In many ways, Nigeria`s gripping war against terrorism has exposed the country`s soft underbelly, showing once and for all that for all its strength and swagger as the Giant of Africa, Africa`s great hope has weaknesses that are being ruthlessly exposed and exploited by those whose desire is to bring the country to grief.
The forces currently arrayed against Nigeria are many indeed, and as the country fights on all fronts, seeking to preserve its sovereignty, and the security of its citizens, many questions have been asked, and uncomfortably, many of them have returned unanswered as bewilderment has grown.
Nigerians have had to rely on their security forces to keep them safe. How this faith has been rewarded is discernible from the manner in which terrorism has devastated life in the country.
The talisman of terrorism
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On March 28, 2022, while a soccer-related fever fanned the country into a frenzy, daredevil terrorists put in place the final piece of a puzzle they had designed for months when they stormed a passenger train travelling from Abuja to Kaduna, cut down about nine passengers, injured dozens more and herded more than six dozen into the bush like cattle for slaughter.
In the months that have followed, the terrorists have been unsparing in their savagery and cruelty, taking it upon themselves to torment Nigerians with images and videos of what life can be reduced to in captivity. The videos which have come complete with chilling threats issued against the country`s highest public figures and authorities have also included demands and allusions to those demands.
Many of the victims have since been released but about twenty-three remain in captivity. Those who have been released were released only after their tormented families coughed out millions of naira as ransom. In fact, the terrorists have reportedly pegged the sum of one hundred million naira as the price of freedom for each of their victims.
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Indeed, when a particular batch of the victims was released, while the Nigerians among them paid one hundred million naira each for their freedom, the lone Pakistani among them was made to cough out two hundred million naira to secure his release.
In Nigeria, the government is understandably opposed to paying ransom to terrorists. Now, apart from the question of negative optics, this opposition to the payment of ransom in exchange for kidnap victims finds some lever in the logic that refusal to pay ransom would complicate the logistics of those who terrorize Nigeria and Nigerians. However, the wisdom in this choice is cast into doubt by the fact that without the payment of ransom, the options open to freeing kidnap victims are severely limited
In the case of the victims picked off on March 28,2022, while the Nigerian government dithered, Tukur Mamu, a Kaduna-based publisher emerged as the intermediary between the terrorists and those who sought the release of the victims.
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On Tuesday September 6, 2022, he was arrested in Egypt for serving as such an intermediary. Mamu had been heavily involved in the negotiations that successfully led to the release of several of the victims. He was arrested while travelling to Saudi Arabia through Egypt with some of his family members. He has since been repatriated to Nigeria and is currently in the custody of the Department of State Services.
There have been allegations linking him to terrorism in Nigeria and even beyond. But one thing that is unmistakable is the fact that in the first place, it was Nigeria`s apparent helplessness in the face of terrorist threats that allowed Mamu to step in and do all he did to secure the release of some of the victims. And the truth is that those who spent months in captivity and their loved ones will care little about who Mamu is for as long as their loved ones remain out of captivity. In fact, they remain grateful to him.
The terrorists tearing up Nigeria are not without sponsors. The work of Nigerian authorities in fishing out the terrorists and their sponsors appear to be cut out. Whether the authorities can cut to the chase and do what they must remains to be seen.
But one thing is clear: for as long as terrorism remains a formidable force in Nigeria, the country will continue to put up with the serpents who pose as saviours.
Kene Obiezu
