Nigeria has been fighting terrorism for more than a decade now. The country has managed to keep the guns blazing, if only barely. The price of a war that is for the soul of Nigeria is quite heavy for a country that had known relative peace. Communities and families have been turned upside down, with livelihoods uprooted.
As Nigeria has fought an assortment of well-drilled and well-oiled non-state actors, a common question on the lips of many Nigerians has been, who is doing the drilling and the oiling?
Boko Haram, the umbrella terrorist organization fighting Nigeria for more than ten years now started as a sore in Maiduguri the Borno State Capital. This was before it exploded into a full case of hives. Residents and indigenes of Borno State over the past twenty years have borne witness to the chilling cruelty of the group from its earliest days to its explosion on the world stage as a notorious terrorist group, the infamous perpetrators of the abduction of the Chibok and Dapchi school girls.
As a senator, Mohammed Ali Ndume has represented the good people of Borno South senatorial district since 2011. As a legislator, he has been at the forefront of aggregating the voices of his people who have suffered unimaginable atrocities at the hands of Boko Haram.
Recently, he has made some interesting comments on the funding of Boko Haram. Drawing from the alarm raised by US congressman Scott Perry, that the United States International Development Agency (USAID) had sunk a whooping sum of $697 million in U.S. aid into terrorist groups, including Boko Haram, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda, Ndume has called on the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to investigate the claims.
The question of who funds Boko Haram and other terrorist groups within the country has remained a burning one since Boko Haram expanded its operations in 2009. This question has never been satisfactorily answered. What is most troubling is that the government has shown a rather curious unwillingness to dig out the answer about who sponsors Boko Haram and how best to cut off their lifelines.
As terrorism has maintained a deadly grip on the North, it has become clearer than day that its operations are being well funded. Over the years, the terrorists destabilizing Nigeria have operated in such a way and manner as to leave no doubt that they are well-funded. But very little has been done to disrupt their network because rather than strike the root, the government has preferred to clip the branches of terrorism from time to time. The jarring failings of this approach are clear from the number of trophies terrorists have continued to take from Nigeria despite resolute efforts to root them out.
Some non-governmental organizations in Nigeria have also been accused of sponsoring terrorism. The truth remains that unless those who sponsor terrorism in the country are identified and rooted out, terrorism will continue to thrive. As long as terrorists have sources to fuel their bloodlust, they will continue in their business of dealing with death and destruction.
The truest of sovereignty for any country lies in its ability to control who comes in and who goes out of the country, and what comes in and what goes out. It is in this wise that Nigeria must act. Corruption and terrorism have thrived in the country because there is very little transparency and control over how money comes or goes out and how it circulates.
It is about demanding accountability and assurances that Nigerians will be safe in their country regardless of what or who comes in.
Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com
