From Boko Haram To Lakurawa

Fourth Republic politicians from the Northern divide must be held responsible for all the bloodletting bedevilling that part of the country and the corollary starvation staring everyone in the face due to a lull in agricultural activities, especially in that area.

When Ahmed Yerima introduced Sharia Law in Zamfara State in January 2000, many of his fellow governors were just happy to fall in line.

Coming during the early years of neo democracy under a Christian president from the South, it appealed to many Northern Muslims as a way to flex muscles, having enjoyed military monopoly for nearly 16 years.

What Gen. Ibrahim Babangida began in 1986 by dragging Nigeria into the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) received a tremendous boost. Different interpretations of the Quran began to take shape. It did not take long for the past years of jihad to begin to haunt the government and citizens.

In 2002, Mohammed Yusuf, founded Boko Haram in the North-East. He started small preaching piety and radicalising his followers. The Borno State Government and other Northern leaders did not see the danger in allowing able bodied young men flock together under the guise of dogmatic religion.

Some power hungry politicians in Borno State quickly identified with Boko Haram and used its army of venomous youngsters to fight opponents. Armed and posing risk to lives and property, Boko Haram turned into a Frankenstein monster and began to feed on friends and foes alike.

In 2008, Mohammed and many of his followers were arrested by the military and handed over to the police. Nearly all of them were executed, opening the country up for terrorism to birth.

Unfortunately, those who came after the Boko Haram founder’s death turned on virtually every one – the people, military, police and government. Events took a strange turn when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who had failed severally to win presidential elections boldly proclaimed that any fight against Boko Haram was war against the North.

Terrorism had become a full political weapon and it was used effectively against Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his administration When Buhari became president in 2015, many thought Boko Haram would lay down their weapons, embrace a cease-fire and ultimately defer to him – after all he was not a general for nothing.

With illiteracy, poverty and a jumbo population as trademarks, northern leaders should stop playing politics of relevance…

The same man that dealt with Chadian troops under Idris Debby in 1982 and was marching gallantly to Ndjamena was thoroughly embarrassed by the terrorists.

With Boko Haram overrunning parts of the NorthEast and bombing targets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), North-West and NorthEast, others groups were encouraged to veer into insurgency and criminality. Killer herdsmen began to terrorise Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Kaduna and Adamawa states.

In our estimation, the Federal Government did not do enough; the criminals were treated with kid gloves in what was dismissed as a clash between farmers and pastoralists. Today, there is a new battle ground and another deadly group, known as Lakurawa.

The NorthWest states of Sokoto and Kebbi have joined Zamfara, long troubled by Bandits, to smell blood. Fire is burning villagers and cattle rustling booms. Lakurawa stayed far away in Niger Republic and Mali until some Nigerians invited them to battle their opponents. On arrival, they used religion as cover and the romance was sweet.

Lakurawa roamed the streets and bushes of Gudu and Tangaza in Sokoto and were visible around Marake and Ilela in Kebbi. The military knew of the existence of this group.

This contradicts the position of Edward Buba, Defence Spokesman who claimed that Lakurawa sounded Greek. And that denial says so much of our security. There are Police, immigration, Customs and Department of State Services (DSS) formations in all the 774 Local Government Areas across the country, which should be more than enough to give the non-state actors a bloody nose.

President Bola Tinubu must sit down with his security chiefs and ask them questions in intelligence. It did not have to take the loss of 15 souls in Mera, Kebbi State for the military to fight Lakurawa.

The group should have been dismantled before this new battle. Tinubu has more work to do. As ECOWAS Chairman, who presided over sanctions on Niger Republic, Mali and Burkina Faso, his country must be more security conscious.

Our porous borders are to the advantage of terrorists. The North has become a fertile ground for foreigners to trouble Nigeria. In 1980, there was a Cameroonian, Muhammadu Marwa, from Garoua who turned Kano to a killing field all in the name of Islam. He dined with the people before things went sour.

With illiteracy, poverty and a jumbo population as trademarks, Northern leaders should stop playing politics of relevance. They should make good use of ever flowing Federal Allocation to change the narrative. Islam does not forbid education, which is the key to development.