An obviously delighted Yuguda described the smashing of the sect in Bauchi as the best thing that has happened in the state. A visibly elated Yuguda said “today we are celebrating the end of the problem. I have been vindicated because I have always said that what is happening in Bauchi state is not religious but militancy ... we thank Allah that everybody has now seen that we are right”.
The governor further stated “we pre-empted the right move and we struck at the right time. If they had pre empted us and struck first, it would have been disastrous for all of us. Nobody would be able to sleep not to talk of being in peace in our respective homes because the security report we had was that they would bomb the entire town and set it on fire”.
Then like wild fire the violence spread to Yobe, and Borno state, where the leader of the group, Mohammed Yusuf, declared a war on the state of Nigeria.
JAMES BWALA reports from Maiduguri that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Borno State chapter got information on Monday July, 20, 2009 that there was going to be a security threat by Mohammed Yusuf and his group. CAN immediately on Tuesday July, 21, 2009 approached to the appropriate security agencies and were assured that; the Christian Community was not their target.
The Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff also came on air on 25th and 26th of July 2009 to assure the citizens of the state that, the security was intact, and advised all citizens to go about their normal duties. But the attack on Christians and Churches started at about 11 pm on July 26, 2009 few hours after the Governor’s address.
CAN said that several Churches were confirmed burnt and eight (8) lives lost including two pastors as well as more than 14 vehicles. The leadership of the Christian body said this is a replication of the attack of the February 18th 2006, when 57 Churches were burnt and several lives of Christians lost. No investigation was carried out, no persons were penalised and no compensation has been given to the Churches and individuals, in spite of the promise made by the Governor that, appropriate compensation will be paid.
Speaking also to a victim Mr. Thomas Ali, who was been kidnapped by the Mohammed Yusuf sect and was forced to convert into Islam said that, the “Boko Haram” Sect, started its movement in 2000 about nine years ago. Since its inception, its goals and ideology was made very clear to the people of the state. They hated Western Education and search for knowledge contrary to the Holy Book which they professed. They hate other Muslims sects as well as Christians. The group was populated mostly by drug addicts, vagabonds and intellectuals who wanted to seize power from the politicians to instill the strict Islamic law. They have made their intentions several times very clear that a time would come that they would have to make a change in the system of Nigeria.
Thomas Ali, who was abducted by sect members and was rescued after the security stormed the enclave of the sect hails from Kaduna State which has been the scene of some of the most horrific religious riots in Nigeria. He recently completed his Youth Service in Taraba State. He saw several people, including Pastor George Orji of Good News Church, Wulari, (new Jerusalem)
Their defiance of the authority was no secret to the Borno State Government. When it introduced the motor vehicle law, the group defied the law and several times clashed with security officials. The government turned a blind eye and left hoodlums untouched. They were untouchable and this made the movement attractive. Several youth then thought that joining this movement was the only way they could escape the law of the land.
Thomas Ali who could not describe how he escaped, said, he would never forgive Mohammed Yusuf for the trauma he went through within the six hours he lived in the camp where people were brought in and slaughtered like chickens and people from religions were forced to denounce their faith or get killed.
According to Ali “It was an unholy situation and I wonder why the so-called human right organization were worried about a man like Mohammed Yusuf and were not worried about the hundreds of people that were slaughtered like chicken for refusing to denounce their faith and the security agents that, were caught and brought in, and were slaughtered as if they were not human beings. Mohammed Yusuf and his men were not human, they are animals and people should not be deceived by the religion they were claiming to be, which Islam is.”
Prior to the declaration of the Holy War by Mohammed Yusuf and his group a member of the group attacked security men (members of the operation Flush II) at the Customs Area in Maiduguri. The security men were said to have beaten the attacker to death. That was the beginning of the animosity and bad blood between members of the sect and security men. Another member of the security task force Operation Flush told Journalists that long before the recent outbreak of violence the movement had wanted to launch an attack not only on the men of the Operation, but government generally. According to him, at one of the Mallam Mohammed Yusuf sermon at Polo G.R.A., he had called on his followers not to accept any law given by man and to resist anything that is not of Allah.
According to this security man the late, Mallam Mohammed Yusuf abused the minds of his followers. He had so brain washed them that those who had been to school burned their certificates.
Several Muslims are distancing themselves from the teachings of Yusuf. Some even accuse him of being anti-Islam and argue that his doctrines did not emerge from the Holy Book nor has a claim in the Hadith of the Prophet Mohammed (S.A.W). According to most of them, the followers of Mohammed Yusuf are individual s who either have one problem in the society or the other. Some of the people said most of his followers are not in good terms with their family members. They argue further that the teaching of the Holy Prophet agrees with anyone who can abuse or have no respect for his parents.
Mohammed Yusuf, who however declared “Jihad” Holy War at about six O’clock in the evening of Sunday was said to have sighted resistant movements currently going on in Afghanistan, Somalia and Palestine as a possibility in Maiduguri if the soldiers (Operation Flush) are not withdrawn from the streets. He said “we have what it takes to confront any authority that will prevent us from performing our acts of worship and just like you (Political leaders) know our houses and where we pass, we also know your houses and where you pass on a daily basis. We will not listen to anyone, we will not dialogue with anyone or authority over this episode, everyone must know that we will never agree nor forgive the authorities. We’ll act, it is time to act and deal with these infidels, but when and how we are going to strike, we shall not tell anyone about it.”
This declaration of war did nothing to arose the security from their slumber. A member of the Mohammed Yusuf Islamic sect, Hassan Sani Balami killed himself in a bomb blast in Maiduguri on Saturday, before the declaration of Holy War (Jihad). His friend Isa Vigar laying seriously injured at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. They were working on making bombs. Security forces recovered a bomb making manual.
A two term Chairman of Kaga Local Government and former Commissioner for Religious Affairs in the Governor Ali Modu Sheriff cabinet, Ustaz Buji Fai, who is also a member of the ‘Boko Haram’ of the notorious Mohammed Yusuf sect was been captured in his farm and executed.
Hundreds of people went to see the corpse of the former for Religious Affairs. Some spat on his naked body, curse him for the part he played in the killing of so many good citizens.
The Chief of Defence staff, Chief Air Marshal Paul Dike, the acting Inspector General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo and other top military officer who visited Maiduguri the Borno State capital said that, they were in the state, to ascertain the destruction mated on the good people of Borno State by the disgruntle elements.
While giving his remark, the Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff thanked Mr. President for the quick intervention and ensuring that, the problem was brought to an end.
He appealed to the entire citizenry to remain calm, vigilant and report any suspicious character in their midst to the nearest security agents, and warned the public that any person or group found harbouring this group of criminals would be dealt with, adding that security agencies are put on the red alert and would soon conduct house to house check throughout the state.
The Nigeria Police Plateau State Command has arrested 18 people suspected to be members of the Islamic militants known as Boko Haram sect in Jos the state capital. Commissioner of Police state Command, Mr Gregory Anyangting, while parading the suspects before newsmen said from the intelligence report the members of the group planned to attack Jos, Plateau state capital which led to security operatives to beef up security in Jos.
According to him, one person named Shamsuddeen Salisu Nakofa was arrested with large quantity of camouflage army uniforms, one shoe and beret, 15 CD plates and some materials with Arabic inscriptions.
The suspect told the Police that he belongs to the Taliban group and led the police detectives to where he used to purchase the materials from one Ete Ekafor in Aba, Abia state. The commissioner further said Police also arrested 16 people in one house with one Ghanaian and one from Niger Republic, other youth from Funtua in Katsina state.
Ete Ekafor said he is not the one who sold the uniform but assisted Shamsuddeen to the person who sells the materials in Aba because the buyer told him that he was a tailor with the Nigerian Army.
Ishola Michael reports from Gombe that a few days after leader of the dreaded Islamic sect popularly called ‘Boko Haramu’ Mohammed Yusuf and several others were killed across the Northern states, security operatives in Gombe state demolished the hideout of the militant sect in Gombe the state capital. The two-room apartment and a small mosque occupied by the militants were demolished by a detachment of joint security operatives led by Col. Modibbo Ahmad Alkali, Commander 301 Artillery Regiment Battalion, Gombe.
Found in the apartments were hard jungle boots and jackets similar to those used by the military, various machetes, turbaning materials and other clothing materials. The occupants were said to have left for Maiduguri when crises erupted there.
Secretary to the Gombe State Government, Sule Bage while speaking at the demolition site in Jankai Quarters, said the decision to demolish the structure was taken at a security meeting held last Friday and chaired by the Governor, Muhammad Danjuma Goje who is the Chief Security Officer of the state.
Sule Bage also said that the decision was based on security report which indicated that the property was forcefully taken over by the Boko Haramun group and converted to their use.
The head count of dead bodies is still continuing. No one can tell and no one may be able to say exactly how many people were killed in the series of violence that through Yobe, Kano and Maiduguri. Military authorities claim that in Maiduguri alone over 700 persons were killed. No breakdowns have been given for women and children caught in the cross fire.
Colonel Ben Ahanotu, wholed in the troops that captured Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the sect Boko Haram said that 140 persons in deplorable conditions, suffering from pneumonia, fever and rashes had been rescued from the enclave of the sect.
The 140 people include women and children who had been abducted by sect members. No one can tell, at least for now how many abductees are included in the list of 700 persons who had been killed.
How the group has been operating and garnering such strength and followership are questions whose answers cannot be immediately provided because, the Nigerian police has simply bungled its way into international controversy.
Why did the police kill the captured sect leader? All counts show that the sect leader who is reputed to be merciless – ordering the summary execution of captured security officials and Christians who refuse to denounce their religion started begging for his life when he was captured hiding with goats in his father in laws house.
The military authorities paraded him before journalists and then handed him over to the police. The circumstances of his death are not yet known, though, the discordant police accounts say he was killed on the firing line and then, that he was killed escaping from the police. Another account of the police is that he had been killed because he had once been arrested and taken to Abuja, where some higher authorities ordered his release.
The action of the security agencies has understandably raised several questions and issues. These sect members don’t usually act silently. They go about with bravado, confidence and even nosily. They do not hide their meetings and don’t mince words in expressing themselves. If they have been operating under the radar of the security agencies why then were they not restrained?
A political observer in Abuja believes that some people have something to hide. If Mohammed Yusuf was caught fighting, how about the commissioner who was hurled from his farm to the government house and then killed order police custody?
“with this kind of approach no one is safe. The security can just give you a name tag and kill you” He quoted the governor of Borno State to have boasted a few years ago that the newspaper could write anything they wished on because his people could not read. How similar, he asked is the statement to the hatred of the sect members to western education.
Dr Emman Shehu, the Director of International Institute of Journalism said, the plateau state Governor David Jang had been justified by the violence. He had raised alarm about civilians being caught with military uniform. As far as Dr Shehu is concerned, security agencies have either been in the payroll of the sect or for what reasons allowed the sect to fester. Six months ago, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) had raised alarm on the sect member stockpiling arms. The refusal of the government to act had emboldened the sect, which planned and systematically executed the carnage.
Dr Shehu was appalled that Mohammed Yusuf and the former commissioner an alleged financier of the group were killed by the police.
“Why should people who are a threat to the national security be summarily executed instead of being debriefed for intelligence? Who is hiding what?” sections of the state are hiding their involvement or the involvement of persons in leadership. They had to decimate the leadership so that you don’t know what happened” he alleged.
Yunusa Zakari Yau also believes that the rights of the arrested persons to Justice were violated because some people needed to “block the possibilities of knowing the connection between the sect members and people in government. Some people are afraid of exposure” Though the government has agreed to investigate the killings, there is no end yet to the allegations of its complicity the festering of the sect and the violence it has unleashed.
About 50 Islamic clerics at a conference claimed that they had complained to the government and security agencies over the activities of Malam Mohammed Yusuf. Their spokesman, Iman Ibrahim Ahmed Abdullahi told the press that government had ignored them.
How militants were killed
The sect “Boko Haram” meaning western education is prohibited or forbidden, was formed or came to light when civilians took over the reins of power in Nigeria. Membership of the group is drawn from the poor and largely uneducated young people – who are easily unemployable in the fast modernising Nigerian economy. It is not known who formed it, and how it was formed, but a young man, Mohammed Yusuf, has come to symbolise the group and its leadership.
Its body of belief system is not codified, even though they lay claim Islam and have profound hatred for Christianity and anything western. Abdulmunini Ibrahim Mohammed, a senior member of the group who was arrested told Renters News Agency that “we do not believe in Western education. It corrupts our ideas and beliefs... that is why we are standing up to defend our religion”
Its methods of operation are known to the authorities. Recently, the Director General of the state security service (SSS) complained that the agencies which should have arrested the activities of the sect had failed to act on the security reports submitted to them. The police authorities on the other hand have complained of logistics to deal with the situation. The buck passing implies that there is intelligence report on the activities of the group.
Its membership is drawn from university dropouts, other school dropouts and persons, who generally have complaints against the state.
Reports from Maiduguri show that the figure of 700 casualties is a conservative figure. Human right bodies and journalists in Maiduguri believe that a much higher number of persons may have been killed. Indeed a resident of Maiduguri said over 3,000 persons may have lost their lives.
Far from being an effective suppression of the militants, both the military and police operations have opened up new wounds. Besides the testimony of the police and the video footage which have been showing up in the press (including the transcript of the alleged interrogation of Mohammed Yusuf) several government agencies are in possession of video clips of an otherwise healthy Yusuf in the custody of the police. In addition to the issues of the summary execution of the leadership of the sect, how come several thousands of people were killed? How were they killed? Are they all sect members? What precaution was taken to ensure that innocent persons were not killed?
It was common knowledge in Maiduguri that there were a number of persons who were at the enclave against their wishes. The security agencies must have known that Mohammed Yusuf and his men were abducting people including women and children. They were forcing the people to convert to Islam. Those who refused including, at least one pastor were summarily executed. Even members of the security forces who were abducted were summarily executed.
It was therefore obvious to the security forces that a significant number of people within the enclave may have been innocent. Why was care not taken in shelling the enclave or what amount of resistance was actually put up from the enclave?
Or did the security forces kill all, abductors and abductees, as part of the official cover to let no witness live to tell the inside story of the sect and how official connivance gave it the strength it unleashed against the public.
Far from suppressing the rebellion, or even the notorious facts of the involvement of certain sections of the state, many more questions have been raised. More disturbingly, with no proper intelligence gathered and not much information available on the leadership of the sect, several of whom may have fled to safety, we may just be waiting for another round of attack. The surviving leadership may just need to regroup and launch fresh attacks. If they do so, they would be in the good company of Maitatsine and other sects. After all, Maitatsine struck in Yola and Gombe after Kano. So is it really over?
With reports from James Bwala, John Shuklam, Ishola Michael
Bauchi state governor, Isa Yuguda got a respite from the numerous obstacles facing his attempt to remove his deputy when the “Boko Haram” sect struck in Bauchi sacking a police station. The response from the security forces was unusually fast and firm.
