The Nation Newspaper

Tag: civilian

  • Gunmen kill policeman, civilian in Anambra

    Some people suspected to be gunmen yesterday shot dead a policeman and a civilian near Assemblies of God (AG) Church on Oguta Road at Onitsha in Anambra State.

    An eyewitness said the gunmen stopped near the church, adding that on sighting some policemen nearby, they opened fire on them.

    The source also said the attackers took away the rifle of the slain policeman.

    The eyewitness said: “When the firing became too hot, the policemen abandoned their patrol vehicle and ran away for safety.

    “The gunmen moved to their patrol van and took a gun belonging to the policeman they killed.”

    The eyewitness said he could not identify the number of armed men involved.

    Another eyewitness said: “Gunmen on Okada (a motorcycle) shot a policeman and collected his rifle.

    They also shot dead an Okada man while escaping; the passenger he was carrying was injured.

    The policeman was the one armed among his colleagues. They were providing security while church service was going on at Assemblies of God Church on Oguta Road at Onitsha.

    Police Commissioner Garba Umar confirmed the incident to journalists.

    Umar said it was not an attack on the church, adding that the gunmen took away a rifle belonging to the slain policeman.

    He said: “My men were on patrol near the church when they were attacked by some gunmen. It was not an attack on the church in the real sense of it.”

  • Soldier, civilian killed at checkpoint in Bauchi

    A soldier and a civilian were on Sunday afternoon killed at Takanda-Giwa village on Bauchi-Jos highway by some unknown gunmen who attacked a checkpoint manned by soldiers.
    Another civilian was injured also injured in incident.
    The attack, The Nation learnt has caused panic on the highway as commuters from Bauchi and ,Jos were forced to abandoned their vehicles.
    But unconfirmed report disclosed that about five soldiers were killed in the attack on the checkpoint while the attackers made away with the soldiers’ operational Toyota Hilux van.
    Our source who was an eye witness could not say if any of the attackers lost their lives or was injured in the exchange of fire with the soldiers.
    A military source in Bauchi however informed that “a soldier, who was the driver,of the van was killed in the encounter.”
    The civilian was caught in the cross fire between soldiers on duty at the checkpoint and the unknown attackers.
    According to the source ” the Sunday attack could be retaliatory attack as security personnel have being chasing the gunmen suspected to be linked to a small cell of the insurgents that were driven away from Balmoral Forest in Darazo local government of Bauchi state last year”.
    ” Even on Saturday security operatives chased the gunmen from a certain spot within the area.”
    It was learnt that the Army and other security agencies were on top of the situation. And more security personnel have been deployed to the area to pursue the fleeing gunmen.

  • Army to fight Boko Haram with Civilian JTF recruits

    Army to fight Boko Haram with Civilian JTF recruits

    Troops deployed in bid to rescue minister’s relations

    The Presidency is weighing options on how to increase the number of troops in the troubled Northeast.

    A top military source, who spoke in confidence, said the depletion of troops nationwide, as a result of security challenges in at least 30 states, made the measure necessary.

    He said it had become “urgent to beef up troops” in the Northeast.

    The highly-placed source said: “From all indications, the Presidency may soon consider recruiting qualified, competent, courageous members of Civilian JTF into special security forces to be well-trained and equipped in the war on terror.

    “Rather than arming the volunteer groups who are proving their worth and staking their lives to protect their communities with mere sticks and knives against Boko Haram terrorists, the system is considering proposals from security and military experts who believe recruitment of qualified youths may be the best option against creating militias that could be problems in future.

    “Background checks, antecedents and past exploits and contributions of individual volunteers will be taken into consideration to avoid recruiting those with evil and criminal intents into the specialised forces.

    “Other considerations include the fact that such local volunteers understand the terrain of such environment and politics of the insurgents.”

    Another source said: “It has also been discovered  that if members of the CJTF are adequately trained and equipped, they could dare the terrorists in the held communities.

    “They had in the past with bare hands arrested Boko Haram kingpins and handed them over to security personnel.

    “A lot of members of the CJTF have been killed by terrorists because they are not armed and trained in counter-insurgency operations.”

    In videos released by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, he had continued to warn CJTF against supporting the military. He had also shown the execution or slaughtering of captured CJTF members in his videos.

    “Many have also called for the recruitment of courageous and qualified young Nigerians who are passionate to build career in the military rather than the jobless ones who join the military only to engage in acts of indiscipline, desertion and mutiny at a critical period of national life,” the source said.

    The recruits are to be trained in the use of arms and basic ethics of rules of engagement, among others, before deployment.

    Another source spokes of how troops had been depleted, no thanks to increasing security challenges nationwide. “It takes three to four years to train well-qualified troops. The nation cannot afford the luxury of waiting for some years to train troops while leaving security challenges unattended to,” the source said.

    Troopswere yesterday deployed in the Adamawa State home town of Youth Development Minister Mr. Boni Haruna to rescue his trapped relations and others at the mercy of the Boko Haram.

    The insurgents have in the last 24 hours seized the minister’s Kuburshosho hometown in Michika Local Government Area.

    Besides vandalising the minister’s house, the rampaging insurgents also looted many homes and shops before setting them ablaze.

    It was gathered that while some of the indigenes escaped, many got trapped.

    Among those trapped are relatives of the minister who could not be located as at press time.

    A source said: “Troops have been deployed in Kuburshosho to rescue the relatives of the Minister and other indigenes of the town.

    “The troops were ordered to flush out the insurgents from the area and Garta, which was also overrun by the sect.

    “So, the battle to liberate the minister’s town is ongoing.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “The sect made spirited efforts to capture Kamale but River Kamale which overflew its bank, naturally repelled them.”

    More than 10,000 people from Michika Local Government Area are presently seeking refuge in Yola.

  • Five dead as ‘civilian JTF’ groups clash in Borno

    Five people were feared following a clash between two groups of Volunteer Vigilance Youths, popularly called “Civilian JTF” in Biu, Borno State.

    The Maiduguri-based ‘Civilian JTF’ men were on a manhunt of a suspected Boko Haram insurgent in Biu, about 185 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the state capital.

    Biu is reputed to be a major base of the insurgents.

    An eyewitness, who spoke in confidence, said two people who sustained gunshot injuries during the incident were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Gombe, for treatment.

    He said trouble started when the Maiduguri-based “Civilian JTF”, assisted by soldiers, invaded Biu in search of the Boko Haram suspect”.

    The eyewitness added: “The Biu-based ‘Civilian JTF’ reportedly asked those from Maiduguri to leave because their presence would create tension among Biu residents.

    “It was in the process that a fight ensued between the two youth groups. It led to the killing of five persons.

    “I saw five bodies before we rushed the two injured victims to the FMC in Gombe. It is possible the casualty figure could be more than five, but I cannot tell exactly where the bodies were deposited.”

    The identity of those who died could not be ascertained last night.

    Last Tuesday, eight persons, including a lecturer with the College of Education, Waka, Biu, were allegedly killed by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.

    The military Joint Task Force (JTF) and the Borno State Police Command could not be reached for confirmation of the incident last night.

    GSM services have been epileptic in Borno State since the declaration of state of emergency in May.

  • Borno’s civilian JTF

    Reports that some youths in Borno State floated a vigilante group to hunt suspected Boko Haram members must have come to many with mixed feelings. Operating under the banner “Civilian JTF”, the youths go from street to street and house to house, arresting suspects who they subsequently hand over to the “military JTF”.

    Clutching cutlasses, iron rods and wooden batons, the youths were apparently emboldened by the relative successes by the military since the declaration of state of emergency and disenchantment with the lingering insecurity that has made life unbearable for them.

    They had to take resort to self-help ostensible to complement the efforts of the military.

    Given the intractable dimension the insurgency has assumed especially in that state, the reaction of the youths is quite understandable. With increased military presence forcing insurgents to flee, the youths must have mustered confidence that they can now turn against the insurgents without fear of reprisals as was hitherto the case. In the past, any attempt to expose the insurgents attracted severe repercussions from the marauders who had become law unto themselves. This made it difficult for civilians to volunteer information to the military and emboldened the insurgents to unleash more lethal attacks on their targets.

    The reaction of the youths could therefore pass for a vote of confidence in the activities of the JTF. With increased cooperation from the civilian population, there is hope that the insurgents will soon be smoked out of their hideouts. This should be something to cheer not only for the military that has been battling allegations of human rights violations, but the entire Nigerian citizenry that is equally terrified by these terrorist acts.

    Even then, the self-assigned crusade of the youths is equally laden with potent dangers. There is the risk of abuse. There is also the issue of the genuineness of those purportedly crusading as anti-insurgents. There is nothing to give comfort that the said civilian JTF is not a decoy by fifth columnists to mess up the renewed onslaught on the insurgents. Some other miscreants could equally hijack the exercise to wreak more havoc on the same society they purport to be crusading for. It could also turn out as another avenue for witch-hunting and scores-settling by the sponsors of the insurgency. These fears are real and have to be very carefully monitored.

    Rather than take to the streets clutching dangerous weapons, the youths would be more effective in the areas of information gathering and espionage. They should be encouraged to supply whatever intelligence information they have on suspects to the JTF. They cannot possible be a parallel unstructured army because of the frightening prospects of sliding into lawlessness. We say so because there is the possibility of politicizing the entire exercise with more devastating consequences for the overall health of the campaign. Signals emanating from the political turf indicate a deliberate attempt by the political parties to put the Boko Haram insurgency to partisan advantage. At the moment, there is a deliberate attempt by the political parties to place the blame of the heightened security challenge at the door steps of each other. In a desperate attempt to gain partisan advantage, the parties now, seek ways to label their opponents supporters or sponsors of terrorism. The issue is not helped by the utterances of key political persons since state of emergency was announced in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

    PDP publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh labeled the coalescing opposition as terrorists, sequel to a statement from the Action Congress of Nigeria ACN urging the National Assembly not to approve the declaration of the state of emergency by President Jonathan. Though the ACN later modified its stance urging the National Assembly to take a very dispassionate perspective of the matter, the cat had already been let out of the bag.

    As that was not enough, Mohammed Buhari’s statement that the state of emergency is anti-North equally drew the ire of the government. It has elicited calls for his arrest and the trading of words between him and the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN.

    The Boko Haram challenge is no doubt a very sensitive one. A lot of families have suffered immeasurably both in human and material losses. It is one issue that is laden with the prospects of inflaming tempers not only along sectional but ethnic and religious lines.

    The positions political parties take on the matter are bound to affect their perception by the electorate and ultimately their electoral fortunes. Nothing illustrates this slide to partisanship more poignantly than a statement issued by the publicity secretary of ACN, Lai Mohammed in which the party reacted to insinuations by the PDP and the presidency that are intended to rope in the opposition or the leadership of ACN as sponsors of terrorism.

    In that statement, Mohammed contended that the sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria are either within the PDP or are somehow associated with it. The party drew attention to a publication in the journal of the New York-based World Policy Institute in which some names of Nigerian sponsors of terrorism were published. Mohammed said a perusal of that document shows a former Nigerian Ambassador to Sao Tome and Principe and a serving Nigerian state governor, all members of the PDP as alleged sponsors.

    Before now, we have equally been told by no less a person than the late National Security Adviser; Andrew Owoye Azazi that terrorism took to an all time high after the last presidential primaries of the PDP. The issue was also raised by Niger State governor, Babangida Aliyu when he tasked the committee on amnesty to focus on the sponsorship of the insurgency as a way of getting at the root of the mater.

    The point here is that there is an increasing focus on the sponsors of acts of terrorism in the country. What this indicates is that unless we expose those surreptitiously backing the Boko Haram insurgents, we are only scratching the surface of the matter. This point is unassailable.

    It is in this effort to expose those responsible for the huge resources that sustain the insurgency that the parties want to take political advantage. As we get closer to electioneering campaigns, terrorism, religion and ethnicity will turn out as irreducible decimals that will shape political discourse. We will also begin to see attempts to link some of the candidates to Boko Haram. Issues as the sections of the country and states most prone to terrorism; the parties that control them and the positions of leaders on the matter are bound to be played up. From the current posturing of the PDP and the opposition, sponsorship of terrorism has become a major issue that will be put to advantage when the ban on campaigns is lifted. The way it is handled will determine the success or failure of the coming elections. Time will bear this out.