BOKO HARAM ADOPTING NEW CRUEL TERRORIST STRATEGIES – EKHOMU

Renowned security analyst, Dr. Ona Ekhomu has warned that Boko Haram is adopting new cruel terror strategies which require a more cerebral and sophisticated security architecture to combat. 

 He said that the recent attacks on three villages in the outskirts of Maiduguri presented many new variables and elements that should concern intelligence officials, security officials and members of the public.

President of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSON), Dr. Ekhomu, in a statement in Lagos said that the multiple strategies which Boko Haram exhibited during the attacks of 30^th January 2016 were perplexing. 

He said that the terrorists used a double-tap method of attack resulting in a very high death toll.  The ruse was the use of one group of terrorists in plain clothes to initiate the attack and then bring up another group in military uniforms pretending to be there for their rescue.  This brought together many villagers who were then massacred mercilessly.

Ekhomu warned that BH may be adopting a scorched earth policy in its resurgent attacks, as it killed over 100 persons in the Dalori massacre, burned over 300 homes, burned livestock, abducted some villagers including women and girls. 

“They displayed extreme cruelty in the attacks. It was reported by eye-witnesses that the terrorists assembled a large number of villagers and then detonated an IED in their midst killing 19 persons at once” he added.

The security expert warned that security officials and citizens should take note of the double tap method of attack as BH was likely to use it again and again.  

 He said that the sophistication, coordination, resourcing and spread of the attacks showed that much forethought and planning went into its execution.

Ekhomu, who is the first chartered security professional in West Africa urged the Federal Government and the security agencies to refocus the war on terror.  He said the government must not be distracted. “It must do what is necessary and expedient to win”, he added.  He urged the government to ramp up its intelligence gathering and analysis capabilities in order to prevent such mass fatality attacks in future.

He advised against hastily sending villagers home from the safety of IDP camps in Maiduguri, Yola or Abuja as the Dalori massacre showed that the rural communities have not been rendered completely safe from further Boko Haram deadly incursions.

He therefore urged the government to deploy more troops to the frontlines in the Northeast in order to intensify mopping up operations in rural communities that could be serving as safe haven for  BH fighters.

Ekhomu re-echoed President Muhammadu Buhari’s call for “vigilance” and urged government agencies to design robust security awareness campaigns on anti-terrorism. They should teach Nigerians “how to recognize IEDs, how to spot terrorist and other subversive elements,” he added. According to him, in order to combat and defeat Boko Haramism, “Nigeria – be vigilant”