Shekau, Al-Barnawi’s killings won’t end insurgency – Shehu Sani

Senator Shehu Sani has said the killings of the leaders of Boko Haram and ISWAP, Abubakar Shekau and Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, respectively, will not end the insurgency in the North East.

Sani, who represented the Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the last Senate, said this Sunday while featuring on Trust TV’s Politics Daily.

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He noted that though the death of the two terrorist commanders was a morale booster for the military and the populace, terrorist groups find a way to exist despite their leaders’ death.

“Eliminating the leader of a terror group is important in terms of demoralising the foot soldiers and boasting the morale of the army and give people confidence. If you look at what happened with ISIS, Al-Baghdadi was killed in Iraq, but has ISIS gone? No, Osama bin Laden was eliminated and Alqaeda has not gone. They find a way to appoint another leader. 

“It is important that security forces go for the head, but that does not mean it will come to an end,” Sani said.

He also said the emergence of Taliban had emboldened terror groups as they saw it possible to pick up arms against the state and take over power.

“Terrorism is complex and their activities expand the banditry in the northwest, the inspiration has to do with the fact that Islamist terrorist group engages in kidnappings. Bandits simply adopted the financial aspect of it to kidnap and extort money, to lay siege and impose tax.”

On the surrendering of repentant Boko Haram members, Sani cautioned: “We should be very cautious in terms of believing that the successes of the military led to the massive surrender of these insurgent terrorists.

“There could be other factors. One is infighting within the terror group. As we open our doors to them, we should be careful because that does not mean that they have turned over a new leaf and are desirous of getting back to civil and civilized life.”