Our correspondent who was on the tour organised by the military, gathered from authorities and locals in Dikwa, Marte and Kirenowa that prior to the deployment of federal troops, most of the communities along the shores of the Lake Chad had come under the control of heavily armed fighters of the Boko Haram. They had […]
The story of captured Boko Haram territories
Our correspondent who was on the tour organised by the military, gathered from authorities and locals in Dikwa, Marte and Kirenowa that prior to the deployment of federal troops, most of the communities along the shores of the Lake Chad had come under the control of heavily armed fighters of the Boko Haram. They had successively dislodged all symbols of authority such as Nigeria’s green-white-green flags and hoisted theirs. The military and locals also said the insurgents had effectively chased away government officials including the police, customs, immigration NDLEA operatives and politicians, and then surreptitiously took charge of the areas. The visit organized by Nigeria’s defence headquarters revealed the story of how the Boko Haram insurgents allegedly invaded Nigeria’s farming and fishing communities, overturned the Nigeria’s Constitution, hoisted their red flags and established an ‘Islamic Republic’. Most of the claims by the military commanders, traditional rulers and locals in the affected communities on what really transpired within the time under review could not be independently verified because there was no single captured Boko Haram insurgent available for interview. However, evidences seen at all the scenes of fighting visited revealed the level of carnage that unfolded in the areas in the last few weeks. Throughout the visits and briefings, the military did not say how many insurgents were killed or captured during, encounters with the insurgents with air born and ground troops, insisting that the casualty figure given at the Defence Headquarters subsists. That notwithstanding, there was enough evidences showing that lot had happened. There was trace of sophistication, and the determination of insurgent fighters to maintain grip of the border communities prior to the arrival of the Nigerian troops was glaring. But the superior power of the Nigerian forces was also evident. Locals said from a distance, they saw how fighter jets and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) pounded the camps of militants. About 25 journalists that took part in the visit also saw charred remains of burnt vehicles and personal effects of insurgents. There were shoes, cloths, bags, cutleries, among others, at the “dislodged” Hausari Camp in the outskirt of Kirenowa village. The locals called the camp “Markas” (named after the Maiduguri enclave of Mohammed Yusuf, the slain leader of the Boko Haram which was levelled by the military in2009). The locals also said some of the insurgents were ‘rounded up’ at the camp while many others, including women and children allegedly fled into Chad and Cameroon through the nearby borders, located about 60 kilometres from the camp. Hausari camp was the last place visited by the journalists, but it turned out to be the highest point of the tour. Markas appeared so organized in the thick forest, with a training wing for new recruits and shooting range for those being prepared for deployment. There was also a clinic with assorted drugs and surgical equipment for treating the injured; a kitchen with refrigerators stocked with assorted food items; wings for auto mechanics, panel beaters, welders and vulcanizers as well as an abattoir. The camp was fortified and made in such a way that an intruder could be sighted from a distance. It also had an entrance gate with security post even as the fortress is located few metres away from a river where the insurgents get water for their convenience. “This is where the terrorists hatched their atrocities,” said Lt Col D.R Hassan, the commander of the Combat Team 1 which is charged with the responsibility of re-capturing Kirenowa and Hausari camps from the hands of the insurgents. Hassan, who took journalists round Markas, said troops mobilized to the area on 16th May, 2013. “We had an encounter with them (Boko Haram) and they put a lot of resistance but we overpowered them…they are good at taking away their fallen colleagues,” he said. The officer who earlier spoke to the press at the Bilingual Tsangaya Boarding School in Kirenowa which serves as the operational headquarters of his command said despite the fact that the military had restored normalcy, there was no specific date for troops to pull out. “We would remain here as deemed necessary,” he said.
Hassan said the insurgents deliberately chose to establish their camp in the bushes of Kirenowa because the same location was once used by the famous Emperor Rabe who once wreaked havoc on the Kanem Bornu Empire.
Though not far from Hausari and Kirenowa villages, locals admitted that they were aware of the existence of the camp but did not have the audacity to alert authorities.
“In fact, for a very long time, the police and other law enforcement agencies were nowhere to be found…it was the insurgents that made laws for us and dictate what we should do or not do. Some of them were civil in their approach while some were hostile,” said Alhajin Kalgo, a local farmer in Kirenowa.
Fisherman Mohammed Walkore said at the climax of the Boko Haram occupation, most adults who could not accept the new doctrine had to relocate to other places such as Dikwa, Mafa, Gamboru Ngala as well as communities in neighbouring Chad and Cameroon.
He said the insurgents were visitors in the area. “We don’t know them but there was no way you can dispute what they said even if you have stronger opinion. While they held sway, they preached to us and succeeded in indoctrinating some of our youths. They also married some of our daughters and took them away,” he said.
Walkore said after the dislodgement of the camp, some of the girls, aged between 13 and 15 returned home while others have disappeared.
Some locals who spoke in Hausa and Kanuri described the military operation as successful but quickly added that journalists would have seen “more” if they had visited the area earlier than now.
They said there was serious battle between insurgents and troops at many locations.
“There are many shallow graves of the people killed in the bush,” said a local in Kirenowa, who prefers anonymity.
The media tour began in Abuja on Wednesday, 5th June, 2013 when Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, the military spokesman at the Defence Headquarters led the team onboard a military aircraft to Maiduguri where few local journalists joined the group.
After a briefing at the Joint Task Force (JTF) headquarters, troops and the journalists who also wore bullet proof vests and protective helmets began the torturous journey to Marte, the hotbed of the Boko Haram.
It was led by armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and military pickup vans in the front and back of the buses that conveyed the visiting journalists.
The trip began around 11.15am on Wednesday, 5th June, 2013 and lasted for about 3-hours which enabled the procession to pass through many settlements ravaged by fighting.
The convoy passed through Pompomari, Bulunkutu, Ramat square, West End, Abbaganaram, Galadima junction, kasuwan Goza, Customs Area and then Gamboru road.
Along the road to Marte, there are countless checkpoints with bunkers made with military coloured sand filled bags- a clear manifestation of the fact that Maiduguri is now a garrison city filled with fearless looking soldiers and sophisticated military hardware.
We passed through many thatched roofed hamlets and major towns like Mafa. When we got to Dikwa, we detoured to a dusty and bumpy road that leads to the Boko Haram occupied enclaves in Marte.
“The Nigerian security forces are equal to the task of securing our territories and communities from the activities of terrorists. This is why you (journalists) have the opportunity of coming here (Marte) to see things for yourselves,” said General Olukolade, while briefing newsmen in New Marte.
But intense fighting had chased locals out of their farms and left large wheat plantations fallow.
“With our intervention, we are optimistic that the locals would soon return to their farms,” General Olukolade said.
Explaining further, Lt Col Gabriel Olufemi, the commander of the Combat Force (C) in New Marte which was our first port of call displayed the operational map of the military offensive in the area.
He said the insurgents had disrupted and dislodged constituted authorities in the area.
“The terrorist altered the normal life of the people and imposed their will on them. They perpetrated extortion and forceful taxation. They vandalized properties such as the Chad Basin Workshop, the local government secretariat and the hospital in Marte. They engaged in forceful marriage with young girls,” he said.
According to him, “The Boko Haram came with their strangely defined rules and regulations but the locals discovered that what they were saying was not what they were doing.”
From the Combat Force headquarters, journalists were taken to the Church and the police station in the area which were allegedly burnt down by the Boko Haram fighters.
Lt Col Olufemi said the insurgents had also brought down GSM masts, electrical poles and cables and also dug trenches in the area, a development that completely grounded communication and cut off communities.
“Now we have dislodged them, filled the craters created by them, restored the Nigerian flags and commenced peace and confidence building in the hearts of the people. We also patrol of the areas. Our goal is to provide an enabling environment for civil police to return to their duty posts,” Olufemi said.
When asked how many insurgents had been killed in the course of the operation, OLufemi said, “We don’t kill Boko Haram. We only arrest them…there are only those that died in crossfire, and we have handed over those we arrested to appropriate authorities.”
And when reminded that in 2009, the Boko Haram insurgents were dispersed into the bush in Maiduguri only for them to reappear much stronger in 2010, Lt Col OLufemi said the military was not taking things for granted now.
“We learn lessons from each and every assignment,” he said, adding that the Boko Haram camps were scattered along the shores of the Lake Chad.
Though life is gradually returning to the affected communities, the village head (Lawani) of Kirenowa, Sheikh Alhaji Jarma said his people are in need of help.
He appealed to the federal government to provide food for his people because they had been in perpetual fear and therefore could not farm.
