For the past one month and few days, the heat has been on Boko Haram insurgents. The Federal Government and the military, which are prosecuting the onslaught, believe the days of the insurgents are numbered, writes Constance Athekame, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
The Boko Haram camp, about 60 km to Chad, was deserted when reporters in company of members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) and Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, the Director of Defence Information, reached there.
At the camp, relics of the insurgents’ property, including burnt cars, refrigerators, electric fans and gas cookers, littered everywhere.
The abandoned belongings of the fleeing insurgents include clothes, shoes, used and unused condoms, drugs and injection syringes, among others.
The authorities said the extremists had begun coating their vehicles with mud and hiding them under trees to avoid being spotted from the air.
At Kirenowa community, about 30 km from the camp, hundreds of people gathered to welcome the military convoy and journalists.
Zarna Ashak Zarma, the head of Kirenowa community, told newsmen that the community was grateful to President Goodluck Jonathan for declaring a state of emergency in the area.
Saying that the community could now sleep with their eyes closed, Zarma stressed: “We are grateful to the Federal Government. Those of us who fled have since returned home.’’
Boko Haram, an Islamic sect, has targeted the police, churches, mosques, politicians and public institutions in its violent campaign which began in 2009.
Mohammad Yusuf, a radical Muslim cleric, created Boko Haram in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern state of Borno.
The group aims to establish a fully Islamic state in Nigeria, while setting up Sharia courts across the country.
Boko Haram literally means “Western education is a sin’’ and the sect calls itself Jama’atul Alhul Sunnah Lidda’wati wal Jihad or “people committed to the propagation of the prophet’s teachings and Jihad’’.
In July 2009, members of the sect bluntly refused to obey a traffic regulation compelling motorcycle riders to wear crash helmets and the resistance snowballed into an armed uprising in Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, and Kano states.
The uprising, which was quelled by the army, left hundreds dead. It also culminated in the killing of Yusuf, his father-in-law and other members of the sect, which human rights advocates condemned as extra-judicial killings.
The notoriety of Boko Haram grew by the day as the sect orchestrated a campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations in the northern part of the country.
Boko Haram’s campaign assumed a more dangerous dimension, as the group is believed to have linkages with international terrorist groups.
For instance, on August, 26, 2011, a suicide bomber attacked the UN building in Abuja, killing at least 21 persons and wounding 60 others. The Boko Haram group later claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The group’s terrorist campaign continued unabated in some states with frightening consequences, compelling President Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states on May 14.
Following the declaration, Jonathan directed the Chief of Defence Staff to immediately deploy more troops in these states for “more effective internal security operations’’.
“The troops and other security agencies involved in these operations have orders to take all necessary action, within the ambit of their rules of engagement, to put an end to the impunity of insurgents and terrorists.
‘“This will include the authority to arrest and detain suspects, the taking of possession and control of any building or structure used for terrorist purposes, the lock-down of any area of terrorist operation, the conduct of searches and the apprehension of persons in illegal possession of weapons,’’ Jonathan said.
Shortly after the president’s pronouncement, soldiers moved into the affected areas and took control of the three states.
In an attempt to ensure media access to first-hand information about the operation of the JTF in Maiduguri, the Defence Headquarters organised a two-day media tour of the area for local and foreign journalists.
In Maiduguri, Maj.-Gen. John Ewanshia, Commander of the JTF in Borno, briefed the journalists on the achievements recorded by the JTF since its operations began on May 14.
He said the task force was working in line with President Jonathan’s directive regarding the restoration of law and order to Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
“As we speak, the operations are ongoing and a lot of grounds have been covered; a lot of achievements have been recorded but I won’t go into details.
“I will rather allow the gentlemen in the field to do the briefings,’’ Ewanshia said at the beginning of the tour.
Prior to the commencement of the tour, the journalists were conducted round the JTF premises where the weapons and vehicles confiscated from the Boko Haram insurgents were stockpiled.
Speaking, Lt.-Col Gabriel Olorunyomi, Commander of Combat Team C of the JTF, told the journalists that the troops had begun a process of peace and confidence building.
He said after dislodging the Boko Haram insurgents, the JTF had been working with the police to restore law and order in the states.
“Presently, we are working on peace and confidence-building for the people; that is why it is safe for you to be here now,” he said.
The tour revealed some hard facts about the Boko Haram insurgents’ invasion of some farming and fishing communities and their secessionist moves which culminated in their establishment of an “Islamic state’’ with its distinctive red flags hoisted everywhere.
From all indications, the insurgents appeared bent on achieving their goals but they apparently succumbed to the superior firepower of the JTF.
Locals recalled that they witnessed, from a safe distance, how fighter jets and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) pummelled the camps of militants.
The reporters confirmed such accounts via their observation of the relics of the military offensive such as burnt vehicles and personal effects like shoes and clothes that were strewn across the sacked Hausari Camp on the outskirts of Kirenowa village.
A member of the JTF, Lt.-Col. Danladi Hassan, who is the Commander of Combat Team One, told the journalists that a lot of progress had been recorded in the JTF operation.
He said the insurgents fled their camp on May 16 after an encounter with the JTF, adding that the rebels relocated to woody areas to evade being spotted.
“This is to ensure that the rays of sunlight and surveillance from our aircraft do not expose them,’’ he added.
He said the deserted camp hitherto served as a training ground for new recruits of the outlawed Boko Haram sect.
Hassan, however, said the insurgents destroyed their belongings when they discovered that the JTF troops were advancing towards them.
The officer said when the troops moved into the camp, they also discovered some drugs which the terrorists used.
In the meantime, socio-economic activities in the neighbourhood have picked up, as residents were seen going about their routine duties.
At the Kirenowa community, the residents praised the Federal Government for declaring a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
The locals, who spoke in Hausa and Kanuri, described the military operation as very successful, adding, however, that the visiting journalists could have seen “more action’’ if they had visited the area earlier.
They recalled that there were serious battles between the insurgents and JTF troops at many locations.
However, Zarma, the community’s head, commended the troops for the way they related with the members of the community, adding that the soldiers’ efforts to share information with the residents also aided the fulfillment of their assignment.
He noted that the JTF donated medications to the community.
“We, however, want you to take our message to the President that we need some assistance from the Federal Government in the areas of food and drugs. Majority of us are farmers and we have not been able to farm for some time,’’ he said.
Zarma also solicited the government’s assistance in the provision of farming equipment, adding that the residents, who were mostly farmers, needed tractors to plough the soil in preparation for the planting season.
Also speaking, Babangida Mohammed, the Deputy Village Head of Kirenowa, recalled that his people suffered a lot in the hands of the terrorists before the coming of the troops, saying: “We were badly terrorised.’’
He reiterated that the residents of the community were law-abiding citizens, insisting that the Boko Haram insurgents were not indigenes of the neighbourhood.
“We want Mr President to help us with potable water and good roads because we don’t have roads,’’ he said.
Sharing similar sentiments, another resident, Mohammed Walgore, stressed that “the insurgents are strangers. We don’t have any business with them.
“They came and settled here. We did not have any business with them; that is why we can stay here and tell the world today that they are not part of us.’’
Brig.-Gen. Olukolade told reporters after the tour that there had not been any civilian casualties in the ongoing operation in the three states.
The DDI said: “The main concern of the Federal Government from the beginning of this operation is how to ensure that there is no civilian casualty. I, therefore, want to tell you that this has been substantially achieved.
“The next thing is to ensure that the miscreants and trouble makers do not have access to civilian populated areas to cause other problems.
“To the best of my knowledge, no civilian has been killed; we can’t call anyone killed in a camp a civilian anyway,’’ he said.
Olukolade said most of the camps were populated by terrorists, who were the targets of the operation.
He said the operation was a wholesome one, which involved not only the military but all the other security agencies.
All the same, observers maintain that with the military takeover of the states under the state of emergency, there is increased optimism that the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents will come to an end, while peace returns to the country.
