By Zagazola Makama
MAIDUGURI – A woman identified as the wife of a suspected ISWAP terrorist, along with her five children, has surrendered to troops of Sector 3 Headquarters in Monguno Local Government Area of Borno State.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the woman surrendered to troops at about 3:30 p.m. on June 30 in Monguno town.
Preliminary investigations revealed that she and her husband had joined the terrorist group at Kayowa village in Abadam Local Government Area about eight years ago.
According to the sources, the woman stated during initial debriefing that sustained military air strikes on terrorist enclaves had significantly worsened living conditions within the camps, prompting her to flee with her five children.
She reportedly navigated her way out of the enclave with the assistance of Fulani herders before eventually reaching troops, where she voluntarily surrendered.
The woman and her children are currently in the custody of the Military Intelligence Branch at Sector 3 Headquarters for profiling, further investigation and other necessary administrative procedures.
Security sources said the surrender further evidences the continued impact of sustained military operations, particularly precision air interdictions, in degrading terrorist strongholds and increasing pressure on insurgent elements and their families across the North-East.
It happens in a number of other places especially in the North West and North Central but I am more familiar with the Plateau and Benue States. Communities and families are on almost daily basis, burying loved ones who are killed and in some instances hacked in the most barbaric ways possible on account of attacks and reprisal attacks. Yet, the script from those tasked to take decisive actions to bring these rings of needless and senseless bloodletting to an end has remained the same over the years; condemn, promise to bring perpetrators to book and wait for another round of barbarism.
A more worrisome reality is how the rest of the country is carrying on as if all is well with us. But we all know that all is not well with Nigeria. At all!
The armed forces can only do much and I dare say they are doing a lot. The bulk of the solution is on the tables of those elected; from the President down to the state governors. But apparently, these guys have chosen political convenience over the need to protect lives of ordinary Nigerians.
Yes, the narratives and counter narratives driving these attacks are deeply rooted in ethno-religious sentiments daily propagated by opinion moulders across all the factions, still, with the appropriate government intervention of rewarding and punishing good and bad behaviours blindly, we might begin to see a reversal. Anything short of this is cosmetic.
