Colombia has been battling insurgency for over 50 years without success. The story from this country regarding terrorism management is not attractive. So, what do we have to learn from them that will help us in the battle against Boko Haram? Nothing! That was why I found the visit to President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday by the so-called Colombian security delegation bizarre. The tetchy former President Olusegun Obasanjo led the team to meet with Buhari. The Colombian experts are in Nigeria to share professional expertise on security and counter terrorism, so says Obasanjo. He said Nigeria needed to learn how Colombia survived insurgency for more than 50 years.
Rubbish! Everybody is just trying to exploit the Boko Haram crisis to milk this country dry. Obasanjo has a lot of questions to answer in this regard. He has been all over Buhari since May 29. Now, he is talking about Colombian security experts. Many will agree with me that Colombia is obviously a failure in this regard. Common sense dictates that Nigeria should be talking to countries that have successfully battled insurgency and not one struggling with it.
For those who have not been following the crisis in Colombia, let me just run through it briefly. The Colombian conflict began in 1964 and is an ongoing low-intensity asymmetric war between the Colombian government, paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and left-wing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), fighting each other to increase their influence in Colombia. It is historically rooted in the conflict known as La Violencia, which was triggered by the 1948 assassination of populist political leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán and in the aftermath of United States-backed strong anti-communist repression in rural Colombia in the 1960s which led the liberal and communist militants to re-organise into FARC.
The FARC and other guerrilla movements claim to be fighting for the rights of the poor in Colombia; to protect them from government violence and to provide social justice through communism. The Colombian government is fighting for order and stability and seeking to protect the rights and interests of its citizens. The paramilitary groups are reacting to perceived threats by guerrilla movements. According to a study by Colombia’s National Centre for Historical Memory, 220,000 people have died in the conflict, most of them civilians (177,307 civilians and 40,787 fighters) and more than five million civilians were forced from their homes between 1985 – 2012, generating the world’s second largest population of internally displaced persons(IDPs).
Nigeria’s target is to decapitate Boko Haram by December. So, what do we have to gain from a country that is confused and has been struggling with terrorism for over 50 years? Na wa oh! Boko Haram has become big business for our big men. Many of them have clearly been profiting from the terrorism. They are always plotting to sell useless things to the Nigerian government in the name of contributing to the war against Boko Haram. May Allah save us from these merchants of filth?
Time to Take Holistic Look at ‘Stoning the Devil’
The stoning of the Devil ritual has over the years become the most perilous part of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. This is because of the gigantic multitudes that participate. There is always crisis, particularly as they cross the colossal multilayer Jamarat Bridge through which the three walls which pilgrims fling pebbles at are accessed in the city of Mina just east of Mecca. At times, the dense, rushing crowds, trekking from one station of the pilgrimage to the next, cause a stampede, or more accurately, a crowd breakdow
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