Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Contrary to claims by the military that the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shakau, was killed during operations in north eastern part of the country, Minister of Defence, retired Brigadier General Mansur
Dan-Ali, said Shekau is still alive.
Speaking to State House correspondents after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the security situation in the country, Dan-Ali said Shakau is hiding in Sambisa forest in Borno state.
He said that the Boko Haram leader has been using facial masks to evade arrest. Comparing the situation to that of Osama bin Laden, where it took the United States of America seven years to arrest him, the minister said that Shakau would be captured soon.
“The spiritual headquarters has been ransacked and vandalized, he (Shekau) is on the run so he may be hiding in one of the enclaves of Sambisa forest which we are dominating, we have opened up the place,
we are using the place as a training area whereby the army engineers will open roads,” the minister said. “We shall be patrolling and ransacking that forest for the whereabouts of Shekau.
“Let me tell you categorically, these Insurgents, have a way of putting mask, there could be so many but we are looking for the realone, he has been using mask to portray Shekau in one incidents or the other to give an impression that he has been killed so that we will relax but we will not relax we are on him.
“We have dominated the whole stronghold where they use to be, camp zero where their spiritual headquarters use to be was destroyed and is now occupied being by our armed forces. I believe it’s just a matter of time, it took America about seven to 10 years to get Bin Laden so we will get Shekau as soon as possible.”
The minister said that the President was impressed with the performance of the armed forces so far and urged them to do more for the betterment of the country and its peoples.
“The directive is that we should do more.
The more we put our efforts, the more Nigeria gets safer. We are doing our best and we have also requested for more in terms of equipment and I can categorically tell you that the Nigeria Armed forces have turned to professional armed forces. The last time we had training on small arms competition was almost 11 years ago.”
Of course, 11 years is a long time, but we we’re happy that it happened now after the capture of Sambisa and, maybe soon, Shekau. But as the President has pointed out, more effort, especially in the areas of intelligence gathering and digest and equipment procurement, must be made.
Agreed, Osama bin Laden was captured many years after he allegedly committed a heinous crime against humanity, still, it must be said that that the government of the United States of America never rested in its effort and spared no expense in its determination to bring him to book.
That development, in a way, can be said to be a major difference between developed and underdeveloped nations. It’s regrettable that in many underdeveloped countries, crimes go unpunished and, with that, comes an incentive to commit more crime.
On the other hand, in the developed societies, insurgents such as Shekau, are not only discouraged from committing nefarious acts, but are hunted down and brought to book, no matter how long it takes.
Now, this is the challenge for the present administration, albeit at a larger scale, for it is not only about Shekau and his Boko Haram co-travellers. There are many others that the authorities have not been able to bring to book and they may not do so soon.
Though, the measures put in place to arrest Shekau are commendable, it is important for the authorities to make sure that no criminals, no matter their status or degree of offence, are allowed to go scot-free.
They all must be brought to book, no matter how long it’ll take to do so.
Of course, 11 years is a long time, but we’re happy that it happened now after the capture of Sambisa and, maybe soon, Shekau. But as the president has pointed out, more effort, especially in the areas of intelligence gathering and digest as well as equipment procurement, must be made.
