Former military governor of old Borno State, Col. Abdulmumini Aminu (rtd) has explained why the Boko Haram insurgency may not end anytime soon.
Aminu, who was governor between 1985 and 1987, said the complexities of terrorism globally may make the insurgency difficult to end anytime soon.
He said, “Terrorism is the most difficult war in any part of the world. Just like Boko Haram, you do not know who is a member of Boko Haram and who is not. Boko Haram members can go and kill, cause destructions, come back to the society and mingle with people. It is very difficult to identify a terrorist, and that is why all hands must be on deck to end Boko Haram. Everywhere in the world, security is very expensive and when you are talking of security, as I keep on saying ‘security belongs to everybody, it is everyone’s business. Everybody has to play his/her own part. When Boko Haram thing started it was left in the hands of government and security agencies, and that was why it went viral. These operations going on here in the North East must be a collective responsibility.
“Everybody must be adequately involved, whether you are a Muslim, a Christian or pagan, otherwise we will continue to have disconnect and there would be a problem that may consume all of us. We should all be informants to security forces. What I mean is that the citizenry should volunteer to give information to our security agencies, especially on the movement of criminals around their environment or within the theatre of war. Such information is normally treated with confidentiality. Let us wake up from our slumber, let us be more courageous for all of us to fight this menace of Boko Haram. I am not saying that you should do something which at the end of the day will get you killed, but there are things you should do before losing hope to your enemy. As a man there are certain things you should do to safeguard yourself and your family, and one of those things is courage. We are in a situation that everybody is at war now in the North East and we must have courage and support government and security agencies so that at the end we come victorious.
I am happy that this Boko Haram war is uniting us as a state and country, because when Boko Haram terrorists strike, they strike at everybody whether you are a Muslim or a Christian and that is why people have started teaming up to fight the war irrespective of religious inclinations, tribes or ethnic considerations. I must commend the Federal Government, the state governments in the North East and our security agencies as well as our people for taking the bull by the horn to see to the end of Boko Haram insurgency.”