgents riding in vehicles and on motorcycles. It also aids security agents observing the trenches from advantaged but may not stop all infiltrators. The university says it needs N2.5 billion to build a proper wall around the entire complex.
Protecting Unimaid aside, we observe with regret that the tempo of military operations in the North East and in Borno State in particular has somewhat slackened since the victorious storming of Sambisa Forest last December. Judging from the sharp drop in military press statements announcing the conducting of clearance operations, interdiction missions, repelling ambushes and bombing raids on Boko Haram targets it is fair to say that the pace of operations is less than what it was in 2015 and 2016. This is regrettable because we expected the military to press ahead after its victory in Sambisa and launch even more aggressive operations in order to finish Boko Haram once and for all.
Army Chief Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai said last week that “Boko Haram terrorists have been so decimated that what is being witnessed now [i.e. renewed attacks and suicide bombings] is like the case of dying men trying to survive.” We hope this is true, but reports from Borno say at least three Local Government Areas namely Abadam, Mobbar and Marte are still substantially infested with insurgents. It has been hard to re-establish civil authority in those areas, and the insurgents are said to be moving fairly freely in hundreds of islands on the shores of Lake Chad. Some legislators are even asking what the Presidency and the Ministry of Defence have done with tens of billions of naira that were vied in December last year from Social Security budgets and diverted to the military to procure essential arms and ammunition.
We hereby urge Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to once again restore the fight against Boko Haram to the top of the national agenda, secure all necessary weapons and ammo for the military, seek the active participation of our neighbours in a renewed push and actively seek major assistance from the world’s military powers in order to finish this job once and for all.