The proposed peace talk between
the Federal Government and Boko Haram has crumbled, even as the top command of
Nigeria’s security apparatus has launched a fresh offensive to capture the
sect’s leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau alive. The collapse of the planned
dialogue is coming barely three weeks after the sect initiated a fresh move for
ceasefire and peace talks The
sect had on Thursday, November 1, announced, through one of its commanders, Abu
Mohammed Ibn Abdulaziz, that it will stop its campaign of violence in the
northern part of the country if the government will offer its members
compensation and arrest a former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu
Sheriff.
The
development came barely five days after Saturday Sun, in an exclusive story,
reported that the Federal Government had discovered the operational base of the
sect in northern Mali, where Boko Haram leader, Imam Abubakar Shekau, is
believed to be coordinating attacks on Nigerian targets. The discovery followed
an intelligence support from a super power nation with wide military interest
across the world.
President
Goodluck Jonathan had, in his reaction to the call for truce and peace talks,
described the Boko Haram’s offer as a welcome development. Saturday Sun
gathered that developments have since then convinced government that the sect
“was obviously flying a kite to buy time, following the discovery of its
operational base in northern Mali.”
As a
result, a top level security source revealed that the Federal Government has
decided to change its approach to resolving the Boko Haram debacle by deploying
enormous resources to capture the leader of the sect. According to the
source, “government is no longer keen on sending thousands of our troops to
Mali to fight in a foreign land notwithstanding our commitment to the ECOWAS
plan to put some troops together.
This is
because the ECOWAS process will still need to get the approval of the United
Nations and go through some international protocols which will be a little bit
cumbersome and slow.” But beyond this, the security source disclosed,
“the decision by government to change tactics is more of respecting our pact
with the military leader in Mali, Captain Sanogo, who is seriously working with
us on this project.
They
(Malian authorities) are insisting that they don’t want foreign troops in their
country because of the aftermath of that and as such they are now requesting
for logistic support, including arms, ammunition and military wares that their
own troops will use to flush out the rebels controlling North of Mali, where
the Boko Haram leaders are hiding.”
It was
further gathered that the decision to step down on deploying Nigerian troops to
launch a direct attack on rebels’ stronghold in northern Mali is because “out
of about three or four ECOWAS countries that share borders with Mali, only two
have problems with the Toureg islamist rebels, while the others are okay with
the group.
In
essence, ECOWAS troops will not enjoy the full support of these other
neighbouring countries, a development that may make our troops suffer heavy
casualties because of likely sabotage.” To capture Shekau alive, it was
further gathered, high-tech military and intelligence monitoring equipment have
been deployed to Mali in addition to the physical presence of some operatives
of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Defence Intelligence Agency
(DIA) to assist the Malian troops establish the exact location of Shekau, with
a view to capturing him alive when the bombardment of the region begins in a
couple of weeks.
“There
is, no doubt, that we will support them (Malian troops) as already requested
because we will now leave the battle for them to fight to liberate their own
country, even though we are benefiting from the end result of the onslaught.
Quantity of our logistic or military support is, however, what cannot be
disclosed,” the security source added.
Saturday
Sun gathered that though the office of the National Security Adviser, Colonel
Sambo Dasuki (retd) is the one coordinating efforts to end Boko Haram insurgency
in the country, dislodge them from their base in Mali and the latest move to
capture Shekau alive, none of the officials in the office was ready to speak on
the development as at press time.
Source: Sun
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