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A Thorn in the Flesh of the Nation

By newswatchngr.com 18/11/2011 01:50:00

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Boko Haram, the deadly Islamic fundamentalist group in Nigeria, strikes again in Yobe State, killing more than 150 persons

In Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, a neighbourhood called New Jerusalem is a popular abode for Christians. Most Christians consider it a safe haven to reside because many churches are also located there. It has the highest concentration of Christians and non-indigenes. It was, therefore, not surprising that it was one of the targets of Boko Haram, when they unleashed mayhem on Damaturu and Potiskum on Friday, November 4.

It was one of the deadliest ever attacks carried out by Boko Haram, the Islamic fundamentalist sect, which has become a thorn in the flesh of the nation. The deadly strike claimed more than 150 lives and rendered thousands of people homeless. churches, public buildings, commercial houses, and other properties worth millions of naira were also destroyed. At the New Jerusalem area in the metropolis, some of the churches razed include St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Living Faith Church also known as Winners Chapel, All Saints Anglican Church, Cherubim and Seraphim Church and the Evangelical Church of West Africa, ECWA.

Garba Idi, Yobe State chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, confirmed that New Jerusalem which is dominated by Christians and non-indigenes was the worst hit. According to him, 10 churches, 11 vehicles, a police station and seven motorcycles belonging to residents of the area were burnt during the attack. “So many Christians were killed and as I am talking to you now, some people are still calling us to say that they have just discovered the bodies of some of their missing relatives who were killed in the bush. We are not too comfortable with the security arrangements here,” he said.

Newswatch, however, learnt that before members of the sect moved to New Jerusalem area, they had to first attack the office of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, ATS, along Maiduguri road near NNPC mega station. The bombing which took place at about 4.30pm was executed by the terrorist group through a posh Honda CRV jeep bearing explosives driven into the two- storey building used as office and barracks by the ATS. The car bomb immediately exploded and shattered the building, killing the suicide bomber and one Aliyu Kabir, said to be an ATS constable. Many other people staying near the building, including children were also killed.

An eye witness told Newswatch that when the bomb exploded, the whole area vibrated as if there was an earthquake and the air was covered with smoke. Houses within the vicinity were destroyed. Among the houses affected were those of Kaigama Umar, Yobe State commissioner for finance, and Abdullahi Bego, the special adviser to Governor Ibrahim Geidam on press affairs and information. The headquarters of the Yobe State Police Command was also shattered by the explosives that were sporadically thrown into the building. The officers manning the ATS and the police headquarters were taken by surprise and could not immediately respond to the onslaught of the Boko Haram kingpins.

Having effectively bombed the ATS, and police headquarters, the bombers then moved to popular New Jerusalem area. Edwin Silas, a resident of the area, said they were traumatised by the manner Boko Haram killed and maimed innocent people. He said when bombers approached the area with their explosives they heard them shouting “Allah Hu Akubar” repeatedly. Within the twinkle of an eye, they started bombing the churches and killing people.

Narrating her ordeal in the hands of the bombers, Patricia Okoli said when the bombers came, “they shouted Arne, Yanmiri, shege” and started shooting and burning. She said before the police could come, they had killed so many people. “I don’t know how I survived, but my friends were killed before my eyes. I ran into the bush on Bukar Abba University road and somehow I escaped,” she said.

Fidelis Analado, another victim who was receiving treatment at the General Sani Abacha Hospital Damaturu sustained bullet wounds on his body while trying to escape when the Boko Haram bombers struck. He said he escaped death by the whiskers. Apart from the bullet wounds he sustained, his assailants burnt his house.

Another victim who identified himself as a member of the Winners Chapel said he was among the first persons to build a house in the New Jerusalem area of Damaturu after the missionaries had established their churches there. Although his house and business premises were destroyed, he escaped with his family. He described their escape as an act of God because their neighbours were not that lucky.

One of the police officers who survived the bombings by members of Boko Haram in Damaturu narrated how he escaped death by the whiskers. The police officer who craved anonymity because of the security implications, said he was lucky with one of his colleagues to be alive to tell their stories.

The police officer attached to the ‘A’ Division said that he was coming with his other colleagues from the New Jerusalem area of Damaturu where they had gone to remove a bomb planted by Boko Haram when they fell into their hands at the ‘A’ Division roundabout. According to him, members of the sect pursued their anti-squad vehicle, threw explosives on it and destroyed it. The two policemen managed to escape with bullets in their bodies. At the Specialist Hospital Damaturu where he was receiving treatment, his bandaged left hand still had bullets still lodged in it. He claimed that though some of the Boko Haram members, were killed, they did not abandon even one corpse, even at great risk to their lives.

Newswatch gathered that after the Boko Haram gunmen had killed and maimed residents of New Jerusalem area, they went through the town, blew up two commercial banks and carted away huge sums of money from the vault. The Federal Secretariat located along Gashua Road in Damaturu was burnt by members of the sect. They also attacked, at least, three police stations leaving them in ruins. They continued through the night of Friday, November 4 and raided Potiskum where they killed many innocent people. Many military and police vehicles were burnt by members of the sect and the following day being Saturday, November 5, the vehicles along with burnt corpses of their drivers were still seen in their seats. Indeed, corpses littered all over the town and Damaturu was like a war zone. A day after the bloody bombing in Damaturu, Suleiman Lawal, commissioner of police, Yobe State command, had said that 53 people lost their lives. According to him, out of the 53 that died, 11 were policemen, two were army officers; two were officers of the Federal Road Safety Corp, FRSC, one Immigration officer, one Customs officer and an officer of the Nigeria Civil Defence Corps.

Three other causalities were a female member of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, identified as Remmy Eucharia from Enugu State serving with the Yobe State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and a professor with his driver who were travelling from Jos to Maiduguri. The causality figure later increased to more than 150. However, the police commissioner said the security agents and innocent civilians were not the only people who lost their lives. According to him, seven of the sect members were also killed in the exchange of fire with the security agents.

As part of measures to forestall security in the state, Ibrahim Geidam, governor of Yobe State who was in Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj, had through Abubakar Aliyu, his deputy, imposed on curfew on Damaturu starting from Sunday 7 o clock in the morning to 7 o clock in the evening. The state government said the curfew would continue until normality was restored to the town. However, by press time last week, Geidam was being expected back in Damaturu, from Saudi Arabia.

On his part, President Goodluck Jonathan expressed doubt if the attackers were “true Muslims” for causing mayhem during a holy period. In a statement issued by Reuben Abati, his senior special adviser on media, the president promised that “the security agencies were busy at work, trying to make sure the will of the majority of the Nigerian people is not subverted by a minority (group) with a suicidal streak.”

The massacre of innocent people in Damaturu and Potiskum has shocked many residents of the area who hitherto considered Yobe as a peacful state. But one person who is not surprised by the ugly incident is an Igbo police officer who was posted to Damaturu some months ago. Indeed, it would appear that the police officer had a premonition of disaster that awaited indigenes of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital and Pokistum, its neighbouring town. Clad in a short and T-shirt that day in June, the man, in a discussion with some fellow young Igbo men at a motor park in Damaturu, counselled them thus: “What are you people still doing in this town?,” he asked, in Igbo language. Using his hand for effect, he said: “It is happening (he pointed forward) in your front (meaning Maiduguri) and in your (as he pointed backward) back, (Potiskum), so what are you still doing here?.”

The Newswatch reporter who was in their midst, could not help but laugh at the views, but the two men were not amused. They individually explained to the officer why it was not possible for them to just suddenly abandon a place they had lived in for long. But the police officer was not impressed as he insisted that “life or safety should come ahead of any other consideration.” For him, he had seen enough of Damaturu and was taking a leave of absence, which explained why he was East- bound that morning after which he would decide whether to continue with police work.

There is no doubt that the police officer was worried about the manner Boko Haram, the Islamic fundamentalist sect, had turned some of the major towns of Borno and Yobe states as well as Abuja, the seat of power, into killing fields in recent times. Exactly five months after he fled the town, Boko Haram, unleashed mayhem on Damaturu and Potiskum.

Since the incident, many other non-indigenes of Yobe State have followed the footsteps of the disgruntled police officer by leaving Damaturu and Potiskum in droves. Many Igbo traders and some of their kinsmen have resolved to relocate from Yobe State to the South-East or Lagos. Their fear was heightened by the statement by Abul-Qaqa, a Boko Haram spokesman, claiming responsibility for the bombings and vowing that “more attacks are on the way” to unleash hell on non-Muslims in their continued bloody sectarian fight.

Even the patrol by the military and policemen on the streets of Damaturu and Potiskum could not stop the mass exodus of people from Yobe State last week. Hundreds of residents besieged the major motor parks in Damaturu and Potiskum with their families and property to relocate to either their home states or other parts of the country they believe do not harbour members of the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

Okey Obiozor, an Igbo trader resident in the New Jerusalem area said he was relocating to the South-East with his entire family because he no longer considers Damaturu a safe place to stay and do business. “What will I gain if I remain in Damaturu and make all the money and then I lose my life or any of my family members?” He said it was clear from what happened on that Friday evening that, the Christians were the target of Boko Haram. “God saved my life and those of my family members. So, it will be foolhardy for us to continue to stay in a town where we are not wanted,” Obiozor said.

Tony Ogah, a businessman in Damaturu, said he had been nursing the idea of leaving the town because of so many issues which have to do with his faith as a Christian. He said that the latest offensive of Boko Haram in Yobe left him with no option but to leave and settle somewhere else where he would have peace of mind.

Samuel Musa, one of those who left Damaturu last week, said many residents had resolved to leave because they feared that the members of the sect could strike again despite the show of force by soldiers and mobile policemen.” I’m at the Damaturu Mass Transit Park with my family and many other people who are leaving the town because I have lived here for about 20 years but I can’t afford to stay here any longer. The bombing of Friday, November 4, is enough warning because the incident was terrible and we don’t know the next target,” he said.

Security agents launched a manhunt for those who perpetrated the act shortly after. Their efforts paid off 72 hours later when the Joint Task Force, JTF, arrested nine of the suspects at a secret location in Gujba in Yobe State. The names of seven of those arrested are: Mohammed Musa Kafinta; Abbana Madu Melle; Babakura Madu Melle; Ba’ana Barbadus; Madu Melle; Suleiman Umar and Mohammed Ali Waziri. The suspects were later moved to Damaturu, the state capital, for interrogation. Sources told Newswatch that JTF’s preliminary interrogation of the suspects revealed that they were among those who executed the bombings in Damaturu and Potiskum. From the JTF records, the suspects were on the wanted list of security agencies for the series of bombings in the North-East. Security agencies are working on the clue that Boko Haram men who attacked two major towns of Yobe State may have had external support, including al-Qaeda. “There is also a suspicion of external collaboration. It seems Boko Haram is now operating from some of the neighbouring countries which have always had links with al-Qaeda,” a security source told Newswatch last week.

A few days after the mayhem in Yobe State, the United States Embassy in Nigeria said it had received intelligence report that the radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram, intended to attack several locations and hotels in Abuja during the Sallah holiday. It said potential targets included luxury hotels in Abuja including the Nicon Luxury, Transcorp Hilton and the Sheraton Hotels.

In an advisory posted on its website warning American citizens, it said all US government personnel have been instructed to avoid the locations.The US advisory reads: “Emergency Message for American Citizens (November 05, 2011).The U.S. Mission in Nigeria issues the following emergency message for the attention of all U.S. citizens in Abuja, Nigeria.

“Following the recent Boko Haram, aka Nigerian Taliban, attacks in Borno and Yobe State, the U.S. Embassy had received information that Boko Haram may plan to attack several locations and hotels in Abuja, Nigeria, during the Sallah holiday. Potential targets may include the Nicon Luxury, the Sheraton Hotel, and the Transcorp Hilton Hotel. “All U.S. government personnel have been instructed to avoid these locations, and previously scheduled events have been cancelled. American citizens should expect additional police and military checkpoints, additional security, and possible road blocks in Abuja for the foreseeable future.

“The U.S. government has no additional information regarding the timing of the possible attacks.

“The Embassy reminds U.S. citizens to exercise additional caution. Please maintain a high state of vigilance and personal awareness, particularly in and around Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, near Nigerian government facilities, diplomatic missions, large gathering places, hotels, markets and malls, and places of worship.

“We advise all U.S. citizens to review their personal security plans, remain aware of their surroundings, including local events, monitor local news stations for updates, and report specific incidences of targeted violence to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja or the U. S. Consulate General in Lagos at the numbers below. U.S. citizens should maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to enhance their personal security.”

The statement also advised U.S. citizens who travel to or reside in Nigeria to enroll through the State Department’s Smart Traveller Enrollment Program, STEP, to make it easier for the U.S. Embassy or Consulate to contact them in case of emergency.

But in a swift reaction to the security alert issued to its citizens by the U.S embassy, General Owoye Azazi, national security adviser, NSA, dismissed it as alarmist and promised that adequate counter-measures have been put in place by the nation’s security services to secure lives and property. He said the U.S alert was eliciting unhealthy public anxiety and generating avoidable tension. According to him, “the current threat to attack the three hotels in Abuja is not news and for over three months the security services have taken pro-active measures to protect the designated critical facilities and others.” He urged members of the public to go about their normal businesses without fear or hindrance because security agencies have been placed at alert.

In her reaction, Marilyn Ogar, spokesperson of the State Security Service, SSS, said although there was no nation in the world that does not have security challenges, the bombings in Yobe State were not enough to say that the security agencies have been overwhelmed. “I do not see problems that are beyond the Nigerian security agencies because we have deployed men and we all know that we have beefed up security everywhere. On October 26, we had alerted Nigerians that text messages were going around which said targets were going to be burnt in Abuja and we traced the senders of the messages to a secondary school in Madara, Niger State. “We all know that every nation wants to ensure it can take care of its citizens and if the US sent out any message it is nothing so strange, it is not because our country is disintegrating. If Canada has followed suit, there is nothing new to it. Yes, we have challenges but the challenges cannot overwhelm us,” she said.

Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, governor of Niger State, and chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, NGF, also faulted the US Embassy’s warning. Aliyu, while playing host to Umar Farouk Bahago, the Emir of Minna, who paid him Sallah homage in Government House, Minna, last week said such warning only gives the nation a negative image among other nations of the world. He insisted that such warnings by foreign embassies will not help Nigeria, but would only destroy what the country has gained in its re-branding efforts. “With such kind of comments, the image of the country continues to be tainted,” he said.

However, last Tuesday, the US insisted that the plot to bomb Abuja was real. Tina Onufei, public affairs officer of the Public Affairs Section of the U. S. Consulate General in Lagos, told Newswatch that the security alert to American citizens was issued based on information at its disposal. She explained that based on the specificity and credibility of the threat, they had no choice but to give their best counsel to their citizens. Onufei explained that the reaction by the Nigerian government denouncing the security alert by the US has not in any way affected the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

However, last Wednesday, the US Embassy relaxed its terror warning. The US embassy explained that since it issued the emergency warning, it had continued to monitor closely the threat posed by the sect and had noticed increased security checks by the Nigerian government. It therefore, said its citizens were no longer instructed to avoid the three hotels but maintain a high level of vigilance.

Intense security surveillance continued to be mounted in strategic locations in Abuja throughout last week, after the security alert by the US embassy. The three hotels said to be prime targets of the terror gang received an unusual presence of operatives from the army, police and the SSS. The hotels are Trancorp Hilton in Maitama, Sheraton Hotel in Zone four Wuse and Nicon Luxury in Area 11, Abuja.

The security operatives were positioned in all the entrance and exit gates of the hotels, from where they searched all vehicles and individuals carrying bags and baggage into the hotels. The operatives who were heavily armed with guns of various shapes and sizes refused to entertain questions from Newswatch on issues relating to their operations in Abuja. There was heightened security alert in Abuja and in most public offices, people were moving about but conscious of the security threat.

Beyond the hotels, entrances and exit gates at police, SSS and army formations in the FCT were also heavily guarded by armed security operatives. Major public buildings such as the International Conference Centre, Radio House, Federal Secretariat, National Assembly and all buildings at the three arms zone, including courts at the Federal Capital Territory had security presence around them beefed up.

The situation was most pronounced at the SSS headquarters building popularly called Yellow House. The entire frontage of the building, facing the residence of Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, was barricaded with concrete obstacles, molded in cone shapes, of about three feet tall. Only visitors, including journalists on verifiable appointments, were allowed by heavily armed men, after thorough body and bag searches, into the SSS premises throughout last week.

Unlike before, visitors were not allowed to drive in or park their cars near the SSS building. The nearest vehicles were tolerated was at Aso drive, a distance of about a quarter of a kilometre.

The bombing of Damaturu and Potiskum by Boko Haram has elicited condemnation locally and internationally. Ayo Oritsejafor, national president of CAN lamented the ugly situation whereby innocent people, who were mostly Christians in the North, were sent to their early graves by members of the Islamic fundamentalist sect. “The Christian Association of Nigeria , CAN, is calling on the Federal Government to demonstrate the political will to deal decisively with the increasing wave of terrorism in the country. Reports reaching me from different parts of the North have shown that several innocent lives have again been sent to their early graves and property worth millions of naira has either been torched or vandalised in another orgy of religious violence,” Oritsejafor said.

Nkechi Mba, national president, National Council of Women’s Societies, NCWS, was worried that women were being turned into “widows prematurely, losing their children, loved ones and valuable property due to the violent activities of some unpatriotic Nigerians and their collaborators.” She described the killings of innocent Nigerians as barbaric and unacceptable and urged the government to fish out perpetrators of the act. The NCWS president appealed to Boko Haram to have a rethink, saying the “country belongs to all of us, and divided we fall, but united we stand, and where there is no peace, there will be no development.

The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, the apex socio-cultural organisation of the North, also appealed to members of the sect to stop the killings and embrace dialogue for the unity and peace of the country. Anthony Sani, national publicity secretary of the ACF, advised members of the sect to forgive the injustices they were fighting against. “It is, therefore, still the position of ACF that the sect should embrace dialogue by shelving further violence. This would address any perceived injustice and bring about peace for national interest and common good,” Sani stated.

Ban Ki-Moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, UN, described the attacks as “criminal and unjustifiable.” He called for “an end to all violence in the area”, while offering sympathy for the victims.

Pope Benedict XVI also appealed for an end to all violence, saying it only increases problems, sowing the seeds of hatred and division even among the faithful. He told tourists in St. Peter’s Square that he was following with apprehension the news from Nigeria.

Boko Haram which figuratively means “Western or non-Islamic education is a sin,” is a Nigerian Islamic fundamentalist group that seeks the imposition of Shariah laws in 12 northern states of Nigeria. The group presently has an undefined structure and chain of command. The official name of the group is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.” The literal translation is “Association of Sunnis for the Propagation of Islam and for Holy War.”

It became known following sectarian violence in Nigeria in 2009. But residents of Maiduguri, where it was formed in 2002, dubbed it Boko Haram. Loosely translated from the local Hausa language, this means “Western education is forbidden.” Residents gave it the name because of its strong opposition to Western education, which it sees as corrupting Muslims. The term Boko Haram comes from the Hausa word boko meaning “Animist, western or otherwise non-Islamic education” and the Arabic word haram figuratively meaning “sin” but literally means “forbidden.” Boko Haram opposes not only western education but also western culture and modern science.

The group came into existence in the 1960s but only started to draw attention in 2002. Mohammed Yusuf became its leader in the same year. He then formed Boko Haram in Maiduguri and set up a religious complex, which included a mosque and an Islamic school. Many poor Muslim families from across Northern Nigeria, as well as neighbouring countries, enrolled their children at the school. In 2004, it moved to Kanamma, Yobe State, where it set up a base called “Afghanistan,” from where it attacked nearby police stations, killing police officers.

But Boko Haram also had a political goal which is to create an Islamic State, and the school became a recruiting ground for jihadists to fight the state.

In July 2009, the Nigerian police started investigating the group following reports that it was arming itself. Several of its leaders were arrested in Bauchi, sparking deadly clashes with security forces which led to the death of about 700 people. Yusuf was arrested and killed in Maiduguri on July 30, 2009, by Nigerian security forces after being taken into custody. In January 2010, the group struck in the Borno State capital, killing four people in Dala Alemderi ward while the sect freed more than 700 inmates from a prison in Bauchi State.

In December 2010, members of the sect bombed a market and 92 of its members were arrested by police. Their activities peaked on Friday, January 28, 2011, when the governorship candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, was assassinated, along with his brother and four police officers.

On June 17, the group attacked the Force headquarters at Louis Edet House, Abuja. About 73 vehicles were destroyed by the bombs detonated by a suicide bomber. Officials believed that the attack was the first suicide bombing in Nigeria’s history.

Nine days later, on June 26, the sect bombed a beer garden in Maiduguri. The militants on motorcycles threw explosives into the drinking spot, killing about 25 people. On June 27, another bombing in Maiduguri, attributed to the group, killed at least two girls and wounded three officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS. On July 3, another bombing of a beer garden in Maiduguri killed at least 20 people.

Again on August 26, this year, the sect bombed the UN House in Abuja and foreign security agencies probing the attack suspect that al-Qaeda probably had a hand in it. Security reports indicated that members of the Boko Haram had received training from groups affiliated to al- Qaeda in Afghanistan and Algeria. It was gathered that even some police officers are suspected to be members of the sect or are simply in support of their action due to fear or ethnic affiliation; hence it has been difficult for the security agencies to nip their dastardly activities in the bud.

Reported by Tobs Agbaegbu and Anthony Akaeze