By Adekunle Adekoya
What initially began as isolated incidents after the death of Mohammed Yusuf, the late founder of Boko Haram after his death in July 2009 later balooned into full-scale insurgency with which we have struggled to no end for 16 years. Then, the insurgents were trying to establish control over ungoverned spaces in parts of Borno State far from the capital. Later, they grew bolder, started levying taxes on residents, and within a short time, established control.
They became so entrenched that countries of the Lake Chad area had to form a joint security outfit to respond to them. And so we had the Multi-National Joint task Force, the MNJTF, comprising soldiers and other security operatives from Nigeria, Chad and Niger Republic. But they were not deterred. Having secured the backing of international terror organisations like Al-Qaeda, ISWAP and others, terrorists have sustained their onslaught on Nigeria’s territorial sovereignty through repeated attacks on many towns and villages, in Borno and Adamawa.
