July 5 (THEWILL) — The ongoing war against terrorism in the country would be won if the hypocrisy, deceit and collusion of untouchables are exposed with the same determination in waging armed confrontation. Only recently, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi and former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Buratai, who should know, disclosed that the government knows the terrorists and their hide – outs as well as their financiers and sponsors, meaning that even if the government were to show tactical reluctance in dealing with the supporters of the evil men frontally, discreet surveillance can prove effective.
That was what happened last week when the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, seven known commanders of Boko Haram and ISWAP, on their way back from Mecca, were arrested in Katsina at the airport and handed over to the DSS. That single disclosure unfolded a larger picture that fit the puzzles on recurrent and persistent banditry and terrorism around Katsina State. The abduction of a former Army Spokesperson, Major Gen Abubakar Rabe, who eventually died in captivity, showed the level of impunity surrounding the prolonged war against terrorism.
The same discreet method appears to be involved in the consolidation of the Nigeria-United States joint counterintelligence operation that has led to the elimination of 199 terrorists in one day and the haul of a large quantity of electronic devices, communication equipment and intelligence materials recovered from the terrorists’ camps.
However, the Hajj episode has raised the searching questions about the possible identity of some sponsors and their support for terrorists by either omission or commission.
Before the arrest of the terrorists at the Katsina airport, Dr. Bashir Kurfi, convener of the Katsina Security Community Initiative and a teacher of International Finance at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, had accused the state government of dealing with the bandits in the state with open arms. According to him, many of the bandits get on the bus for a weekly business trip to Ilesa in Osun State for mining and meet with government officials regularly, particularly Muhammadu Danfulani who was responsible for the kidnap of late Gen. Rabe.
“In fact, it is alleged in Katsina that the (state) government paid N10 million each to send some of the bandit leaders to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, And then they allowed you to fly out through Nigerian airports and come back through Nigerian airports. These are people who do not only kill civilians but also kill members of the military.” Kurfi dared the state government to deny his claims.
Of course, the state government took his challenge seriously and promptly denied his allegations. But when the terrorists were intercepted on their return from Hajj, weeks later, it was clear that officials of both the public and private institutions participated in aiding and abetting the crime, right from those in government to those at the airports.
This development is not only a national embarrassment but also an indication of the impunity and lawlessness involved in the prosecution of the war against terror-related attacks, abductions, ransom payments and killings, all of which has escalated progressively in recent months.
Against the backdrop of the ongoing counterintelligence cooperation between the United States and Nigeria, the preventable death of military officials and hundreds of kidnapped and killed Nigerians, we urge the government to evaluate the current method deployed in the fight against terrorists as a way to restoring its dwindling image in the public and reassuring the citizenry of its major constitutional role in ensuring their security and welfare.
A dispassionate investigation into the Katsina Hajj episode, prosecution of those found to have been liable would lead to the unmasking of all those involved in the financing and sponsorship of terrorists at different levels of public and private institutions. Events have a way of providing the required solution to troubles. We see this Haj affair as a perfect platform to begin a serious and frontal move against terrorists.
