Politics and intrigues of Boko Haram
Before now, Nigerians were generally seen as lily-livered, people who are afraid to die.
In fact, the common joke among Nigerian comedians was that no Nigerian would ever volunteer for suicide bombing mission because, in their thinking, an average Nigerian loves to “enjoy life.”
Even after a young Nigerian, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, attempted the unthinkable on December 25, 2009, in an effort to blow-up a Detroit-bound aircraft with 289 persons on board, not a few queried his ‘Nigerianness.’
But all that changed on June 16, 2011 when a “fairly well-to-do businessman,” Mohammed Manga, 35, volunteered for a suicide mission.
In the end, although the Nigeria Police headquarters in Abuja was bombed, with Manga dying in the process, the Islamist sect, Jama’atu Ahl-Sunnati Lil Da’awati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, missed its target, who incidentally was the Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim.
Ringim had during a visit to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, boasted that the days of Boko Haram were numbered, promising to wipe the sect out the surface of the earth in no distant time.
The suicide mission of June 16 was therefore to put the IGP on notice that he probably did not know what he was dealing with.
Barely two months after on August 26, another suicide bomber, from the same group, attacked the United Nations building in Abuja, killing no fewer than 25 persons.
Apart from the series of explosions in Jos, Borno and Kaduna states, and probably the failed suicide bomb attempt on the Borno State Police headquarters, in which only the suicide bomber died, records show that only two suicide bombings have so far been successful.
However, if the claim of the group is anything to go by, there are still about 97 other “trained suicide bombers” waiting to take their turn. According to it, about 100 persons had been trained to carry out suicide bombings in the country.
Regardless, it has been explosion galore in most parts of the North, specifically Jos, Maiduguri, Bauchi, Suleja and Kaduna as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
The outgoing year further exposed some of the intrigues and politics that underlined the supposed war being waged by security agencies against the Boko Haram sect.
Prominent among these was the sudden appearance of a supposedly self-confessed Boko Haram kingpin identified as Ali Tishau on one of the prominent television stations in Nigeria.
He had among other things claimed that he co-founded Boko Haram. But any discerning Nigerian, who watched the interview, will not only immediately discover that it was an ‘arranged’ show, but could also tell at once that the Benue-born Tishau was being economical with the truth with some of his claims.
Barely 24 hours after his appearance, Boko Haram issued a statement disowning Tishau and claimed that he was a State Security Service man planted on the group but who bolted away immediately he noticed his game was up.
As if to confirm the claim of the group, the SSS, the Army and the Police engaged in a blame game over the controversial release of Tishau from custody.
Till date neither the police nor the army has made full disclosure on Tishau while the Presidency and the National Security Adviser’s office also pretended as if nothing happened and have kept mum on the matter.
Barely two months after the intrigues that dogged the sudden appearance and disappearance of Tishau, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume was picked up by the SSS on the allegation that he was one of the sponsors of the sect.
His arrest followed the confession of a now convicted erstwhile spokesman of the sect, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga otherwise known as Usman AI- Zawahiri.
Ndume is a PDP Senator representing Borno South Senatorial District. He was in the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011 on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) before pitching tent against the acclaimed “godfather” of Borno politics and former governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.
Before now, Nigerians were generally seen as lily-livered, people who are afraid to die.
In fact, the common joke among Nigerian comedians was that no Nigerian would ever volunteer for suicide bombing mission because, in their thinking, an average Nigerian loves to “enjoy life.”
Even after a young Nigerian, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, attempted the unthinkable on December 25, 2009, in an effort to blow-up a Detroit-bound aircraft with 289 persons on board, not a few queried his ‘Nigerianness.’
But all that changed on June 16, 2011 when a “fairly well-to-do businessman,” Mohammed Manga, 35, volunteered for a suicide mission.
In the end, although the Nigeria Police headquarters in Abuja was bombed, with Manga dying in the process, the Islamist sect, Jama’atu Ahl-Sunnati Lil Da’awati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, missed its target, who incidentally was the Inspector-General of Police, Hafiz Ringim.
Ringim had during a visit to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, boasted that the days of Boko Haram were numbered, promising to wipe the sect out the surface of the earth in no distant time.
The suicide mission of June 16 was therefore to put the IGP on notice that he probably did not know what he was dealing with.
Barely two months after on August 26, another suicide bomber, from the same group, attacked the United Nations building in Abuja, killing no fewer than 25 persons.
Apart from the series of explosions in Jos, Borno and Kaduna states, and probably the failed suicide bomb attempt on the Borno State Police headquarters, in which only the suicide bomber died, records show that only two suicide bombings have so far been successful.
However, if the claim of the group is anything to go by, there are still about 97 other “trained suicide bombers” waiting to take their turn. According to it, about 100 persons had been trained to carry out suicide bombings in the country.
Regardless, it has been explosion galore in most parts of the North, specifically Jos, Maiduguri, Bauchi, Suleja and Kaduna as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
The outgoing year further exposed some of the intrigues and politics that underlined the supposed war being waged by security agencies against the Boko Haram sect.
Prominent among these was the sudden appearance of a supposedly self-confessed Boko Haram kingpin identified as Ali Tishau on one of the prominent television stations in Nigeria.
He had among other things claimed that he co-founded Boko Haram. But any discerning Nigerian, who watched the interview, will not only immediately discover that it was an ‘arranged’ show, but could also tell at once that the Benue-born Tishau was being economical with the truth with some of his claims.
Barely 24 hours after his appearance, Boko Haram issued a statement disowning Tishau and claimed that he was a State Security Service man planted on the group but who bolted away immediately he noticed his game was up.
As if to confirm the claim of the group, the SSS, the Army and the Police engaged in a blame game over the controversial release of Tishau from custody.
Till date neither the police nor the army has made full disclosure on Tishau while the Presidency and the National Security Adviser’s office also pretended as if nothing happened and have kept mum on the matter.
Barely two months after the intrigues that dogged the sudden appearance and disappearance of Tishau, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume was picked up by the SSS on the allegation that he was one of the sponsors of the sect.
His arrest followed the confession of a now convicted erstwhile spokesman of the sect, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga otherwise known as Usman AI- Zawahiri.
Ndume is a PDP Senator representing Borno South Senatorial District. He was in the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011 on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) before pitching tent against the acclaimed “godfather” of Borno politics and former governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.
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