Photograph — IBT

“The truth is finally out. We have been vindicated. We have no hand in the Boko Haram insurgency. The raison d’etre of our party is the well-being and security of Nigerians.” That was a statement made last year, by Mr. John Oyegun, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress commenting on the speculated list of Boko Haram sponsors.

For years, the Islamic sect Boko Haram has unleashed terror in Nigeria, particularly in the North, threatening the security of the country, and placing it on the global terror watch list. Hundreds of thousands have lost their lives in the inhumane attacks of the sect, and up until now, blood is still been shed in the north.

The Nigerian people have looked up to the government and the Nigerian army to put an end to the sect and their attack; something they have promised to do time and again. But so far, little has been achieved in eliminating the sect, as they have continued with their nefarious activities.

Aside the exchange of words between the Nigerian army and the sect on whether or not the latter is being overpowered, there are recent speculations on the revealed identity of the sponsors of Boko Haram. On Sunday, the 4th of October, the Nigerian army reportedly said that they have obtained the names of the individuals who fund and support the activities of the sect, and promised that they would be “exposed in due course.” Major General Yushau Abubakar, the Commander of operation Lafiya Dole (peace is a must) hinted this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri. “We searched the houses of suspects and certain items that we recovered at the vicinity gave us some clues.”

From the beginning of the group’s onslaught, there have been quite a number of reports on the acknowledgement of the identity of Boko Haram sponsors. The government has played the blame game for years, and the Nigerian people have been roped in. As politicians made Boko Haram sponsorship a party issue, the public made it tribal and regional. The past administration, ruled by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was accused of harbouring sponsors of the sect by the All Peoples Congress (APC). “The sponsors of Boko Haram are within the PDP and the Presidency. They are known friends of President Jonathan. He knows them and they know him,” said APC’s national chair in a press conference late last year.

On the flip side, PDP accused APC of financing the terrorist group with the aim of destabilising their administration. While that happened at the administarial level, the people of Nigeria turned against one another: People from Southern, Eastern, and Western Nigeria accused top government officials from the north of backing the activities of the sect. Some even went as far as publishing names of the alleged sponsors, most of whom were governors and senators from northern states.

Over the years, these alleged sponsors, remain ‘alleged’; the Nigerian Army has made no major progress on this issue, save of recent. On Tuesday, 6th of October, the army released a statement that a suspected sponsor has been arrested. “The 33 Artillery Brigade, Nigerian Army, has recorded another landmark success in the ongoing Operation Zaman Lafiyah as troops of the brigade recently arrested one Aliyu Hussaini popularly known as Colonel, a suspected Boko Haram terrorist and an impostor who has been parading himself as a Brigadier-General in the Nigerian Army.” There is yet to be a concrete, detailed information on this latest development, hopefully, it doesn’t die off as others have.

The blame game needs to stop, as it is a shift from what is important. Apportioning blames has not helped Nigeria in any way, instead it speaks volumes of our attitude as a nation – tribalistic, divided, and unserious.

For more insight, listen to the podcast below:

Elsewhere on Ventures

Triangle arrow