I would have been very surprised, nay shocked, if it went any other way. After the declaration of State of Emergency in three states early last week, the Nigerian military moved in swiftly, pounded Boko Haram to pulp, pulverized and blew them away like chaff.
In fact, the insurgents are now "like hunted gazelles, like sheep without a shepherd." We couldn't have expected less from a full military onslaught. This was how Defence spokesman, Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, gave the sitrep earlier this week: "The dislodged terrorists have been noted to be in disarray with a large number of them heading towards various borders.
Their bases are being deserted, but they are making efforts to evacuate most of the large stock of logistics, including scores of vehicles, in their holdings."
If you ask me, Boko Haram got its just desserts, as the group should have ceased fire after the government inaugurated an amnesty committee to dialogue with it and address its grievances. To have continued killings unabated despite the peace initiative was asking to be blasted, pounded and sent into disarray as is now happening.
The military is doing just what it has been trained to do, and it would have been abominable, even scandalous, if the offensive had gone any other way. Like I have always maintained, the Boko Haram insurrection started as vengeance mission against the state for the extra-judicial slaying of the leader of the sect, Mohammed Yusuf, after he had been apprehended alive by the military, and handed over to the police. It was wrong, very wrong to have killed Yusuf in cold blood.
But after Boko Haram had killed thousands of people, and sent the country almost into a tailspin, was the cause of vengeance not served yet? Vengeance cannot be forever. It must have an end at a point in time. An eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind. A tooth for a tooth will present the funny spectacle of all humanity with gaping orifices in their mouths.
As William Shakespeare wrote in Henry VIII, "Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it doth singe yourself." But Boko Haram did, and is now ferociously burnt. And right was Confucius too when he said: "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."
There are thousands of graves in Nigeria today, of Boko Haram members, and of its victims. Revenge truly is a boomerang. It is "a virus which eats into the very vitals of the mind and poisons the entire spiritual being" (James Allen).
However, now that Boko Haram is in disarray and running like hunted gazelles, caution. And I say again: caution. In terrorism, it is often not enough to win the war, you must also win the peace. Examples abound all over the world. In 2003, Allied Forces, led by the U.S and Britain invaded Iraq, under the smokescreen that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
The Iraqi leader was toppled, tried, and subsequently executed. And they lived in peace happily ever after? No. Till today, Iraq is still in the paroxysms of that action. The number that has died after the war even seems higher than those that died during the real armed conflict. In Afghanistan, the Talibans were also routed by multinational forces. But how is the country today? Like a hen perched on a rope. Discomfort for the hen, disquiet for the rope. It is often not enough to win a war, you must also win the peace.
Remember our own very backyard here. Plateau State. In 2004, the Yelwa-Shendam area became killing fields. At the end of the day, the government of Joshua Dariye was sacked, a State of Emergency pronounced, and a retired Army General installed as administrator. About a decade later, is Plateau at peace?
No, the war was won, but the peace has so far proven unwinnable. And that brings us back to the issue of amnesty. It was good that President Goodluck Jonathan indicated in his broadcast that the processes leading to possible amnesty would continue. I am pro-amnesty, no matter what anybody may say.
It does not mean that government is capitulating to terrorists. It simply means that anything that will bring lasting peace must be pursued. We must seek peace, and pursue it. If some people say we are weak, let us then be weak, if it is for the sake of peace.
Just like the Igbo say, we often stand in the front of the house of a coward to point at the ruins of the house of a strongman. If granting amnesty to Boko Haram members who embrace that option now is weakness, let us then be weak. But at least, we will win the peace. The scenario now is that a large number of Boko Haram elements are hiding in many parts of the North, while some others would have fled outside our shores.
Their spiritual leader, Abubakar Shekau is still alive. The summary? We have only scorched the snake, we have not killed it. And such snake can be quite venomous.
A man conquered by force is only half-conquered. That you have silenced a man does not mean you have won him to your side. Boko Haram is a terrible misfortune, an evil the country unleashed on itself by its own evil and sinful ways. And we have paid heavily for it.
The North-east region has been set back by many decades, the tenuous fabric of our unity has been badly punctured and lacerated, humongous resources that should have been channelled into development were rather spent on fighting terrorism. Nigeria will always dread the name Boko Haram, I tell you.
But so that we don't live perpetually under this Incubus, the dangling Sword of Damocles, let us pursue the amnesty option to the hilt. Those that surrender and pledge to give up evil ways need to be accepted and rehabilitated back into society. The prodigal son can always return into the warm embrace of a forgiving father, no matter how riotously he had lived in the days of disobedience. I know hardliners will disagree with me.
Thankfully, God did not create all men to agree on all things. When they all agreed and built the Tower of Babel, and God saw that the tower would truly reach heaven, He personally confused their tongues, and threw them in disarray. That is why I have my opinion, and the hardliners have theirs.
We all have rights to our differing opinions. What to do then? Let me borrow the words of my colleague, Eric Osagie, in his column last Monday: "No military action guarantees infinite peace. Iraq and Libya are still in endless turmoil even after the U.S-led forces trounced the leadership there. There is also Afghanistan. So, we can't hope that all will be forever well after the emergency rule... Should the amnesty committee be disbanded? Certainly no.
Let those who lay down their arms and are prepared for amnesty go for it, while the war goes on for those who choose the path of war." Emergency rule should not preclude amnesty, rather it should lubricate and facilitate it. After winning the war, we must win the peace.
Follow peace with all men is what the Good Book says. And that includes Boko Haram also.
Via: Sun News Online