RESURGENCE OF INSURGENCY

By Jide Oyekunle

The latest spate of deadly and coordinated attacks in Maiduguri and its environs by Boko haram fighters casts a shadow of doubt on the much celebrated defeat recorded against the terrorists .This intensification of horror coincided with the holy month of Ramadan when all Muslim faithful use to ask for forgiveness . Though factors that are responsible for this renewed hostility can be described as multi-faceted and asymmetrical.
‎The lethal attacks on innocent lives and property put a big question mark on the ability of our military to sustain the successes and achievements recorded ‎so far in the fight against terrorism in the country.
Now, the question on the lips of many Nigerians about the frightening tale of growing menace of the insurgency attacks on innocent people after experiencing a lull for a long period of time except an isolated cases is: Is Nigeria military losing the war ?
The restiveness of the sect leaves much to be desire coming at the peak of agitations and counter-agitation by various ethnic groups nationalities for break up. The time for all our security agencies to intensify effort on intelligence gathering through a strategic partnership and collaboration is now. The Civilian Joint Task Force  should be reinvigorated,revamped and positioned for effective reinforcement.Defeating Boko haram should go beyond the pages of newspapers but winning both the war and battle in the physical and in mind. Because terrorism is a psychological warfare.‎We must go further to build a new intelligence system to support our national security needs.  We must go extra miles to reorganise national security intelligence with the view to focusing mainly on reducing barriers to sharing information among security agencies.
In 1964 a former president of United States of America ,Ronald Reagan said: "We are at war with the most dangerous enemy that has ever faced mankind in his long climb from the swamp to the stars, and it has been said if we lose that war, and in so doing lose this way of freedom of ours, history will record with ‎the greatest astonishment that those who had the most to lose did the least to prevent its happening."Also,  the welfare of the officers in the front line should be given utmost priority . A proverb says, "whoever is being pursued by a masquerade should persevere because as he is getting tired so is the masquerade". Our gallant officers out there are not spirits, they deserve nothing but the best and must be we motivated because they are awake when we fall sleep. They need our unalloyed support to succeed in this fight because there is no other way to show patriotism than what these officers have been doing on the field by stepping on the landmines in order to save our lives.