Insecurity Politicians Flee Maiduguri as General Shuwa is Buried

Palpable fear and apprehension have gripped Maiduguri and environs following Friday’s assassination of General Mamman Shuwa (rtd), a notable figure during Nigeria’s Civil War and chieftain of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).   He was trailed and killed by suspected members of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram. […]

Palpable fear and apprehension have gripped Maiduguri and environs following Friday’s assassination of General Mamman Shuwa (rtd), a notable figure during Nigeria’s Civil War and chieftain of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

 

He was trailed and killed by suspected members of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram. The incident took place at his residence in Gwange area, the hotspot of the Boko Haram insurgency in recent times.

Shuwa was laid to rest at the Gwange Cemetery around 10.30am yesterday, after his funeral prayer was presided over by Sheikh Sheriff Jidda.

Dignitaries at the event included Governor Kashim Shettima and some top government functionaries in the state. The Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garbai Al-Amin El-Kanemi and that of Dikwa, Alhaji Muhammadu Ibn Shehu Masta 11 were there. Others were elder statesmen, Alhaji Garba Satomi and Ambassador Gaji Galtimari, the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Insecurity in the North-East.

The visibly shocked Shettima, who spoke after the burial rites, lamented the killing of General Shuwa thus: “It is very unfortunate that we missed a nationalistic man this way. This was a man that fought for us…he fought for Nigeria to be what it is today, a great country. We pray Allah to forgive his sins and grant him Aljannah Firdaus.”

He also promised that the state government would give scholarships to all the children the deceased left behind.

Hundreds of people from other parts of Maiduguri attended the funeral rites at the deceased’s residence. Ironically, however, many people from outside Borno, who were expected to witness the final procession, were not in attendance.

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Throughout the funeral period, Gwange was cold as a graveyard, apparently because most residents had fled their homes, with many of them citing the need to ensure personal security and because of the fear of the unknown.

“If a whole General could be killed in broad daylight, who do you think is immune? Remember, the General’s house and the neighboring dwellings were surrounded by armed security operatives,” Bahago Usman, a trader in the area said.

Sunday Trust reports that the fear is much more noticeable in the circle of politicians and top government functionaries. Even before the assassination of Shuwa, almost all members of the Borno State House of Assembly, commissioners, special advisers and other key politicians have vacated their houses. All senators, members of the House of Representatives and board members of reputable Federal Government institutions have evacuated their family members from the state. Many of them have either relocated to Abuja or other places seen as safe outside the state capital and only become visible when the Government House organizes an official functions with  the governor in attendance.

“What do you expect? I mean, how do you expect us to stay in one place when all of us are targets? Right now, I am somewhere and I will not tell you,” a legislator said.

It is evident that life is also no longer at ease for top civil servants and anybody seen as actual or perceive opponent of the ideals of the Boko Haram. Ordinary citizens are now on their own as most security personnel have been dispatched to take care of prominent people, their houses and offices.

A social commentator in Maiduguri, who does not want his name published, said he has every reason to juxtapose between the killing of General Shuwa and the purported ceasefire offered by one Abu Muhammad Ibn Abdulazeez, supposedly on behalf of the Boko Haram leaders.

“General Shuwa was killed just a day after the purported ceasefire offers…this goes to show that the statement was made by either a splinter group or a vested interest somewhere, but definitely not by the mainstream leadership,” he said.

“I believe they (gunmen) killed him in order to prove a point, to attract maximum attention and cause immense damage to the psyche of Nigerians, which they have. This is because, I stand to be corrected, the killing of General Shuwa is the biggest and the most visible single onslaught since the commencement of this war of attrition,” he added.

He pointed out that though fear of uncertainty has caught up with all prominent people in and around Borno, the brunt has eaten deep into the supporters of the ANPP which is the ruling party in the state.

“Mind you, the late General Shuwa was the chairman of the Elders Committee of the ANPP and a godfather of former Governor Ali Sheriff, who the Boko Haram insurgents sees as arch enemy,” he noted.

The death of General Shuwa came few days after the killing of Alhaji Mustapha Flawama, another chieftain of the ANPP and close associate of Sheriff.

In the past few weeks, Maiduguri had recorded increase in high profile killings. Towards the end of September, Barrister Zanna Malam Gana, the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice of Borno State, was also assassinated in his house in Bama by gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect.

General Shuwa left behind wives, many children and grandchildren.