Letter from Boko Haram
Sometime last year I was sitting at my desk pondering over several challenges of our work as journalists. A few of my colleagues were with me, when one of the security men brought in a letter. It was from an anonymous, but I could trace the source to Kaduna State since it came via post office. The content of the letter was simply motivational. The writer had praised my efforts as a journalist in bringing up the plights of the downtrodden, particularly the innocent people who continue to suffer attacks from insurgents and are now refugee in their own lands. After reading the letter I handed it over to a colleague beside me with a few words. “This gives me reassurance that our works are noticed and people appreciate us,” I muttered to her.
Of course, the discussion around the challenges of our work effortlessly shifted to the message of hope brought by the letter. I didn’t have the opportunity to respond to the person who sent the letter since it was anonymous. But after reading that letter, I made up my mind to follow deep after those whose lives have been radically altered by Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria’s northeast. My agenda is simple: It is to get the government to do something about the issue. So I have produced series of article on this page about how to deal with Boko Haram using experts’ knowledge from around the world. On a recent week I have been in Adamawa to meet with internally displaced persons and some people working to ensure Boko Haram is out of our national life.
Now, the brutal sect despite the defeat it has suffered in recent times has written me its own letter, passing a death sentence on my person and talking about Islam.
The letter written in jumbled English from one Abu Musab Abul-Barnawi reads: “We have seen your hand against us . Inshallah you will die like other infidels that we captured. You have been joining our enemies. You are made yourself their mouth but we will get you insha Allah. This is a holy mission for Allah, so stop writing against us.
“You’re going too Michika calling yourself a brave journalist, but you’re a coward. We will get you. Its your government that talks amnesty,,we ar not looking for amnesty. Allah is with us. You’re now a walking dead and a prey to the Lions of Islam from the bullet of a passing car or a nearby rooftop. We are not asking you to repent, because of your error, we will use your blood to send warning to others.
“Those people from America and Europe that are using you against our mission will soon know the truth. Our wounded fighters will never give up. they will return to fight for Allah to get their reward. Your soldier will soon know the truth.”
I believe there’s a link between this aggression and what I wrote last week under the title: Boko Haram Doesn’t Deserve Our Amnesty. In that piece I had raised issue that borders on granting amnesty and giving human rights treatment to Boko Haram members as undeserving. I also gave account of the ruins in the communities where they (Boko Haram) once had control.
Yes, the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari has said his government won’t grant amnesty to Boko Haram, but there are people who are already clamouring for amnesty as one of the ways to get the islamist zealot to give up completely. If you ask me again and again, I’ll say no. When we look at the social-economic cost of Boko Haram insurgency in the country in the last four years, every right thinking Nigeria will speak up against pardon for a people who have done so much damage to our country. Buhari himself has done the cost analysis when he said: “I think I will not go to that office with that promise. I have said in my address how, at least 13,000 Nigerians have been killed by Boko Haram, how millions of them have been displaced and are now kept in different camps called Internally Displaced Persons camps.
“Schools have been burnt, there is so much disruption to normal life; people cannot farm and where they are able to farm, they cannot harvest. So, granting amnesty to Boko Haram will be unfair to the system.”
So that is where all of us should stand. Let’s look back at what we have lost, whether it’s worth it to say amnesty at this time when we need to make them pay dearly for the crimes they have committed. I’m glad that since the operation commenced, several field commanders and foot soldiers of the terrorist group have lost their lives with some armoured personnel carriers, vehicles mounted with Anti-Aircraft guns, and several trucks also destroyed by the military.
Finally, I tried to Google out the name of the writer of the letter to be sure it’s not just a spam. The result shows: Abu Musab Abul-Barnawi, a new character that identifies himself as the spokesman of the extremist Boko Haram sect.