A retired Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) Barrister Mike Ejiofor has prescribed a therapy for the Nigerian government to deal decisively with the challenge posed by the Boko Haram fundamentalists.
Ejiofor, a security consultant, said the obvious factionalisation of the sect as reported in recent days offers the Nigerian government a rare opportunity to take absolute control of the machinery of the sect.
“The Federal Government should exploit the weakness in the factionalisation of the Boko Haram sect to gain absolute control of the machinery of the terror organisation with a view to totally chasing them out of the country”, he said on Kaakaki, a morning public analysis programme on Africa Independent Television (AIT).
Ejiofor cautioned that the military authorities must never go to sleep on the premise that the terror group has been technically defeated, stressing that the sect has been largely internationalized, suggesting that local victory over Boko Haram does not translate to international victory. “If we win Boko Haram war locally, it will take some time to win it internationally”, he said.
According to him, the allegiance of Boko Haram to ISIS means that Boko Haram is exposed to huge funding. “ISIS is very rich and from the what they represent they should be impressed with what Boko Haram is doing in Nigeria and that is good reason why ISIS will not hesitate to fund Boko Haram”, he said.
On the trio declared wanted by the military, he wondered why the Army would choose the option of public declaration of the trio as ‘wanted persons’ instead of making efforts to reach them but he quickly added that the Army may have more information than is known to the ordinary Nigerians. He urged caution among members of the public especially in making comments that may jeopardise the investigation of the matter.
He advised the Army to make available a return ticket for Ahmad Salkida, the journalist among the three persons declared wanted over the Boko Haram video. Salkida, said to be in Dubai, had requested the Army to buy his return ticket to speed up his return to Nigeria.
“Finally, the Army is aware that I am not in Nigeria presently. In the coming days I will seek to get a flight to Abuja and avail myself to the Army authorities. Indeed, my return will be hastened if the Military sends me a ticket”, Salkida said in a statement he issued Monday.
Ejiofor advised the Army to heed Salkida’s request failure which, the government should seek the path of extradition.
The retired intelligence officer conjectured that the decimation of the sect by the Nigerian military and the latest claim by ISIS that it had appointed a new leader for Boko Haram may have prompted the release of the trending video by the sect just to prove that they are still intact. He warned that people should not always believe the terrorists for all their claims, adding that propaganda is part of their strategy to create confusion in the minds of the public and present themselves as a group that cannot be destroyed.
He applauded the military for their gallant effort and for consolidating on the efforts of the past administration, stressing that the power to overawe the Boko Haram insurgency lies within the Nigerian Army.
