Insecurity In The North East – Impunity Of Power?

By

Babayola M. Toungo

babayolatoungo@yahoo.co.uk

 

Much has been said and written on the security situation in the north eastern part of the country, particularly this year with the increase in the frequency of attacks by God knows who.  A situation that has been presented as defying all efforts to bring to end the wanton destruction of lives and property; a situation that began as a local fire fight that has taken a national dimension and is now used by those in the business of conjuring conspiracy theories where non exist, as a direct challenge to Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency by a section of the country.  Sadly, most of our politicians know where the problems lie and the solution staring them right in the face.  They are either unwilling to take any action to stop the carnage or are comfortable with the state of affairs.  In my opinion the later is the case and I will shortly give reasons for my conclusions.

 

One thing I disagree with is the attribution of every atrocity and criminal act to the Boko Haram sect, willy nilly, wherever it took place in the country.  Well before the extra-judicial murders of Mohammed Yusuf and Buji Foi, leaders of the Boko Haram sect, the north east zone has been experiencing murderous sprees from killer squads like the Kalare and the ECOMOG  created and nurtured by former governors Danjuma Goje and Ali Madu Sheriff of Gombe and Borno states respectively.  The activities of these killers were well known to the authorities but nobody deem it fit to check their activities, therefore not a single murderer was brought to book.  In the cracked days of Obasanjo, one couldn’t be sure that the gang of killers wasn’t part of a larger scheme to perpetuate the planned PDP rulership of the country ad infinitum.  What with the existence of murderous gangs all over the country running roughshod over innocent citizens with the security agencies standing aside as spectators – OPC in the south west, MEND and a motley of brigands in the Niger Delta, MASSOB in the east and the Kalare and ECOMOG group in the north.

 

In the north east, any voices of dissent to the two ex-governors – Goje and Madu Sheriff – were brutally silenced by the Kalare and ECOMOG groups with finality.  The zone was in this state of dread when the police decided to use its guns as funeral dirge on a funeral procession of Mohammed Yusuf’s followers on their way to bury one of their own in Maiduguri in 2009.  The rest as they say, is history.  Mohammed Yusuf and Buji Foi, a Commissioner in Madu Sherriff’s cabinet, were arrested by the military and handed over to the police, who in turn took the duo to the governor and thereafter killed them without giving them the benefit of stating their case or the country the benefit of hearing what were their gripes.  Much as the people tried to find out who gave the order for this barbarous action, the police and the authorities played dumb until bodies of police officers began littering our ever dirty streets culminating in the bomb attack on the police headquarters in Abuja.  That was when we learnt that some police officers were taken to court for the murder of Yusuf and Foi.  All this is beside the point.

 

Critically this state of affairs provided a perfect background for public officials with skeletons in their closets.  Coincidentally the frequency of the killings picked up astronomically, purportedly carried out by the Boko Haram to avenge their slained leaders.  We swallowed this line of thinking hook, line and sinker.  Nobody bothered to dig deeper and bring these “Boko Haram” killers to book.  In Borno state, people were killed in broad daylight while no single arrest was made – we only get the standard “Boko Haram are the perpetrators, and we will soon deal with them”.  It appears the killers are ghosts and will never be apprehended.  That is until recently.  Suddenly some arrests were made in Borno state and those arrested started singing like canaries.  Nigerians for the first time learnt of the involvement of others apart from the Boko Haram in the killings.  The success in apprehending the few and the intelligence gathered from their statements were attributed to a certain Major General Mungono, the erstwhile Chief of Defence Intelligence.  Incidentally, the General is from Borno State, the centre of the theatre of war and ‘home state’ of Boko Haram.  But Mungon’s successes made some people jittery – powerful, ruthless people – whose secrets will be laid bare for all to see.  People who value their allegiance to dark forces more than their fealty to the nation.  People who are of the view that they can do as they please and play god with people’s lives.  Suddenly stories started flying around that Mungonu will be dealt with; he will be removed from his position as Chief of Defence Intelligence; and that his career will be truncated for daring to expose these purveyors of death – wolf in sheep skin.

 

Today we all know that Mungonu is removed from the office of the CDI, what remains to be seen is whether he will be sacked from the army.  This gentleman’s offence is no other than his love for his country and the preservation of human life.  But the government he is working for doesn’t care about sanctity of human life or the reputation of a hardworking officer – or so it seems.  The continued freedom of vermin amongst us is more important to the government than our lives and safety.  Are we therefore to infer that the likes of Madu Sheriff can control the affairs of the killer ECOMOG group and control the Nigerian Army as well?  Because we don’t know what to believe anymore.

 

General Mungonu’s travails began with the release of a one Ali Tishaku.  This was a man who was released by whichever security that detained him on a court’s order but the story carried in the media was that he was released by Mungonu and nobody bothered to check the details before going to press.  Is this then a classical case of giving a dog a bad name in order that it is hanged?  The man was supposed to be a mole planted on Mohammed Yususf by one of the security agencies and when he turned in from the cold and members of Madu Sheriff’s ECOMOG began to be dragged in based on information provided by him, General Mungonu found himself staring at the barrel end of a gun.  The threats of sacking him began flying around and the first part of theses threats was made good by his removal from the office of CDI.  I thought the man deserves commendation not condemnation.  The government’s action regarding the general more than anything indicates to Nigerians that the insecurity in the land is contrived and may not be over soon.

 

The Desert Herald of October 4th, had the issue of Munguno and Madu Sheriff as its cover story.  Two weeks after the story appeared, not a single word is heard from the government, Madu Sheriff or any other person refuting the plethora of allegations contained in the story.  Are we therefore to infer that story is true in all its ramifications and every material sense?