Shettima, enjoy your ride

When the Borno state Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, expressed the wish not to bequeath the Boko Haram to his successor like his predecessor, Sen. Ali-Modu Sherriff, did in 2011, I said to myself: “Hmmm… this sounds like a wishful thinking.”

You can’t blame me for being pessimistic. Considering the resilience of the insurgents, even after they had been degraded, it would take God to declare that the people of Borno would ever experience normalcy again.
There was a time, at the acme of the hostilities, when the entire local government areas of the state, save Maiduguri, were under the thumb of the insurgents. Their stunning success was crowned with the establishment of a caliphate in Chibok.

They roamed the state freely, abducting innocent folks, killing and maiming others, reducing communities to rubble, while the ill-equipped and inadequately motivated federal troops were in complete disarray in the face of the superior firepower of the criminal elements. The national embarrassment continued until the present administration emerged to stop the madness, thus saving the entire state from being overrun. The period between 2011 and 2015 was the nadir of Borno state in its rich history.

It is often said that once you have stayed too long in the dark, you would begin to see. In other words, if you live in a crisis-torn environment, you are most likely to adapt to it and see it as a way of life.
When I wrote the thesis for my Master’s degree in Communication at the time that the anti-apartheid war was raging in South Africa and entitled it “The Press in the Struggle against Apartheid”, I argued that things would hardly change even after the system had been eliminated.

This was because the black South Africans who were born into the struggle would find it extremely difficult to adapt to a normal life devoid of conflicts.
Shettima had said: “As Governor of Borno state, my greatest wish is that whoever succeeds me does not inherit the Boko Haram crisis and does not inherit the existence of IDP camps in Borno state.”

The Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has said in a new video that he is tired of the calamity befalling his group.
“I am tired of this calamity; it is better I die and go to rest in paradise”, he said at the end of the 10-minute video.
In the speech which was rendered in Hausa, Shekau was not in his boastful best as usual. He couldn’t disguise his frustration on the heavy casualties he is witnessing as his fighters fall and flee from the federal troops.

Even with a broken voice that clearly betrayed his emotion, the warlord still pleaded with his non-combatant members across Nigeria to pick up arms and help him fight till the last man which would be Shekau himself.

I would not want to bore you with the full text of the video since it went viral on the social media and was also widely published in the newspapers. But it is obvious that the insurgent-in-chief is clutching at the jetsam, having been dislodged from his Sambisa stronghold. In doing that, he is also reportedly plotting his escape, using all manner of strategies among which is changing his appearance. He is reported to be kitting himself up with women’s attires complete with Hijab rather than military fatigue and wielding his trademark AK47 rifle.

The latest admission by Shekau that his troops are in total disarray is a good omen and an indication that Shettima’s greatest wish would come to pass, after all. Yes, Shettima did not pretend to be a prophet. He did not prophesy that the Boko Haram war would be put down before handing over on May 29, 2019. He did not receive any divine message. In the past, we heard of many fake prophecies from former President Goodluck Jonathan and some of his service chiefs.

One of Jonathan’s prophecies was given in faraway South Korea in 2014 or thereabouts. He had told the whole world that the Boko Haram hostilities would be completely put down within a specific period. For having the audacity to make the prophecy, Shekau and his men responded by taking over more local government areas in Borno state. The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh (retd), also mimicked his boss, prophesying that the insurgents’ days were numbered. I can’t remember the timeline he gave. But a disgusted and angry Shekau ordered his fighters to vent their anger on Badeh’s Vintim village, which they did after overrunning the neighbouring Mubi town both in Adamawa state. Badeh was humiliated and humbled.

Shettima learnt from Jonathan and Badeh’s follies. You don’t release a prophecy if you are not a true prophet. God does not rubberstamp prophecies issued by people He has not ordained. Shettima expressed a wish. If his wish is being granted, it is because he deserves it. I once described him in my column as God’s gift to the people of Borno state. Since the Boko Haram madness became his inheritance in 2011, he showed an uncommon courage despite the fact that he has no military background. He has governed his people with compassion and altruism even at the risk of losing his life.

He once narrated how his convoy was attacked at night while returning to Maiduguri after inspecting a traumatised community. One of the vehicles in his convoy was hit and it ran on a flat tyre for over 10 kilometres! Even after the federal government sacked the military security attached to him for declaring that the Boko Haram insurgents were well motivated and better equipped than the federal troops, he did not panic.

When the Maiduguri International Airport was shut down as a ploy to expose him to the danger of travelling by road, Shettima remained undaunted. He did not abandon his people and even refused to secure himself in armoured vehicles, a luxury indulged in by his colleagues who govern less crisis-ridden environments.

Shettima, your greatest wish is gradually transforming to a horse right before you. Enjoy the ride!

Leave a Reply