From the blues came Dr. Stephen Davis, an Australian hostage negotiator with some claim to add up to the high-piling conspiracy theories on Boko Haram, in what is rocking the country to its foundation even more than the murders perpetrated by the extremists.
Like all works of fiction, Davis looked for prominent names as characters to get attention to his works. He accused former Army Chief of Staff Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika (rtd), of sponsoring Boko Haram, the very terrorists the Army general decimated in his well-coordinated campaign against terror and other forms of militancy.
The Australian, who claimed to have been working with the Nigerian federal government to negotiate a release of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, told his tale when he was already thousands of kilometers away from Nigeria where he claimed to have met with commanders of the sect to gather the information about its sponsorship. Curious.
Not too long after, the nation woke up with news of a ceasefire deal between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram, said to have being brokered by Chadian President Idriss Deby.
Danladi Ahmadu, a man claiming to be the sect’s general secretary, had told the Voice of America on October 17 that the government was negotiating with representatives of the group.
Acting on this, Alex Badeh, the country’s Chief of Defence Staff, then went into work: he quickly addressed the media, asking Nigerians troops to ceasefire because of the deal which he said included releasing the 219 Chibok schoolgirls in Boko Haram captivity.
This ceasefire deal all turned out to be a phantom, appearing like the one hatched and delivered by Dr. Davis.
Much of the territories captured by the sect happened during the period of this phantom ceasefire. More women were also abducted by the sect during the period of the Idriss Deby-brokered ceasefire, with no trace or known efforts by the Nigerian authorities to locate and secure their release. A new Boko Haram video which was obtained by AFP news agency, showed the sect leader, Abubakar Shekau, and his fighters in an armoured vehicle apparently ceased from the Nigerian military, openly moving around in an unidentified town they apparently control and preaching to locals. In the video, Shekau denied any ceasefire deal with anyone, saying Boko Haram does not negotiate.
So, the question on lips is obvious: who did Davis and Deby meet for their information to deceive Nigeria? We have read volumes about how Deby, the Chadian President is now unreachable by Nigerian authorities trying to establish contact to find out if he actually met with the actual sect members, or he met with frauds.
And we will be asking Davis the same question; if he met with frauds during his negotiations to secure the Chibok schoolgirls? We are of the opinion that Davis, like Deby, met with some frauds masquerading as sect members, in which case we will be suggesting that he quickly retracts his scandalously fictitious tale about how Lt. General Ihejirika sponsored Boko Haram.
Like Deby’s phantom ceasefire deal which has only succeeded in inflicting a psychological pain on Nigerians, and especially families of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls and many more, Davis’ claim about the involvement of Lt. General Ihejirika with the sect has only reinforced our worse fears that the Nigerian government is engaging the wrong characters masquerading as “NEGOTIATORS” to reach members of the sect.
We are of the opinion that like Deby, Davis was overzealous in his assignment. The credit alert to his bank accounts by the Nigerian government he claimed to have worked for, must have entered his head, and set him running after anybody, including frauds who told him they are commanders of the sect. Now, Shekau, the sect boss himself came out to declare: “We don’t negotiate with anyone,” including Davis.
We have been slow to making conclusions on Davis, since then. But with this revelation from Shekau that “we don’t negotiate with anyone,” we are compelled to question his source of information which mould his claim about General Ihejirika.
We make bold to say Shekau’s new video puts serious doubts about the credibility of Dr. Davis. We will be slow in making conclusions, hoping that Davis will come out himself to prove he is not a fake like the frauds he had contacts with. Davis has a duty to prove his credibility in the face of the sect’s new video.
Davis should have made studies himself, to investigate and verify the information he had after listening to the said “commanders” of the sect he met. Such investigations would have brought him closer to the truth. Such investigations would have opened his eyes to the obvious; which is that General Ihejirika, an Igbo, would not have elected to sponsor a group of Islamists in the murderous campaign which targets include the former Army Chief’s kinsmen. One writer, Ocherome Nnanna best captured this when he wrote: “Ihejirika is an Igbo man and a Christian. As such, he is an enemy of everything that Boko Haram stands for. If there is anyone who will like to finish Boko Haram today, it is someone in the cosmological mold of General Ihejirika. Just think of it: what will motivate an Ihejirika to empower Islamist Boko Haram with Nigeria’s military equipment under his care? Would he like to live under an Islamised Nigeria? Would he like to be forcibly converted to Islam? Certainly not.”
A careful verification of the information he obtained from God knows who, would have compelled Davis to trash them (information) as a piece of trash. Such verification would have drawn his attention to the years Gneral Ihejirika headed the Army, and led the successfully coordinated military campaign to stamp the terror.
Under General Ihejirika, Boko Haram never captured a hamlet. Now, they do on a daily bases, completely altering the country’s territorial map in a murderous campaign that has taken up Mubi, hometown of Air Marshal Bade, the CDS. We read of how Badeh commanded the troops to ferry out his relatives to safety, using a military helicopter just before the sect struck.
It is as if Boko Haram recommended the removal of the General. His exit created the opening for them to launch their bloody campaign; it blew air under their wings. They have been flying since then, taking women; taking territories.
From Mubi to Michika to Vintim to Uba to Gwoza to Bama to Abadam, through Sambisa Forest to Buni Yadi to Ashaka, a large chunk of the Nigerian territory has fallen into the hands of the terrorists who have gone full lengths at renaming the captured territory. Barely a day ago, the sect struck a major blow: killing dozens of young compatriots at an assembly ground preparing for classes at a public secondary school in Potiskum, Yobe State. Eight months ago, it was Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. The sect fired their way into town, and abducted schoolgirls they now said they have since married off. Yet, this happened several hours after the military under the command of Ihejirika’s successors were tipped off. All of these and many more happened after Ihejirika retired in January.
Boko Haram attempted to set up camps in Kogi, Niger, Kano, Sokoto, Adamawa in their bid to spread. Ihejirika, commanding with clear and unambiguous instructions, led the Army to stop the sect, beating the, silly in their quest to advance. Less than a year after Ihejirika’s retirement, the same group which engaged in isolated hit-and-run, now have an Army on ground; running into about 10,000 committed fighters who are daily emboldened by their advances and captured territories. We now read of how or troops dump their firearms and flee into Cameroon. The latest run was to a small town in Niger. Davis failed to go to the records of Amnesty International, whose accounts indicted the military under the care of Ihejirika of alleged war crimes against the sect members.
General Ihejirika’s iconic strategies are verifiable, as they visible. He established counter-terrorism training centres and units within the Nigerian Army as sure steps that enhanced the fight against terror. He enhanced the capacity of officers and men in the counter-terrorism with requisite trainings, as he set up the Nigerian Army Dog Centre and Counter-terrorism centres in Lagos, and Kontagora as part of his proactive steps to stamp terror.
He embarked on mass recruitment beyond routine, as he set up new units and barracks in hotspots, in what decimated the insurgents. A military strategist, General Ihejirika established and maintained liaison with the United States African Command (AFRICOM) in the fight against terror, in what led to the setting up of the Special Operations Command.
He initiated and personally supervised the successful beefing up of strength and supplies/holdings of the Army component of the then Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno, after military authorities transferred control of operations from the JTF to the Army Headquarters under Ihejirika.
There was the robust military/civilian relation, as there was the establishment of an Army FM Radio Station in Maiduguri, to disseminate information about counter-terrorism to the local populace, as he also tasked the Nigerian Directorate of Islamic Affairs to undertake outreach campaigns to civilians in selected flashpoints. This, he did in collaboration with the Jama’tu Nasril Ismaiya (JNI) to counter the sect’s incisive teachings and indoctrinations, and designing requisite counter-terrorism messages in English and local languages to dissuade the local populace from embracing terrorists ideologies; as part of the military strategy to stamp the sect and win the battle of hearts and minds of innocent Nigerians from the extremists.
These are records any government will be looking for to make appointments to advise authorities on war strategies. Ihejirika will make a good consultant on counter-terrorism and other warfare.
The records are there, if Davis cared to obtain them. The records would have brought Davis face to face with the reality; which is that Boko Haram cannot give positive accounts of General Ihejirika, their arch enemy.
But Davis ignored the decency to look at the records, preferring to concoct his stories based on information he obtained from co-conspirators.
Adamu S.K. Alheri is the National Coordinator, NASARAWA VANGUARD ON PEACE FOR DEVELOPMENT (NAVAPED)
