A disturbing indication of the crisis bedeviling the Nigerian military in the ongoing war in the north-eastern part of the country is the involvement in the war of the so-called Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) assisting soldiers in combating Boko Haram insurgency. Had their involvement been limited to scouting activities, serving as guides to troops in finding their bearing in the warren that a large part of the Northeast has become, both the reputation of the military and the scouts themselves could have been left untainted. But, out of desperation and without a thought for the implications, the federal and state governments have either encouraged the CJTF to raise the tempo of their involvement in the war to include bearing and using arms or to turn a blind eye to the now armed civilians who have neither been trained in warfare and its complex and variegated doctrines nor schooled in its rules of engagement. Now, alarmingly, the CJTF recruits have tasted blood; it will be difficult henceforth to determine just how far they will go during future challenges, be it in politics or war.
At a point last week during the battles for Michika and Madagali, border towns between Borno and Adamawa States, Boko Haram insurgents reportedly ran out of ammunition. Curiously, said the reports, soldiers neither pursued the invaders nor arrested them on any significant scale. Instead, the CJTF pursued the insurgents and slaughtered between 80 to 100 Boko Haram militants. If the insurgents ran out of ammunition, then they were most likely killed in cold blood. Did soldiers knowingly turn a blind eye? Or did they think it an inconvenience to pursue and arrest the militants, thereby conveniently leaving the reprisal killings, the crimes against humanity, the violation of the Geneva Convention squarely on the heads of the CJTF? Whatever the answers, a threshold has been reached, and notwithstanding the inordinate pressures under which Nigerian troops fight this war that threatens to embarrass them, answers must be provided and efforts made to tidy up what already looks like a messy war in the Northeast.
What sets us apart as a country from insurgents and terrorists is our submission to and enamouredness of the rule of law in both peacetime and wartime, a virtue that was nearly undermined by uncoordinated military responses in a number of testy battlegrounds such as Baga, Borno State. The apparently undiscriminating CJTF, who do not appear to owe allegiance to any modern laws of war, and have operated openly in such big towns as Maiduguri itself, must not be allowed to carry out the kind of reprisal killings attributed to them in Madagali and Michika. The military must not give the impression they do not mind the CJTF carrying out the kind of unlawful killings international and domestic laws frown at. Either through CJTF or by any other intermediary, unlawful killings reduce us to the standards and abysmal records of terrorists and extremists.
But the greatest fear is not just the breaching of the laws of war, or of the excesses battlefield successes against Boko Haram insurgents might lead the CJTF to perpetrate, but how to cope with the future predilections of the vigilance groups who have now tasted blood. There will definitely be consequences for security, law enforcement and stability in the near future as a large body of young men seemed certain to be unleashed on the country after the war, men and vigilance groups for whom killing has become demystified but without any restraining leash of rules and regulations of war. The kind of killings that reportedly took place in Michika and Madagali by vigilance groups early last week must never be countenanced. It was a mistake to arm the civilian scouts; it will be a more egregious mistake to turn a blind eye to their atrocities, irrespective of how Boko Haram insurgents behave or whatever successes the insurgents might achieve.
The tragedy of war in the Northeast is daunting enough in terms of its dislocating effects, killings and economic devastation; it will be catastrophic to complicate it with untrained and armed groups unleashed into the country’s uncertain future simply because they are invaluable now. And yes, we do have a choice, even the luxury, to determine how this war should be fought, and what standards we must uphold. Our humanity, not to say civilization, demands it.
