4 weeks ago
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By Kingsley Omonobi
Former Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor (retd), has said the Boko Haram insurgency was not a warfare of religion but a warfare of evil — a run of panic waged by fanatics who hid nether the guise of Islam to inflict pain, suffering, and devastation connected guiltless Nigerians.
Irabor, who revealed this successful Chapter 7 of his recently launched publication titled “SCARS: Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum,” said the group’s assertion of warring for spiritual purity was simply a screen for the monstrous acts it carried retired against some Muslims and Christians crossed Nigeria.
“Nigerians and the planetary assemblage indispensable recognize that Boko Haram were purveyors of anguish and torment nether the cloak of spiritual puritanism,” Irabor wrote.
“From the onset, their volition was not to support religion but to unleash wide killings, abductions, and demolition connected the populace. The destructions were truthful monumental that 1 could not comprehend the objectives Boko Haram intended to service adjacent if they achieved the alleged caliphate they projected.”
According to the erstwhile Defence Chief, the insurgents deliberately planned and executed the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction and the Nyanya Bus Station bombing connected the aforesaid time successful April 2014 to pull planetary attraction and distract information agencies.
“It should beryllium noted that the abduction of the Chibok girls came connected the aforesaid time arsenic the Nyanya Bus Station weaponry blast. Boko Haram synchronized it portion the attraction of authorities agencies was focused chiefly connected salvaging the aftermath of the Nyanya attack,” helium said.
“It frankincense provided Boko Haram immoderate vantage of state of enactment connected the nighttime of the abduction.”
The Chibok abduction, which led to the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls, sparked planetary outrage and birthed the #BringBackOurGirls question that drew planetary condemnation and enactment for Nigeria’s anti-terror efforts.
Irabor described the occurrence arsenic 1 of the astir heartbreaking incidents successful Nigeria’s history, noting that it exposed the limitations of information agencies astatine the clip and underscored the request for greater quality coordination and accelerated response.
“The abduction of the Chibok girls did happen. The suggestions that it was staged are baseless and unhelpful. I personally visited the tract 2 days aft the incidental and saw firsthand the level of destruction. It remains 1 of the darkest moments of our nationalist history,” Irabor recalled.
He besides elaborate different gruesome attacks by Boko Haram, including the Buni Yadi massacre of February 2014, wherever 59 students were killed successful their sleep.
“Those boys were burnt live successful their hostels. It was a astir cruel, devilish enactment that demonstrated Boko Haram’s hatred for acquisition and progress. Their connection was wide — that Western acquisition is forbidden,” Irabor lamented.
The retired wide chronicled however the panic radical carried retired bombings successful Jos, Potiskum, Madalla, and Abuja, arsenic good arsenic the attacks connected the United Nations gathering and Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, which killed dozens and injured hundreds.
“Their attacks were intended to provoke spiritual struggle by targeting churches and mosques to inflame tensions betwixt Christians and Muslims,” helium said.“However, the responsiveness of authorities and spiritual leaders astatine the clip prevented a full-scale sectarian war.”
Irabor besides recounted Boko Haram’s systematic demolition of captious infrastructure.
The station Boko Haram waging warfare of evil, not religion —Irabor, Ex-CDS appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.
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