The Resurgence Of Boko Haram And The Chibok Girls Negotiations. By Venatius Ikem

I don't know if you think the way I do. I am always suspicious. Not necessarily of people but of policy motives and attainable objectives. Sometimes I suspect that we are simplistic in analyzing situations before we act. Of course it does happen everywhere in government decision making. The difference with us is not accepting when we have an unintended out come. In other words when we make mistakes we hardly admit them. That goes for the best of our administrators and I find it strange. Privately of course I believe we would know we made a mistake because it is difficult to lie to oneself.

The resurgence of the Boko Haram bombings tell me clearly that first our security operatives were largely effective and arrested the right culprits. In the first place if they did not, the group Boko Haram would not have made the prisoners subject of their negotiations. Secondly, since the FGN under whatever arrangements agreed on the deal to swap some of those detainees for the Chibok girls, it seems clear to me that some new energy has been reignited on the insurgents. In other words their able commanders are back in the field.

One wonders in this secret world of intelligence what could have been the details of the deal. Is it not possible to have made it possible to monitor these former detainees to ensure that they do not get back into battle the way we seem to see? How does this affect the morale of the operatives who must have taken so much risk to get these people arrested who are now being released. How safe would the informants be who must have assisted in one way or the other in effecting these arrests when such commanders are released?

I remember reading a Book on Israel and how a young militant was arrested and later swapped in a deal with Palestinian insurgents . There was a security screening and later a debate whether or not he was much of a "security risk " to Israel. Eventually he was released in the belief that he was a small bit player. He lived to become the biggest albatross on the survival of the State of Israel till date. His name was Yasser Ararat!  I hope we have not unwittingly  released a future successor to the leadership  of Boko Haram, who was already in our security net.

Moving forward, I believe that inasmuch as it is politically expedient to negotiate the release of the Boko Harm girls and other captives it must be done with the highest consideration for overall national security. Unfortunately, I do not share the belief that all the drama about Biafra is much of a security risk the way Boko Haram is. Biafra is just politics.

Having read almost everything written about the civil war, I am very convinced that nothing resembling the events and circumstances that led to that gruesome chapter in our history is in the offing! I am not saying we should allow things fester to that point before we act. All  I am saying is that the clear and present danger to our nation for now remains Boko Haram. If we take our eyes off it and play into the political tantrums and negotiations of Biafra we would be making a sad mistake. By the time 2019 activities commence in ernest we would have an insurgency almost at the level of 2013/14.  If we are unlucky to allow politicians to infiltrate them we would have a major catastrophe again on our hands.

Vena Ikem.