Given the heinous crimes and atrocities it perpetrates daily, Boko Haram expectedly has the identities of its sponsors shrouded in secrecy. But, the world knows that the insurgent group did not drop from the skies. The current controversy on the identity of its sponsors is to be expected because it is now considered the most destructive and blood thirsty group in the world. Its barbarism, brutality and bestiality are competing with those of its counterpart in the Middle East, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
An Australian, Dr. Stephen Davis, who appears to have been a negotiator between the Nigerian Federal Government and the terrorist group set off the controversy when he named two individuals and pointed fingers in the direction of others.
It is on record he granted two interviews. He spoke to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, where he said that one primary source of funding for Boko Haram was Nigerian politicians. But, he refrained from naming anyone. Then, he was interviewed by Arise Television, a sister company of ThisDay, a major Nigerian newspaper.
There, he disclosed that the “first thing to do is to arrest the former Governor Sheriff” (Ali Modu Sheriff of Borno State), who “has been funding this (Boko Haram) for years. He is satisfied that he will be picked up and he has now switched to the ruling party, PDP, in the hope this will give him protection. That guy is really a bad guy.
“There is a former Chief of Army Staff, (Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika) who retired in January, rightly sacked by the President, who is another sponsor.” He was also reported to have said that a former official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was among the sponsors of the group. He had barely completed the interview before calls emerged from some quarters for their prosecution. Davis also spoke of an Abuja man whose three nephews “participated in the bombing of the Abuja bus station (Nyanya) early this year that killed at least 77 people. The nephews were living with him. He has been linked several times to their activities and while those nephews are in the custody of the SSS (State Security Service), the SSS doesn’t seem inclined to interrogate those young men to produce concrete evidence against their uncle in whose house they were living during their activities for Boko Haram.”
Dr. Davis’ interview was an earful, as he also gave an account of a botched attempt to collect 60 of the Chibok girls from his Boko Haram contacts, using a military jet and a military convoy given to him by President Goodluck Jonathan. We do not wish to rush to judgment on what Dr. Davis heard from the commanders of Boko Haram, but we consider his claims concerning Ihejirika and Sheriff highly unlikely. Ihejirika, as a former Chief of Army Staff, seems the exact opposite of who a Boko Haram sponsor would be.
Modu Sheriff was the state governor who had the unpleasant duty of rescuing his capital from Boko Haram. He appealed to President Yar’Adua to send in the soldiers in 2009 who then decapitated Boko Haram and almost sent it into oblivion. He cannot but be Boko Haram’s enemy. His co-accused, Lt. Gen Ihejiriika, had a constitutional duty as Army Chief to suppress Boko Haram. And, he did it the best way he could, leading to the sensational accusation that he was trying to avenge the massacre of Igbos in the North and again during the civil war. It must have been a great relief to Boko Haram when he was retired from service.
Perhaps, the most important question mark on these allegations is: why would Boko Haram reveal the true identity of its funders, knowing that the offence is treasonous, to put it mildly?
Our position, despite our reservations about the accusations, is that the Federal Government should fulfill all righteousness and investigate these claims as expeditiously as possible. Let there be a publicised conclusion on each individual’s culpability, if only to establish their innocence.