Is The Boko Haram Tragedy Over Yet

Is The Boko Haram Tragedy Over Yet?

Sharafa Dauda

The destructive ideological struggle by the late Mohammed Yusuf led Boko Haram sect in some states of the federation might have been suppressed, but a thorough study of the entire disaster presents an avoidable scenario; and it looks as if it is not over, yet.

To begin with, no sane and knowledgeable Muslim or non-Muslim would support the Boko Haram propagated ideology. It is totally un-Islamic. Their acts are barbaric, anti-social, anti-development and pro-destruction. But do President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and especially the Borno State Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff know that due to their dereliction of constituted responsibility, thousands of people now lying six feet deep comprising security men and civilians were slaughtered (like animals) until their heads were brutally separated from the rest of their body; macheted or stabbed or even shot dead directly by the Boko Haram sect or hit by stray bullets? Or that the more lucky ones that escaped with wounds are now lying in anguish in hospitals, not knowing their fates; or that those who escaped with their lives have and are still experiencing psychological trauma after watching many others die in either of the above ways or better still the trauma residents and their relations underwent while the clash lasted and afterwards? Do they also know how many have been orphaned or have lost their entire live earnings? For those who care to know dead bodies were conveyed in lorries and pickup vans, in piles on streets or at the morgue on the ground in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. Some were left scattered across town days after the skirmishes and eventually evacuated. All these ended up in mass graves. What an unbefitting way to depart the world. I can categorically state this because I was resident in Maiduguri during the crisis. May God prevent us from witnessing such gruesome inhumanity, amen. Sadly too, it is estimated by members of the Muslim Ummah in Maiduguri that many Hafizul Qur’an (memorizers of the Holy Qur’an), Sunnah and Hadith of the Prophet (SAW) also died either as members of the sect, or innocent bearded keeping observers of the tradition of the Prophet (SAW). What a waste of priceless knowledge and gift to humanity. The calamities and losses are endless.

Now, Mr. President has set up a commission of enquiry after the entire world had condemned the extra-judicial killing of the sect leader (Mohammed Yusuf), his over 72year old father-in-law (Baba Fugu Mohammed), his second in command (Abubakar Shekau), a former commissioner (Buji Foi) among others; and the handling of the entire crisis (which himself, the Borno State Government, the state Police Commissioner and members of the Boko Haram sect either aided or encouraged), to investigate both members of the sect and the police. Whether that would reverse the unprecedented losses, help address the roots causes, or help expose unknown perpetrations and sponsors, the entire world waits.

Insultingly, excerpts of the videoed interrogation of the captured sect leader by men of the Nigerian Army who took over the operations of suppressing the uprising against the Boko Haram religious sect across the Northeast (especially Borno) sufficiently proofs the incompetence of those who undertook such an all too important task. In the first instance, was there any contingency plan for the operation? There couldn’t have been any, if at all they never envisaged capturing the leader, outlining questions that require answers or handling unexpected revelations and providing specially skilled security operatives for such purpose. Who was responsible for giving specific instructions to the security forces during the operations: the State Governor, the Borno State Police Commissioner or Mr. President?

Of course it couldn’t have been Mr. President, who happens to be the Chief Security Officer of the nation who only deemed it fit to instruct the security forces in the country to do ‘anything possible’ to end the crisis after the sect had waged war on security forces across states of the federation. He was too busy organizing and undertaking his supposed two-year long ‘too-important to wait invitation’ to Brazil along with his First Lady and their entourage. Of what benefit is the so-called two-year long invitation to average Nigerians if they are not alive that the president felt it was more important? Couldn’t it have waited until peace had been restored? Undoubtedly, the business as usual leadership qualities across social institutions within the Nigerian society is what led us to this scenario: corruption, injustice, lack of accountability and transparency, underdevelopment, prependal politics and democracy, selfishness and greed, among others. No excuse can justify the sect’s style of uprising against constituted authority, but it can be categorically stated that the late leader of the sect took advantage of irresponsible leadership to work on the psychology of frustrated and messiah-waiting innocent citizens.

An analysis of the visual of the execution of key leaders and sponsors of the sect by the police like Buji Foi, a two-time commissioner and chairman indicates a deliberate execution. The white coloured Ford 4-wheel van in which he was brought was parked on the highway in front of the State Police Headquarters with its front side towards the west. He alights from the van and was guided by an unidentified police officer who departs, leaving the late Foi to walk on facing east. His legs were chained and his hands were folded across his chest. As he walked, gun shots were fired at him. He walked on while police officers can be seen firing shots in his direction until he was hit and fell after the sixth or seventh gun shot. The gun fire continued, in the open until he was ascertained dead. Other unidentified littered corpses were sighted. The execution of Mohammed Yusuf was said to have been more gruesome, who was known to have been captured alive and delivered to the police by the military.

Who authorized the serialized extra-judicial killings of important actors and witnesses of these sorts and for what reasons? Couldn’t their confessional statements be used to address the root causes and/or forestall future occurrences? If we had a just, accountable, transparent, incorrupt, unselfish leadership that has brought about basic infrastructures and gainful employment across the country, would there have been a reason for a social crisis to manifest into a militant confrontation?

Why did the Borno State government allow this social problem to degenerate to this level waiting since the inception of this ideology about seven or eight years ago? Every social problem must be sorted out using social means, not military might. Despite several intelligence reports from security apparatuses about the impending danger of the activities of the sect, no measures were taken to prevent such an occurrence. It was common knowledge to both security agencies and general public that members of the sect were selling their properties, accumulating cash to arm themselves and train members on how to engage in warfare; use riffles; and make and detonate bombs. Recent sermons by the late Mohammed Yusuf were no different from previous ones, but more inciting, provocative and disregarding constituted authority. He outrightly pronounced an impending Jihad (Holy war) against government. In his sermon on Friday and Saturday prior to their attacks on government installations and structures, he slung an AK-47 rifle across his shoulder as he preached while he was heavily guarded. Why did government wait this long? After all, late Yusuf’s ideology had a number of times threatened peace in Borno, Yobe and Kano states before now.

And despite the infiltration of his camp by men of the SSS and series of official and individual security reports, too many questions appear unanswered. Agreed the late Mohammed Yusuf had acquired the land on which he built the enclave that served as his operation base from his father-in-law, the late Baba Fugu Mohammed; how did the father-in-law acquire such a land, which supposedly should belong to the Nigerian Railway Corporation? If at the point of acquisition, the Nigerian Railway Corporation had compensated the initial farm land owners (because the area was initially a farmland) to acquire the land to establish its terminus, staff quarters, rail tracks, among others, did Mohammed Yusuf’s father-in-law refuse to sell his own land (if at all he had acquired it at that time)? If his ownership cannot be traced to the inception of the Railway Terminus, how did he assume ownership of such government property? What sort of business had the father-in-law engaged in before and until his death? What are his dealings? Even the late leader of the Boko Haram sect himself was at different times arrested and taken to Abuja. The last time, why was he released and at whose orders? It is common knowledge that he was released on the authority of ‘order from above.’ Whose orders? Why is the name Jerry Gana resonating around late Mohammed Yusuf, yet no clear statement has been issued by security forces or government spokesmen about their relationship and his involvement? Why did the Borno State Government refuse to act appropriately, even after years of receiving reports that the activities of the sect constitute breach of peace?

For the benefit of those who might not know, the last time late Yusuf was arrested and taken to Abuja for interrogation, he was released. The day he returned, most stalls at the Maiduguri Monday Market were shut. Why? The traders fell among his supporters and sympathizers and had gone to welcome their hero. The roadsides, from the Maiduguri International Airport in Ngomari Airport through Bulumkutu and culminating around the Ramat Polytechnic, some few metres ahead of the Police Headquarters, was packed with his teeming supporters and sympathizers. In short, it was a triumphant entry!

Also, the Daily Trust’s (August 4, 2009, p.6) report about the release of the publication’s detained reporter, Ahmad Salkida who was arrested over suspicion of having unpleasant contacts with the sect members; and kept in protective custody for four days because the government thought his life was in danger is noteworthy. The security forces might have come to this conclusion owing to the fact that he was the first media personnel to be granted audience by the leader of the sect. He also enjoyed unfettered access to members of the sect. And probably due to his understanding of their ideological struggle, he became sympathetic with his stories on the sect as shown by some that were published in the heat of the crisis. I suggest that editors of the publication thoroughly study their contents and consider the objectivity or otherwise of the stories.

To worsen matters, during the entire period of the crisis, except on the day after the sect’s enclave was destroyed, the state owned public broadcast station, Borno Radio Television Corporation (BRTV); and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria’s (FRCN) intermittent Peace FM (radio) were off air. Residents and affected persons relied on their transistor radios and Cable Satellite for content of foreign broadcast stations like the BBC, VOA, CNN, Aljazeera, among others (because the print media publications could not be circulated for the risk involved) to obtain valuable information. Who was supposed to perform one of the core surveillance responsibilities of the state media to its public? And shamefully, two days later, the General Manager of BRTV was on air singing praises about the efforts of the state government to quell the crisis, especially ‘his able governor’, Governor Ali Modu Sherrif whom he said did not sleep or rest for one moment throughout the impasse. What an effrontery! And to think the organization is funded with Borno State tax payers’ money! This is no doubt an example of the failure of state-owned public broadcast stations and the sycophancy approach that outrightly suggests a quest to ‘cover up’ non performance.

The attack on the sect and their enclave, though providing temporary relief, has definitely created more problems. The rest of the sect who were forced to flee and disperse have also relocated and would lay low and wait to re-launch. It was common knowledge that days before the attack on government structures, members of the sect were reported to have received in new naira notes from their leader huge sums of money; some received N150,000, others more, others less to settle their outstanding debts and take care of their family; a move that they were preparing for war. The police who were searching the pockets of the dead sect members can testify to the discovery of huge sums of money in new naira notes. Those who fled with theirs have been given the chance to settle and nurture their grievances. After all, during his interrogation by the army, the late leader of the sect said that his members had fled; and that those supposedly referred to as the killed members of his sect are not his members. They are innocent people from within the society. Did he mean they were the innocent people that were abducted and forced to join their struggle to fight the security forces or did he mean that most of his men were at large?

Initially, most of them can be traced with their beards and adamant nature. In the process of fishing them out, based on their supposed description, many innocent Sunnis who are also noted to keep beards also lost their lives. Now, the sect members are wise and have trimmed their beards, just like other non-members of the sect who have acted on advice of clerics. But then, quite a lot of innocent bearded Muslims have been wasted for no reason other than their adherence to the traditions of the Holy Prophet (SAW).

Thank God the shoot-at-sight order of any identified sect member had been withdrawn, but there are also confirmed reports that security forces in Borno State are taking advantage of the situation to extort money from people. Even when ward or village heads and/or members of the community have identified a person as a non-member of the sect, such a person is still made to pay from between N5,000 and N50,000 or above to gain freedom. Why inflict more pain on a people whose wounds are still fresh from gruesome acts of inhumanity meted on them unjustifiably?

Because of the crude and unprofessional nature with which the police handled the unfortunate incident, members of the public, especially Muslims who had hitherto condemned the acts of Boko Haram sect have now become sympathetic, a situation which is dangerous to peaceful coexistence; and could resonate the crisis in another dimension – religious. God Forbid!

At the moment, there are impending threats about reprisal attacks on security infrastructures and personnel in the month of August 2009. For example, police officers at the un-burnt sections of the remains of the Lamisula Police Barracks are already scampering to safety along with their beloved family members. If police officers cannot guarantee their own safety and those of their beloved ones, whose can they guarantee? Both Federal and Borno State governments, community members and responsible security actors MUST learn from this particular crisis to never underestimate any threat to public security by individuals or groups. They MUST act timely and wisely in order to avoid another blood shedding.

Sharafa Dauda

Department of Mass Communication,

University of Maiduguri