Niger's Head of State urges nation to stand firm against Boko Haram

The President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou has urged his nation to stand firm against Boko Haram Takfiri militants who have been repeatedly launching cross-border sorties from Nigeria over the last few days.  "Our country will not go down in history as having been cowed by an enemy that wants to cover our country in darkness," said Issoufou during a speech broadcast on national radio on Wednesday.  On Tuesday, Niger’s capital city, Niamey, declared a state of emergency in the Diffa border region with Nigeria over the violence perpetrated by the Takfiri militants .  Niger’s parliament also voted to contribute soldiers to a regional force aimed at fighting the Boko Haram militants.    "The people must support the defense and security forces, especially by signing up," Issoufou added.He also called for a "general mobilization" and urged the country’s youth not to fall for Boko Haram propaganda. Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Benin have pledged to create an 8,700-strong force to fight the militancy.

As the war against Boko Haram intensifies, the perception that it is wedged by disaffected and jobless youths who oppose and hate Western Education is becoming pedestrian. The sophistication of the command and operational structures of Boko Haram leaves no one in doubt about this reality.    The weapons deployed to commit the ongoing pogrom appear to have been acquired and brought to the war zones through a complicated network. It is hard to believe that a conflict of this magnitude can occur without a complex network of individuals and organizations supporting Boko Haram’s criminal war effort. It may be reasonably suggested that it is a political establishment serving distinct interests in Nigeria and Cameroon. In Nigeria, it has never sought ransom for the many victims it has abducted. In Cameroon although officially classified as a nebulous or illusive enemy, it has turned abduction for ransom into a lucrative business. 

Boko Haram in Nigeria is a child of Nigerian history and the impunity of Northern Nigeria’s Military establishment. Armed conflict is part of Nigeria history. It is also a business which has enriched many.  People including generations unborn learn from history. The savaged brutality meted on civilians and civilian objects in Nigeria pre-exist Boko Haram. These acts of impunity were some of the methods deployed by successive military regimes, most of them from Northern Generals to accede and sustain power. The ongoing slaughter by Boko Haram follows the same pattern which in 1966 led to the Nigeria/Biafra War. The underlying cause of the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Southerners, mainly of the Ibo ethnic groups in the North was never comprehensively investigated, if at all.  There is no gainsaying that had the crimes been investigated, the result would have pointed to some powerful individuals within the Nigerian Military structure of Northern origin. For these, political power and control of the economy could only be attained through scapegoating communities whom they perceived as serious competitors.