THE Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to baffle Nigerians and the world out there with its policies in the handling of jihadist terrorism, the main insecurity challenge facing the country.
The use of Operation Safe Corridor, OSC, to give the so-called repentant Boko Haram terrorists a safe and comfortable landing after their heinous crimes against humanity has allowed thousands of jihadist fighters to escape justice.
People who have killed innocent citizens, burnt down communities and schools, abducted thousands of students and women (who they “married off” to terrorist fighters and forcibly converted to Islam) and experts in improvised explosive devices who led hundreds of drugged adherents to conduct suicide bombings are returned to the lawful and vulnerable population.
A government that was quick to publish the names of mainly opposition politicians for their alleged involvement in corruption during the past regimes of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is now shy in making the names of suspected terrorists public.
Most of these “corrupt” politicians have joined the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, where they were accepted with open arms. Senator Ali Ndume, whose name was once bruited as a terrorism sponsor, was able to clear his name in court and thus removed the stigma that such a tag put on his name.
Even though government refuses to officially name people whose alleged activities have damaged lives and property more than any other security challenge since the Civil War, several names are being bandied in the social media. Why is government refusing to officially name them and put them on open trial to also enable the innocent ones clear their names?
Is it because the vast majority of these people are part of a special breed of people- the untouchables? We ask this question because we saw the gusto with which Biafra agitator, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested, put on trial and brought back from Kenya through an extraordinary rendition to continue his trial for “terrorism”.
We also saw how Yoruba Nation agitators led by Chief Sunday Adeyemo, aka Igboho, are being dragged around by government. But the people who have actually committed real and naked acts of terrorism are being shielded.
The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, recently complained of the trouble she was having in convincing the Federal Government of the need to expose the terror sponsors, adding that she was ready to assist in that regard.
The Federal Government’s suspicious handling of terrorists, be they Boko Haram, North West “Bandits” or herdsmen militias contributes in demoralising our troops in the war fronts. It also falls into the hands of critics who allege that key figures in the administration are “sponsors” or “enablers” of the terrorism. The terrorism sponsors must be named and given open trial.
