Lagos Lawyer and Human Rights activist, Tunde Kolawole has said that the ongoing war against the dreaded Boko Haram sect members can last for the next ten years.
“I have a strong suspicion that for the next 10 years Nigeria will still be fighting the Boko Haram insurgents”, he declared.
Kolawole who is regular guest on public affairs programmes on television stations inLNigeria made the revelation during an exclusive interview with The Complete News in Lagos.
On the comments of the Borno State Governor Kashim shetimma that the terrorists are better equipped and motivated than the Nigerian troops, he said, “ I agree with him that the Boko Haram sect members are better motivated but not better equipped than the military troops. In fact most of the weapons of the terrorists are the weapons they have bought, seized or looted from the Nigerian Army armory”.
Kolawole also dismissed notions that the insurgency was politically motivated. According to him, the Islamic fundamentalists have been preparing for the war for the past three decades.
His words, “ I have always said that, I remember when the crisis first started I stated that it was a religion war but some people countered the argument saying it was a political.
“Anybody who has been following the history of the activities of Islamists in Northern Nigeria will know that they have been preparing for this war for the past 30 years.
“For instance, You remember the era of Mohammed Marwa popular known as Maitetsini in the early 80’s and there is one prominent radical Islamic cleric in the north called Ibrahim Al-sheki-sheki, there is no government that has not detained him in the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons or in Kano Prisons because of his Jihadist activities.
“ Also we also had one radical Islamic Movement led Sheik Mahmud Gumi, the organization broke into two , a faction accused Gumi of not being militant enough and relocated to Jos and established its Headquarters there. That is why am not surprised that the militancy in Jos is more pronounced. They could be said to be offspring of this Boko Haram people
Besides that, when you visited Ahmadu Bello University, ABU in the early late 70’s and early 80’s you will found out that there were radical Islamic students.
Asked if the ongoing military operations in the troubled north east could curb the insurgency ,
Kolawole remarked that , “The only place conventional soldiers have won that kind of war was Chechnya. They had to use brute force which I don’t believe Nigerian government are ready to use, because if we do it President Goodluck Jonathan and all the service chiefs will be candidates for International Criminal Court”.
The dreaded radical sect has put Nigeria under siege for sometime now. The proscribed terrorist group abducted over 200 school girls in Chibok, Borno state on 14th April, 2014. Boko Haram also killed hundreds in Jos, Nyanya , Kano.
