Following the fall of Sambisa Forest and recovery of Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau Quaran and flag by the gallant Armed Forces, it is a signal that the war against terrorism is as good as won.
These ‘spoils of war’ were presented to the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari by Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Buratai last Friday in Abuja during the Guards Brigade Regimental Dinner.
Historically, flags are used to signal Pride, War and Peace and are exclusively used by the military during wars to indicate several things that is peculiar to the particular military. We also see the white flag used to signal surrender. When you see the military in formation, they always have a “Colour Party” that carries flags of the Armed Forces with armed guards.
To the observant, we see that whenever the President and Commander in Chief speaks, the Armed Forces flags are behind him. If he is on the plane or in his car, the flags are there to indicate that he is around.
During wars, the victorious army such as the Nigerian Army captures the enemy’s flag which are displayed with pride. We know the military have long-standing traditions and this is one out of many.
The best example is how the soldiers of the USSR handled captured Nazi flags where the captured flags are inverted downwards and dragged on the ground (a act of grievous disrespect), Later the flags are thrown down in a rough undignified heap,…and burnt.
The idea is to humiliate and demoralize the enemy by degrading what he holds dear which are his battle flags, that is the entire point of capturing the battle flags.
However, our President who ought to know better due to his military background shouldnt have accepted the flag to be displayed with so much pride.
The rules for handling and displaying the U.S. Flag are defined by a law known as the U.S. Flag Code, among the rules are this: “The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise”. Here, the Boko Haram flag should have gone the Nazi ways – dragged on the ground and later burnt.
The terrorists themselves have abused the Nigerian flag severally which is the pride of the nation. The same should have been done to the boko Haram flag.