Last week’s seizure of Gwoza community in Borno State and its subsequent designation as a caliphate, a development reminiscent of the activity of the dreaded ISIS in the Middle East is widely seen by many as a confirmation of the claim that the deadly Boko Haram insurgent group in Nigeria is drawing inspiration largely from international terrorist organizations particularly ISIS.
Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau had in a video released last month declared his support for the leader of the Islamic State militants, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who in late June declared himself “the caliph” and “leader of Muslims everywhere. The pronouncement followed the declaration by the group of an area straddling Iraq and Syria a caliphate.
Like ISIS, Boko Haram is also believed to be in control of other areas near Gwoza in southern Borno. The group is also said to have foothold in some other areas in northern Borno and at least one town in neighbouring Yobe State. The development is fuelling the fear that the insurgents are closer than ever to achieving their goal of carving out a strict Islamic state across northern Nigeria, especially with the seeming ineptitude of the Nigerian Army to rise to the challenge.
Yet there are more reasons to believe that Boko Haram is fashioning its operation after the Middle East Jihadist group. Women, according to reports, are becoming convenient targets for sexual exploitation and violence by the group. Reports by women’s right organizations claimed that thirteen cases of rape by ISIS militants were recorded between June 9 and June 12, of which four resulted in suicide of the women. This disturbing development is emblematic of what many women in the troubled northern states in Nigeria face on daily basis in the hands of Boko Haram insurgents.
Reports in the recent months about the ordeals of women captives in Boko Haram’s den reeked out agonies, pains and trauma of many of the women who were sexually assaulted and exploited by members of the insurgent group. Giving an account of her traumatic experience in the hand of the insurgents, Mrs. Rachael Oyeyinka who was taken captive for three months by the Boko Haram alongside her husband said the insurgents took turns to rape the women in their captivity. “I cannot count the number of times but every day, some of the women got pregnant and were given concoction to flush it out. so many of the women who resisted were killed. If you are very pretty, they will initially reserve you for their leader. But as soon as he gets a replacement, he would push you out for general use,” Oyeyinka said in a recent interview.
In the Middle East, ISIS has in the recent weeks shown that it is increasingly becoming a ruthless and effective killing machine going by a recently released video where ISIS fighters were shown executing some people lying face down. A similar scene was reported to have been captured in a video released by Boko Haram insurgents last week.
The obvious similarity in the mode of operation of the two groups may have heightened the fear that Boko Haram may have a link with the deadly Middle East terrorists. Stephen Davis, Australian hostage negotiator voiced this much in a recent interview where he was reportedly quoted to have warned the Nigerian government that Boko Haram might establish links with ISIS if the activity of the sect is not effectively checked.
Davis who opined that going by the trend in Somalia, Southern Sudan and Egypt where militant groups team up, Boko Haram, according to him, might toe a similar path.
As a way of checkmating activity of the group, Davis suggested that government intensify efforts aimed at blocking the group’s source of funding and tracking down its sponsors. Identifying sources of funding for terrorist organisations as well as their sponsors have, however, proved to be one of the most difficult tasks in the war against terrorism.
More worrisome is the realization that while there has been concerted efforts in some quarters to unmask the faces behind global terrorism, such efforts are often whittled down by political wrangling as opposition political parties often trade blames with the issue in their war of attrition. Nigeria is no exception. However, with the suspicion that Boko Haram could establish a link with ISIS not a few observers are of the opinion that the sect’s brutality may receive additional impetus.
Recently, a report on Daily Bhaskar, an online news medium alleged that the rise of ISIS, is being ‘shaped and controlled’ out of Langley, Virginia and other CIA facilities in the States with the objective to spread chaos in the world’s second largest oil state Iraq.
The accusation which is credited to a Canadian think tank on international affairs and security, The Centre Global Research, questions the manner in which ISIS took control of the oil-rich city of Mosul, ‘without firing a single shot.’ Eyewitnesses’ accounts were said to have revealed Iraqi government soldiers abandoning their gears and ammunition ‘without any resistance’ to ISIS fighters. Pictures of Iraqi government soldiers leaving behind bulletproof jackets and guns were reportedly splattered across the internet when ISIS entered Mosul.
CGR was quoted to have said, “A point worth mentioning is that much of the present Iraqi government has been armed with the US assistance.”
The report, it was gathered, mentions a certain General Ibrahim al-Douri as the mastermind of the recent ISIS military success in Iraq. Douri is said to be on the watch list of America since 2003 and his former Baath Party head and Saddam Hussein successor. He is believed to be the current head of the Iraqi rebel group Army of the Men of the Nagshbandi order.
The report further alleges that Douri had well-placed contacts in Washington, which enabled his return to Iraq, even after being present on US’ most wanted list.
The report, among myriads of other claims raised to support it’s allegation also quoted US State Department official, Andrew Doran claiming that several ISIS fighters hold US passports. It concludes that lack of US action to halt the advancing ISIS as a further proof that the group’s advances were deliberately allowed if not instigated by Western countries.
In Nigeria, the politicization of Boko Haram insurgency has confined effort to unmask the forces behind the activity of the deadly sect into the realm of speculation. Will the hoods on the faces of the members of the insurgent group be ever removed? Only time will tell.
Culled from Sun Newspaper
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