Boko Haram - The Aftermath

The Boko Haram Mayhem that occured in the Northern part of Nigeria late July and early August this year, surely exposed the inadequacies and complacency of the Nigerian Security Services.

Boko Haram, an Islamic sect which is radically opposed to western education and proposes Sharia (Islamic Law) throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria, brought the North Eastern part of Nigeria to a complete standstill.

The violence started in Bauchi, capital of Bauchi State, where the sect overran the local Police Headquarters with just bows and arrows, swords, sticks and petrol bombs. (This in itself is quite hard to believe taking into consideration the Police were supposedly armed with better and more sophisticated weapons). Apparently the attack happened late in the night around 10pm and caught the Police unaware. The aftermath left 154 people dead, the Police Headquarters in ruin and 11 operational and private vehicles completely destroyed.

The Nigerian Police never recovered from this surprise attack. The sect regrouped and simultaneously attacked Police formations and Government facilities in Borno, Kano and Yobe States. Leaving trails of mayhem, death and unwanton destruction. The Federal Government was left with no choice other than to invite the Nigerian Army to try and contain the rampaging sect members. The Army quickly identified the main stronghold of the sect and pulverized the main enclave and headquarters of the sect with mortar and heavy artillery gun shells. One would think they were at war with an advancing enemy with the heavy bombardment that was unleashed. They left nothing to chance. They reduced the main compound of the enclave to rubble. No one was allowed to come out alive.

It later emerged that the Security Services had fore-knowledge of the impending attack by the sect but their warnings were ignored by the state government so as not to destabilise the fragile Islamic establishment which most of the state governors courted for their political survival especially in terms of the imposition of Sharia.

The Director General of the State Security Services (SSS), Afakriya Gadazama, absolved his Agency of any complacency and admitted to the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Police Affairs that indeed the Agency had been keeping surveillance on the sect and made reports to the appropriate quarters but this was ignored. He further went on to say, his Agency had on a regular basis always forewarned the government on impending security threats or sectarian violence but this warnings were always not treated seriously.

In fact, the Agency claimed that between the 14th and 17th of July, just a week and a half before the mayhem, it sent out 17 security reports on the recent activities of the sect across the country intimating the authorities of the strong likelihood of violence. This apparently was also ignored.

The Director of Defence Information, Colonel Mohammed Terima also absolved the Military Intelligence Agencies of any blame. He said the sect had been in existence as far back as 1995 under different names such as Ahlulsunna wal’jama’ah hijra. He said the Security Agencies had over this period been monitoring and containing their activities.

For instance, he said on the 13th November 2008, the group’s leader, Mohammed Yusuf and a number of his followers were arrested by security operatives and handed over to the Inspector-General of Police for prosecution. They were charged to court but subsequently granted bail by an Abuja high court on the 20th January 2009. The Judge saw no reason in remanding the accussed persons in Prison even with the avalanche of security reports before him. They were eventually discharged for want of evidence.

To date, It is only the Nigerian Police that hasn't or didn’t come forward to defend itself on their handling of the mayhem. So who really was to blame for the loss of over 800 lives? Each of the Security Agencies has absolved itself of any wrong doing except the Police. So, who or whom did the State Security Services send its intelligence reports to? The State Security Service reports directly to the National Security Adviser in the Presidency. Was it the Presidency or the State Governors concerned?

Why were the intelligence reports and warnings ignored? Why was the sect able to easily overrun Police Formations across the four states they targeted even though the Police had prior knowledge of their suspicious movements? Why was there a failure of Intelligence? What happened to the newly created Counter Terrorist Squad of the Nigerian Police, trained by the Counter Terrorist Unit of The Metropolitan Police and Israel CTS, a Private Israeli Counter Terrorist Training Firm? After the millions of Naira expended in creating and training this squad, why were they operationally inadequate, to contain the threat?

Unfortunately, answers to these questions may never be known. The opportunity to at least unravel some of the myths surrounding the sect was lost when the leader of the sect, a self-proclaimed Islamic scholar, Mohammed Yusuf was inadvertently killed in detention after arrest. The authorities lost the chance to unravel his source of financing and sponsorship. Some sections of the local press felt he was killed extra judiciously to protect some of his very powerful backers.

Right across the world, Internal and Homeland Security is always priority and taken very seriously. It borders on the corporate existence of every nation. Nigeria’s case should not be an exception. I hope lessons have been learnt.