‘Restoring peace not for soldiers alone’

He is the Deputy Chairman of Sector 6, Maiduguri Metropolis Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) for the war against Boko Haram insurgency. He has been indispensable in the military and civilian JTF battles to liberate Boko Haram-captured communities in Borno State. His physical stature and polite disposition sufficiently conceal the enduring psychological pain, the total […]

He is the Deputy Chairman of Sector 6, Maiduguri Metropolis Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) for the war against Boko Haram insurgency. He has been indispensable in the military and civilian JTF battles to liberate Boko Haram-captured communities in Borno State.

His physical stature and polite disposition sufficiently conceal the enduring psychological pain, the total commitment to the war and, the grave economic losses he has suffered and has continued to incur as ‘punishment’ for being a CJTF ‘infantry general’.

Like his physical stature, he has built an imposing structure that strikes unpalatable escapades in some of the most ferocious encounters with the insurgents as the combined MJTF and CJTF battles to liberate the 20 local government areas hitherto captured by the insurgents in the 27 LGAs of Borno State.

Umaru Ahmed, about 40, the recharge-card-seller-turned-CJTF-‘general’, is married with five children.

He tells his story:

“I joined the Civilian JTF organisation as a pioneer member in 2013; long before the gauntlet was taken (daukan gora in Hausa) by Maiduguri youth to chase the insurgents out of the metropolis, which laid the foundation for the establishment of the CJTF. I was always with the soldiers on the streets of the metropolis; I was selling recharge cards then.

“Then, wherever the Boko Haram insurgents attacked in our ward (Bolori), the residents would always report it to me to report to the soldiers for their prompt response. One day, three insurgents armed with pistols sneaked into Bolori to snatch a car. As they couldn’t, they turned onto a tricycle; but as they were struggling to snatch it from the owner, the residents pounced on them and held them; they brought them to me. I handed them over to the soldiers; when they were searched the pistols were  found on them.

“That was how I kept on taking this very risky responsibility in Bolori. It was very risky because at that time wherever an insurgent was arrested and handed over to the soldiers, his fellow insurgents would retaliate by descending on the ward and killing people.

“The person that was to later become the leader of the CGTF in the state, Lawan Ja’afar, was arresting the insurgents unarmed, along with his deputy, Modu Milo, and handing them to the soldiers. That was when both Kanuri and non-Kanuri youths came together for this most dangerous task of arresting insurgents and handing them over to soldiers. That was how the minds of the youth in Maiduguri started to become agitated towards emulating Lawan Ja’afar and Modu Milo; that was how Hausari youth became the first to ‘pick the club’ (daukan gora), and were gradually followed by other wards, including ours.

“That was how the CJTF was formed; initially we were 15 at Bolori; the youth of each ward would organise themselves to register their wish to form the organisation in their ward to Lawan Ja’afar, who would then, first screen them, before endorsing the formation.

Umaru Ahmed joined the CJTF out of strong desire to boost the safety and security of the people against the raging insurgency.

“I was compelled to join the CJTF because at that time I was a trader; I encountered the insurgents who snatched everything from me at gunpoint. I was left with nothing and became almost like a beggar.”

He rolled out some of his most fierce escapades as follows:

“Such escapades are too numerous to mention; I can only tell you some of them; those were during the battles to liberate the local government areas captured by the insurgents; let me start with the liberation of Monguno. It was in 2015; One Col. Hassan was always boosting our morale to the point that we were always courageous enough to come face to face with the insurgents whatever the size of their fighters, and however fierce their militancy. He would combine about 60 soldiers and about 40 civilian JTF members with me among the leaders to attack a captured community. As expected, the clash was always fierce, but we were always victorious by liberating the community.

“I was among those who also liberated Baga; that is where I had one of my terrible experiences in the insurgency war. Before our entry into Baga there is a village called Minnati; it is just about 20 minutes to Baga, but our clash with the insurgents there lasted for about four hours. It was one of the fiercest battles in the insurgency war. We, the civilian JTF alone, went there in 16 Hilux pickup vans; the insurgents had planted mines on the road; we always had to wait for the soldiers to detonate the mines before we could advance to the several locations of the insurgents; we would advance as we exchanged fire. They sometimes succeed in forcing us to retreat. But we were able to advance through a roundabout route at the outskirts of Baga. It took us a day to achieve a triumphant entry into Baga from Monguno; we liberated Baga, but not before the Air Force planes came to our aid. Both of us, the military and civilian JTF, suffered, perhaps, the most casualties before the liberation of Baga.

“I also fully fought for the liberation of Chibok; but we did not suffer there as we did at Baga. Both the military and civilian JTF were in more than 100 trucks and pickups; before we got to Damboa from Maiduguri, at a location where a military battalion is based now, we reached a point where the insurgents had stationed a vehicle with heavy machine gun on the road. They opened fire at our convoy; the clash there was also fierce, but we were victorious. We proceeded to what used to be one of the most dreaded locations, because it is between Alagarno and Sambisa, and that location was the insurgents’ easiest passage between both forests. We did not suffer any casualty there; we proceeded to Chibok; we liberated the town without recording any casualty.

“The most recent was the encounter at Yale in nearby Konduga Local Government Area. We liberated the community; we jubilantly camped there after our victory; unknown to us, it was not time yet for us to celebrate victory, because they surrounded us; at about 2am. We were sleeping when they descended on our camp; that was where my driver and I got shot at our backs by the insurgents; but, as Allah willed it, we were also victorious over them, but they killed one of our soldiers and civilian JTF drivers; they had punctured all our vehicles tyres to prevent us from escaping. We had called for a military plane, but before it arrived, they had surrounded us again and were saying the Takbir (Allahu Akbar); it was already daybreak, I think about 6:30 am; we were completely worn out by the night clash. We suddenly saw them cordoning us and saying Allahu Akbar, set to descent on us. We took our fighting positions, as they prepared to descent on us from all directions as they surrounded us.

“As Allah willed it, however we suddenly saw the plane hovering over us, and was already shelling their locations. That reinvigorated us, gave us fresh hope. The plane gave us 15 minutes to pack and leave, after defeating the insurgents that had cordoned us off. Government sent a helicopter and new tyres for our vehicles; we recorded some casualties though.

“I had numerous more dreadful encounters with the insurgents, but you may have to make do with these few I have revealed to you.

“We went to the battlefields, most of us, without leaving any provisions for their families; all we would leave home with were prayers by parents and relations; only Allah can reward the civilian JTF.

The participation of Umaru Ahmed seems unavoidable for any military and civilian JTF battle to liberate any community in Borno State.