Encomium
Terrorism expert and author of Global Effects of Terrorism on Humanity, Abayomi Mumuni, who holds Post Graduate Certificate in Intelligence and Terrorism Profiling at the Henley-Putnam University – San Jose, California, USA, among others, has bemoaned Federal Government over the ways and manners it’s handling the Boko Haram (BH) insurgency in the country. He said, in a chat with ENCOMIUM Weekly, government has allowed the once a petit group to grow big, adding that, “If care is not taken, they’ll be franchise and once they go franchise, I don’t know what will happen to us in Nigeria.”
You believe so much in negotiating with the terrorists. With the current event between FG and BH, do you think negotiation is still viable?
Few weeks ago, the media reported that Boko Haram members had promised to surrender their ammunition and ready for dialogue with government. I told people that this is a wild lie, it is not so easy for terrorist groups to surrender their weapons just like that. You can only negotiate with terrorists when you are ready to accept their request, and everyone knows the mission of Boko Haram which is to establish shariah state. Do you think FG would accept that? That is why I didn’t believe the reports in the first instance before the group head, Abubakar Shekau appeared in a new video where he denied negotiation with the government.
My understanding of negotiating with the terrorist, as established in my book, is different from what is going on between the Federal Government and Boko Haram. As it is now, Nigeria of today cannot fight terrorism. We don’t even know what it takes to counter this insurgent group. It shows that Nigeria is not serious in the fight against Boko Haram. Don’t be surprised, some people are using the negotiation to enrich their pockets. How then do you expect victory in the fight against terrorists?
In what way do you think FG can engage BH and bring back our girls?
When negotiation with the terrorists fails, the next approach should be “Fire-for-fire”, but it is always a critical decision because of collateral damages. But do we have a choice, with the recent development? Boko Haram said the Chibok girls had been married-off. Do we expect the girls to return when they had been forced to embrace Islam and married off? That’s why the government needs to use external force against the Boko Haram, but the question is, do we have the arsenals to fight the war against Boko Haram? I don’t think so!
Another approach is, using terrorist to communicate to terrorist. These people are reachable. American government used the same approach with the Taliban. They have their contacts. Government should continue to engage the right people who know the terrorists, instead of wrong people, who are just after their own selfish interest.
My forthcoming book, Demands by Terrorists, will explain the modules and patterns of negotiating with terrorist groups. They don’t have anything to lose, they already have our girls, took over most of our land, what else? We are at lost! We need to do something urgent before things get worse.
What is the military and other security agents not doing right?
Many things! Boko Haram is a petit terrorist group that can be curtailed. I am very sure they have no affiliation with Al-Qaeda, but have similar modus operandi with the Taliban. Unfortunately, we’ve allowed them to grow big, and if care is not taken, they’ll be franchise and once they go franchise, I don’t know what will happen to us in Nigeria. Our military lacks strategies of fighting boko haram. The battle cannot be won if we fail to hire experts and equip our soldiers. We don’t have much experts in Nigeria because counter-terrorism is not a course you learn at any Nigerian Institution.
Apart from being an expert, you understand the political terrain of Nigeria. Do you think Boko Haram has something to do with Jonathan ahead of 2015?
Boko Haram has been in existence before Jonathan became the President, but it got out of hand during his administration. Some people, perhaps, took advantage of President Jonathan’s lapses. Jonathan has nothing to do with Boko Haram. Jonathan inherited it but he doesn’t know how to go about it and some people took undue advantage. We need to find out these people. We need to know who are they and their interests. It is high time we stopped apportioning blames.
The way forward?
It is the responsibility of the government to provide security to its citizens. It is very important. However, government cannot do it alone, it needs the support of the citizens, because we are Nigerians. We know our country better than the foreigners. We should co-operate with government to bring about peace and unity in the country. That’s if government is serious. Government cannot do it alone. Boko Haram can be curtailed if government shows seriousness.
Let’s talk about your writing skills. When did you develop passion for writing?
Writing is something nobody can be forced into. You can’t just start writing if you don’t have the skills and passion. For me, when growing up, I loved academics, but transiting my younger age, I would have been deprived what academics is all about because the home I came out from, you fend for yourself. Even though you come from an averagely wealthy family, if you don’t get it right, you can’t do anything successfully. Second, what I love most is being read, and I try my best to be tutored. I would have said I trained myself to be read, because I wanted to get it right. Up till date, I am still learning and achieving more and more because I needed it. Reading is what I like most.
As for writing, I developed interest, shortly after I concluded my thesis on Global Terrorism at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Programmes, Dan Hammarskjold, Old Centre, New York, USA. The thesis is so voluminous and later felt it would be a nice idea if I expanded the topic, because terrorism is a topical issue. The act of terror has been existing for decades, before the 9/11 attacks on the United States. There is need to further educate both the young and the old on the act of terrorism. I engaged six professor friends, one of them from Havard University, because I wanted the book to fit into academics. I spent millions of naira in coming up with the book, but then, it is not about the money. It is a book of substance, well researched. My book is not meant to be hawked on the streets. It comes with high velocity of painting, and if you have a copy, you have money, but I don’t look at it from that way, that is why I brought it down for the generality of people, especially students. That is what inspired me.
Are we going to see you going into full time writing?
I can’t really speak on that now because I am a very busy person. However, I am currently on the sojourn of completing the second book, Demands by Terror. The continuation of my first book. It is going to be out very soon. That’s when I will be talking about negotiation with terrorists. The world should look out for it.
