The failed rescue effort
Tuesday March 20, 2012
The recent death of two foreign hostages during an attempt to rescue them by Nigerian and British security operatives has raised serious concerns on the handling of the rescue effort. The victims, Chris McManus, from North West England, and Franco Lamolinara, an Italian, had been in custody of the terrorist sect since they were kidnapped in Birnin Kebbi, on May 12 last year. The plan to rescue them in Sokoto, where they were held, ended in disaster on March 8, as they were killed before they could be rescued.
The State Security Service (SSS) has since disclosed that the order for the killing of the men was given by Boko Haram leaders following a raid its operatives launched on a top-level meeting of the sect in Zaria, on March 7. The killing of the two hostages engendered a diplomatic tiff between Britain and Italy.
The latter had claimed that it was not carried along in the rescue plan. An unnamed Boko Haram spokesman also alleged that Italy had been in the process of paying a ransom for the Italian before the failed rescue attempt.
Britain, through Prime Minister, David Cameron, said the urgency of the rescue effort did not leave room other than for Italy to be notified just before the rescue bid began. President Goodluck Jonathan has, expectedly, condoled with the two countries on the loss of their citizens and promised that their killers would be brought to justice.
We commiserate with the families of the two hostages and the governments and people of Italy and Britain on the death of their two citizens. The death of these men on Nigerian soil has, unfortunately, firmly confirmed Nigeria’s place on the global terrorist map.
Since the death of the hostages has continued to generate questions on the execution of the rescue effort, we advise Nigerian security agencies to disclose every information at their disposal on the incident. It will also give a good account of the agencies’ credibility as a security force in the country. It will, in addition, put an end to questions being asked in several quarters on the details of the plan, and the possibility of a positive outcome if the matter had been handled differently. Full disclosure will also guide the nation on the best way to handle such situations in future.
One lesson for Nigeria on this incident is the seriousness with which the two countries reacted to the kidnapping of their citizens. Britain was very much involved with her security agencies. Italy was also involved in her own way, and her anger and readiness to get into a diplomatic tiff with Britain over the loss of her citizen, is touching.
Nigerian authorities, which do not react decisively when our citizens are killed abroad, and in dozens via bomb blasts at home, need to learn a lesson from Britain and Italy on this sad incident. It is this same love of a country’s citizens that informed the July 4, 1976 legendary Israeli raid of Entebbe Airport, Uganda, to rescue 100 Israelis held there by the then Ugandan president, the now late Idi Amin. Nigerian leaders will do well to take greater interest in the wellbeing of Nigerians, at home and abroad. This incident should teach them how important nationals should be to a country’s leaders.
We regret the failure of this rescue operation. It is unfortunate that the two men died after ten months in Boko Haram custody. But the squabble over their death between Britain and Italy is needless. It cannot change the situation and such operations cannot always be guaranteed to be successful, anywhere in the world.
For Nigeria, the greatest lesson is the need to address worsening insecurity in the country. The kidnap and killing of the foreigners is a dent on Nigeria’s image. Nigerian authorities need to work harder to stop the descent to anarchy in the country.
Boko Haram, which has become the poster boy for insecurity in Nigeria, should be stopped from its deadly campaign. Government should be moved by incessant bombings and killing of Nigerians by the sect and see the problem as serious enough to deserve urgent and decisive action to stop it.
