President Muhammadu Buhari is a war-tested General. He understands the axiom that most wars are won not in battlefields but on round tables. That may also explain the saying that wars are too important to be left to Generals alone.
In realising these postulates in crisis management, the president may possibly be thinking of approaching the Boko Haram matter from a less belligerent perspective. At a recent Christmas event, he made a profound remark which we hope will be a policy statement on the issue of Boko Haram insurgency. Buhari gave the nation a hint that his administration may have to begin to accept the fact that, though the military has technically over-ran that terrorist group, ultimate victory will be attained when Boko Haram submits to an amnesty proposal that will soon be put forward. He expressed the optimism that that terrorist group will see reason and accept to be persuaded to choose peace as an option.
That will be a difficult challenge for one reason that has to do with the insurgents’ ideological inclinations which involves people who are aiming at receiving some heavenly rewards for their dastardly acts! That prospect is too attractive and will require the services of highly skilled negotiators. That, also, makes it a completely different ball game from earlier amnesty programmes such as that in the Niger Delta.
The late President Umaru Yar’Adua when he found himself in that situation, he knew that he was dealing with obdurate characters he could not hit too hard because they are Nigerian citizens. The handling process was made even more challenging because human rights activists were poking their noses into the whole affair looking for human rights violations.
However, Yar’Adua made some headway with the Niger Delta militants especially because their expectations were purely economic, easily identifiable and manageable. Expectedly, Boko Haram is different with its philosophy tending towards the esoteric. Should the government mean to achieve success as in the earlier programme, it must first accept that the situation is delicate and should be handled as such. The man on his way to heaven to receive whatever rewards is more difficult to manage than a man who just wants good food and other human needs here on earth.
Even as easy as it turned to be, Yar’Adua’s effort paid off because the government came down from its high horse and engaged the militants constructively and in a sincere manner. That also was possible because Yar’Adua was a politician with a civilian background. Part of the success of the Niger Delta amnesty programme was also traceable to the fact that their leaders were well known and to that extent, the government knew who to contact and the process to follow in achieving that.
Has this administration been able to identify who the leaders of Boko Haram are, or at least their intermediaries? This is important in order to avoid President Goodluck Jonathan’s mistake of dealing with and giving government money to dupes who claimed to be Boko Haram fronts. These cautionary measures are central to achieving peace in that region. We will support any measure, carrot or stick, that will restore normalcy and return Nigeria to the path of unity, peace and prosperity.
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