Maiduguri: Soldiers, police in place, Boko Haram ‘in command’ – Gunmen kill two policemen in Bauchi

In different parts of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, armed soldiers and mobile policemen have been deployed, carrying out stop-and-search routines, looking combat-ready, strategically spread. The security men seem helpless because they rely on information from residents who may or may not have clues on suspected members of the Boko Haram sect. Unfortunately, the sect […]

In different parts of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, armed soldiers and mobile policemen have been deployed, carrying out stop-and-search routines, looking combat-ready, strategically spread. The security men seem helpless because they rely on information from residents who may or may not have clues on suspected members of the Boko Haram sect. Unfortunately, the sect members are in charge – no one can dare tip the security men for fear of being killed. Even top government officials now lie low. So palpable is the apprehension that when the National Vice Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) Alhaji Awana Ngala was killed recently, virtually no personality in the ANPP-ruled state government was seen on camera even on local television stations speaking on Ngala’s death. Not even spokesmen of the government risked speaking against the sect.

 

Ward heads seen as custodians of information of residents in their areas are also on the run because some of them have been killed. Some Islamic clerics are also on the run because they fear they may be killed for not supporting the ideology of the sect. Only the state governor, Ali Modu Sheriff and heads of security formations, the police in particular, openly speak on the sect, perhaps because the sect has since declared both as their prime targets.

Most recent attack

The bombing of a police divisional headquarters at Gamboru in old Maiduguri at about 9pm on Monday, September 11, 2010 by suspected members of the sect in spite of heavy security presence, has no doubt heightened the fear of residents and strengthened the grip of the sect members at least since they have silenced every one. Police, however, said the station is an outpost, which was upgraded illegally to a Divisional Police Station by a former commissioner of police in the state.

At the Gomboru police station, the attackers fired sporadic shots through the metal entrance gate, forced their way into the outpost and used bombs to set it ablaze. A police inspector was shot and injured in the operation while two other police officers were injured. There was also a foiled attack at the Maiduguri New Prisons, where a prison warden was injured. The police, speaking through the AIG, Zone 12 Mohammed Hadi Zarewa, who has now ‘relocated’ to the state from his Bauchi base, at a briefing on Thursday said the serial attacks, are by suspected men of the Boko Haram sect. He said his men have also recovered a bomb at a place near the New Prisons while another explosion occurred around the Monday market without injuries; all suspected to have been planted by members of the sect, meaning that again, the sect had beaten security by successfully planting explosives.

Then yesterday in Bauchi, gunmen killed two policemen manning a checkpoint in the latest in a wave of shootings. The attack led authorities to announce that they were banning the night-time use of motorcycles in the city of Bauchi, where the shootings occurred, “as a result of the activities of gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram.” Officials gave few details of the Thursday night attack in the working class area of Kofar Gombe. Last month, suspected Boko Haram extremists attacked a prison in Bauchi and freed more than 700 inmates, while on Wednesday suspected sect members killed a police officer guarding a state official’s house in the city.

Preceding these latest attacks, were serial killings by motorcycle-riding snipers, who trailed and killed six police officers, some at their homes and duty posts. The snipers also killed eight civilians, among them, Awana Ngala, the ANPP national executive, an Islamic scholar and a ward head. Scores were also injured in the attacks that were sometimes carried out in the day.

These surpasses police counter operations because intensified search and security checks were adopted by police since July, 2010 following a purportedly planned one-year anniversary of the death of the sect’s leader, Mohammed Yusuf and the emergence of a video clip claiming that Abubakar Shekau, then second-in-command to late Yusuf, is alive contrary to claims of police that he was killed in the July, 2009 crises in Maiduguri when the sect and security officials clashed.

Ten suspected members of the sect were arrested early September 2010, out of which seven were re-arrested within the metropolis after they had been granted bail by the courts. They were arraigned. Police said the other three suspects were among the 123 members of the sect who escaped from the Bauchi prisons after the jailbreak early the same month.

Did Shekau make good his threat?

In July 2010, the Borno State Police Command said it was aware of speculated plans by some members of the sect to mark one year since their leader, Malam Muhammad Yusuf was killed on July 30, 2009. The state Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Abdu had also said his command had deployed intelligence officers to various communities.

A traditional ruler in the state (name withheld) had on Monday, June 28, 2010 summoned district heads and representatives of local government areas to a security meeting during which the speculated anniversary of the late Boko Haram leader topped discussions. The meeting resolved that district and ward heads should ensure that any suspected member of the sect seen should be reported to constituted authority while identified mosques were to be monitored to ensure that only Muslims without links to the sect were allowed to worship.

In July, 2010 a video clip reported on the media, shows Malam Abubakar Shekau  granting an interview to a journalist, confirming that he is not dead as claimed by police. In the video which was obtained in Abuja, Shekau said he has assumed command of the group and would continue to propagate its anti-Western education ideology. When contacted however, the police insisted that Shekau is dead. The state Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Abdu told our reporter that information available to the police indicated that both leaders of the sect—Yusuf and Shekau—have been killed. “I have not seen the clip and I cannot comment on what I have not seen. But to the best of my knowledge, Shekau and Mohammed Yusuf are dead. If anybody can identify them and tell us their location, we are ready to act. But to us they are dead,” Abdu said.

Shekau’s claim of marrying late Yusuf’s widow

Shekau had in the aforementioned video clip claimed he was about getting married to Baa Hajja, one of the four widows left behind by Yusuf and whose father, Ba Fugu Mohammed was killed at the age of 72 over suspicion that he aided the activities of the group by giving them his house which served as the sect’s enclave, our correspondent had in July, 2010 learnt from the widow’s eldest brother and leader of the Fugu family that Baa Hajja has left Maiduguri and crossed into the neighbouring Chad about some two months ago.

Babakura Alhaji Fugu, a 40-year-old teacher, had told Weekly Trust that before her departure, the widow who was residing in old Maiduguri said she was in contact with someone in Chad who promised to take care of her and her seven children and she thereafter moved and that she didn’t disclose the helper’s identity. Asked if the widow has any relation or was used to going to Chad, the brother said, she has no relation and he doesn’t think she was there before her recent visit. Babakura however said that the widow never mentioned anything like marriage to the family. He said he doubts if she is married to Shekau.

Sheriff’s seeks FG’s intervention

Probably as a sign that the attackers have defied all security measures introduced by the state government, Governor Ali Modu Sheriff last week requested for federal government intervention. In response, the army headquarters ordered the deployment of three ‘scorpion’ armoured tanks and troops to contain the attacks.

Already, 95 soldiers from the 231 Battalion and 331 Artillery Regiment in Biu LGA of Borno are on ground but yet to be rolled out on the streets because President Goodluck Jonathan had not ordered the army to take over operations. Inside military sources say many more troops could be on the way. The police AIG also said that 400 mobile policemen were deployed to Borno following the killings.

Before the July, 2009 crisis, it was clear that the Borno government underrated the capacity of the sect members. Giving their level of resistance during the last year’s episode, when they controlled territories for days keeping before they were only conquered after federal troops were deployed, appeared to have made Sheriff to regard the recent resurgence as a major threat. Then the Borno state government recently announced a reward of N500,00 (five hundred thousand naira) for any information that could assist in tracking down sect members while the police and army have also announced phone numbers through which information can be passed to them anonymously.

Suspect sect members speak to press, counter ransom enticement

But suspected members of the sect recently on the BBC Hausa service broadcast monitored in Maiduguri declared their grudges, including a threat to the lives of ‘would-be-informants.’ In their declaration, they said their demand was for Governor Ali Sheriff to vacate office because they hold his government responsible for violating their rights.

In the latest twin broadcasts on the BBC and VOA Hausa services (in Maiduguri), they have also stated five demands, which must be met before cessation of hostilities. They said they want the release of 195 of their detained members, the return of all exiled sect members, unconditional release of the seized mosques, and the liberty to practice Islam based on their ideology like any other citizen of the country, in addition to transparent and accountable leadership in governance.

The unidentified spokesman of the sect also claimed responsibility for the serial attacks and killings, including the recent bombing of Gamboru police station last Tuesday and added that they are responsible for all the incidents in Borno and neighbouring states of Bauchi, Yobe, Kano and Jigawa states. But he said they also deserve to be given amnesty. “We deserve similar treatments accorded to Niger-Delta militants by late president Umaru Musa Yar’adua, rather than being treated like second class citizens of Nigeria,” he argued. Meanwhile, citizens of Borno State and other affected states – including Nigeria as a whole – wait for an end to the violent drama with bated breath.