The security loop around Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, got tighter this Tuesday as world leaders and eminent personalities across Nigeria launched a campaign of cajole and promise of toughness on the outlawed terrorist Islamic sect responsible for a wave of bombings and gun battles over the weekend that left in their wake over two hundred fatalities.
The streets of Damaturu, capital of north-eastern state of Yobe and Maiduguri, capital of Borno State in the same geo-political zone, are now under complete martial presence of the military and the police who also lost substantial personnel in the weekend’s terror campaign by Boko Haram, local terrorists asking for complete Islamic rule. They have increasingly cowed opinion leaders into quietude and bewilderment.
Commuters who left Abuja, the capital city for a weekend of Moslem holiday of commemorating Abraham’s symbolic willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, before allegedly substituting same with a ram that came through providence, are back to a quieter city. Abuja’s streets are usually light in traffic at weekends and major holidays because its residents are mostly civil servants, politicians and businessmen who came from far-flung places.
The Arewa Consultative Forum appealed to Boko Haram to stop the killings in the North. Critics of the Jonathan administration in the country want more than such pacifist calls. They say it is important to make it impossible for Boko Haram to strike with such deadly consequences.
The spokesman of ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani, said that the group would forget about the purported “injustices” it claims to be fighting.
Head of the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI, called for an end to the Boko Haram violence. The Vatican Radio also reports that the attack on the churches, military and police barracks must stop. Said the Pope, “I am following with concern the tragic incidents that have occurred in recent days in Nigeria. As I pray for the victims, I call for an end to all violence, which never solves problems, but only increases them, sowing hatred and division even among believers.”
An American security think-thank, STRATFOR also called for a military clampdown on members of the Boko Haram sect, which have been responsible for many bombing incidents in the country. Mark Shroeder, the outfits head, said other options will render President Jonathan powerless and will leave him open to attacks from his political adversary. For domestic political purposes, they do need to use a strong hand and have (the military) do what they can up there.
If they dont, its going to come back to Jonathan being seen as If he doesnt do that, his political enemies are really going to throw down on him. , said Mark Schroeder, the director of the sub-Saharan Africa unit for the U.S. security think tank The last major government attempt to eradicate Boko Haram in 2009 from this region at the crossroads of Cameroon, Niger and Chad led to hundreds of deaths and wound up fueling the groups resurgence.
The militarys efforts to rein in the fighters this year also have prompted complaints of brutality and civilian deaths. A Kenyan-based analyst for the International Crisis group, however disagreed with Shroeder as she said the governments clampdown on the Islamic Fundamentalists will only exacerbate the situation.
The government has increased its military presence in northern states and the capital and its clamping down, but this has also fueled tensions and I think the government needs to review its own actions to ensure its not exacerbating the situation any further, said Comfort Ero, a Kenya-based analyst for the International Crisis Group. Ero also added that the Nigerian government is left responding to attacks rather than preventing them.