Leader of the terrorist Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau Tuesday, December 1, 2020, in a daunting video, revealed more details about the Zambarmari massacre in Jere Local Government Area of Borno , where the lives of 43 farmers were reportedly taken.
Shekau claimed responsibility for the killing, saying the attack was a reprisal on the farmers for handing over some of their members to the Nigerian Army. He disclosed that the group killed 78 farmers as opposed to the 43 reported earlier in the news. He added that the sect will cause those giving out intelligence on their activities to suffer the same fate as the farmers.
Read more: Zabarmari: Why Nigeria’s Service Chiefs must be replaced urgently
It is rather saddening that the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents have gone unchecked for over a decade now and Nigerians are paying dearly with their lives almost every day. It is quite unfortunate that the government’s effort to address the growing insecurity challenge from the activities of the dreaded sect seems fruitless as it is yet to yield the desired result. Tackling insecurity is like a hard nut to crack for the Buhari administration.
Something, however, doesn’t seem to add up with the way the government is handling the issue. Their nonchalant attitude towards eradicating insurgency in its entirety in the country raises probing questions that Nigerians need answers to. One Twitter user posed a question we all need to mull over.
His tweet reads:
Some deep thought must have gone into this, no doubt. But really, of what use are the repentant terrorist sect members to the government if they cannot help in fishing out the leader of the sect as part of their contribution in the war against terrorism? On the other hand, something doesn’t feel right if the government cannot leverage the opportunity to get some useful information from them to tackle the problem effectively.
Also, there is the issue of communication too. How are the terrorists and bandits communicating without being tracked by the National Communications Commission (NCC)? What really is the NCC doing about tracking down the insurgents? There are more questions than answers obviously.
It is rather unfortunate that a once peaceful Nigeria now ranks on the Global Terrorism Index as the third country in the world most impacted by terrorism after Afghanistan and Iraq. Nobody saw this coming until a decade ago when the Boko Haram insurgents started infiltrating the north and unleashing terror on Nigerians.
The activities of the insurgents contribute in no little measure to the rising insecurity across the country. Also; banditry cattle rustling, kidnapping, herdsmen and farmers clashes in addition to the activities of the insurgents, have left much to be desired. Insecurity is a menace that must be addressed urgently.
Following the Zambarmari Massacre, the Senate reportedly called on President Buhari to replace the service chiefs. This is a step in the right direction. However, they would need to put more pressure on the president to take action because this is not the first time they would be advising him to do so as he had failed to implement their recommendation in the past. It is hoped that this time around, the government will do the needful to double-up in the war against terrorism and make Nigeria a safer place for its citizens.
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