A security analyst, Yemi Akpang, on Thursday said 95 percent of the foreign nationals who had been kidnapped and released by the Boko Haram terrorist group were sponsors of the insurgency in disguise.
While assessing Nigeria’s counter-terrorism strategies, Akpang noted that the Boko Haram insurgency had gained ground in the Northern region because security agencies had overlooked several incidences of religious unrest.
Appearing as a guest on Sunrise Daily, Akpang said “right from the beginning, there have been fundamental mistakes in the way we pursue our security in the country”, opining that there was a “serious problem of analysis” on the part of the agencies.
According to him, the history of the Northern region spanning the 80’s up until the early 2000’s, was typified by religious riots leading to the death of many while others fled the region and abandoned their properties. “What that tells us is that right from the 80’s up to the 90’s, up to the present (time), there are elements in that area that have extremist tendencies.”
He opined that the security agencies had left the situation unchecked, which led to the propagation of extremist beliefs.
“Terrorism is about the brain. It’s not about the gun. It’s about putting infrastructure in place, nip it in the bud before it comes up.”
Although he commended the security agencies for their efforts at combating terrorism, he maintained that “there were some fundamental issues that were not addressed from the beginning, and it appears that these mistakes are still going-in.”
Speaking on some sponsors of terrorism who train the members of the insurgency, Akpang opined that some of the foreign nationals who had been kidnapped could have been trainers ‘terrorist tacticians’ in disguise.
“They (terrorists) would fake the kidnapping, take him to their camps (where he would) train them (on) how to assemble bombs, how to handle weapons … and after about 9 months to one year, they would release the person.”
“It is possible that it is a normal kidnapping case but 95 percent of the time such people are weapons instructors.”
He also spoke about the government’s counter terrorism strategies, which he said, terrorists study before deciding on the method of attack to use.
“So counter-terrorism efforts must be geared towards capturing all the terrorist’s strategies,” he said.
