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| terrorism has become a global plague |
By Evelyn Okakwu
A major significance of the September 11 attack is that it marked
the beginning of the global war against terrorism.
After the terror attack on the United States World Trade Center
by the Al-Qaida Terror leaders, Osama Bin Laden on September 11, 2001, which
claimed the lives of about 4 000 people and destroyed goods worth over $150 US
dollars, the then US President, George Bush visited the trade center and vowed
to hunt down the perpetrators of the dastardly act and combat terrorism.
13 years after that day, the fight against terrorism has
continued. However
the efforts made have not prevented terrorism from spreading
across the shores of both the developed and indeed the developing world. As
indicated by analysts “Terrorism has become a global plague!” one of the
problems connecting all nations and all peoples, is terrorism. There is not a
country that is immune from its scourge
Tracing the network of terrorists across the world; the terrorist
group which masterminded the September 11 attack; the Al-Qaeda Network is
considered the parent organisation of global ‘Terrorism’. According to a Germany based international
Media Deutsche Welle; (DW) the Al-Qaeda terror group whose name means ‘Base’ or ‘Foundation’
has since become a loosed Network of largely autonomous cells.
These smaller units operate in countries like Algeria, Yemen
and Mali, to mention but a few. Even the group, SIS which means Islamic State
in Iraq was reportedly carved out of the Al-Quaeda network and has as much as 5000-7000
members in all, operating in Northern Syria.
Another Terror group
which is the Al-shabaab controls large parts of central and southern Somalia;
while there counterpart Ansar Al-Sheria operates in Tunisia and Libya. This
group has reportedly smaller parts that operate in the Middle East and North
Africa, respectively.
Also, according to the DW the Hezbollah Terror group’s existence
dates back to 1982. It operates in Lebanese with support from terror leaders in
Syria and Iran.
Founded in 1987, the Hamas Terror group which is popularly
known as the Hamas Islamic Resistance Movement is reportedly the Palestinian
Branch of yet another terror group known as the Muslim brotherhood. According
to reports, its main aim is to bring about the destruction of the state of Israel.
It has reportedly been in control of the Gaza strip since 2007; While Fatah
which the DW says was more of a party formed by the Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas controls the West Bank.
In Nigeria, the Boko Hram terrorist group, whose name means
that education is forbidden, seeks to destroy everything western within its
reach.
Although the group started as a purely Islamic terror group,
with most attacks targeted at the Christian community in Nigeria, the recent
acts perpetrated by the group has clearly proven that it is an enemy of every
true Nigerian.
Apart from the abduction of over 200 girls in Chibok
community, Maiduguri in April this year;
the Boko Haram Terror group has undertaken several abductions in schools
and killed numerous people in various parts of Northern Nigeria.
While the turn of events have proven that the Nigerian army
has limited skills as well as equipment to win the battle against these terror
wielders, the attitude of various facets of Nigeria has not helped much in the
quest to eradicate the menace of terrorism that has befallen us. At various
points analysts have stated that the Nigerian Security forces are no match for
the heavy armed terrorists. Just a
couple of days back, these terrorists forced some members of the Nigerian army
to retreat from the battle field in Nigeria, to our nieghbouring country of
Cameroon. The Nigerian Defense described the retreat as a step towards the
angle of intelligence guide, while many have stated that the tactical retreat
or maneuver is proof of Nigeria’s week defense against terror.
Nevertheless, previous reports have indicated that
inefficiencies in technical or intelligent handling of terror related cases are
not peculiar to Nigeria alone. During a CCN report aired in 2004 about
America’s war on terrorism, the CNN tried to find out whether the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11
Commission have been taken seriously.
According to the report, the commission warned that the
Transportation Security Administration and Congress "must give priority
attention to improving the ability of screening checkpoints to detect
explosives on passengers."
But at most airports, it was learned by the CNN that
travelers simply pass through magnetometers, which are unlikely to detect bomb
materials on their body.
In Nigeria, the cases of technical inefficiencies in
detecting detonating items are clearly alarming. According to Hajara Mohammed,
a Civil servant; “Nigeria has not done half of what it needs to in order to
tackle the likely cases of movement of bombs. The security personnel who stand
at check points are mostly too few or too tired to check as well as they
should. How do you expect them perform effectively? My boyfriend is Military
personnel and I have held his gone while passing through our gate severally,
without been found out, so how do you explain what these security men are doing
in the name of safeguarding our lives?
After the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a commercial
airliner by a 23 year old Nigerian terrorist,
Farouk AbdulMutallab, the US President Barak Obama was quoted as saying that "What
already is apparent is that there was a mix of human and systemic failures that
contributed to this potential catastrophic breach of security. We need to learn
from this episode and act quickly to fix the flaws in our system because our
security is at stake and lives are at stake."
On the 29th of May this year President Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan swore to give the Boko Haram terrorist a battle for their
actions; but months after, the terror group has continued to take over control
of some towns within its reach in the Northern Parts of the country.
Also analysts have stated that in Nigeria, there are four
fallacies insofar as fighting terrorism is concerned. First, there is the
belief that Boko Haram can be bought through a presidential amnesty program. Related to this is the thinking that those who
refuse to be pacified should be jailed or killed off. This is the two-pronged
approach currently being tested: the carrot and stick approach. “Well, its
success will be very limited says some a Nigerian Barrister, who prefers
anonymity. The Nigerian government should ask the Israelis if peace has been
achieved through half-hearted negotiations, bombings, assassinations and
imprisonments”, he added.
The third fallacy is thinking that nothing should or could
be done about the “Mistake of 1914.” The fourth is the unintelligent idea that
we can “Go on with one Nigeria” without addressing the injustice, imbalance and
gaping wounds in Nigeria.
These analysts further state that; “We have to! We have to
face the reality. We have to be honest with ourselves. The issues of
nationhood, governance, resources and federalism have to be addressed. We must
have a national conversation that addresses these and other issues”.
Closely associated to this reported approach is the saying
by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo
Oritsejafor that; "In the fight against terror, only the truth can help us
reach our goal".
Proponents of this stand believe that it was the reason why
president Good Jonathan inaugurated the National conference and its members to
seek the ways forward.
According to a Delegate, at the conference, and one of
Nigeria’s Legal luminaries, Hauwa Shekarau, the recommendations of the
conference cannot be conceived beyond mare advisory status, to the National
Assembly.
Yet previous reports
have also revealed that, we must take care of the poor and the needy; or face
the possible reality of poor Nigerians resorting to the only alternative of
threat to national growth.
More so, as explained by an on-line report, titled, “Tackling
Terrorism in Nigeria, the US experience;
terrorism lacks precise definition. As injustice and poverty and
inequality increase, so too will the affinity for high crimes and terrorism in
the world.
Therefore unless there is a significant shift in human and
governmental sensibility, terrorism will forever remain a part of the human
experience.
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