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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Boko Haram exploits in Gwoza: The inside story |
| 2014-08-24 |
| [SUNNEWSONLINE] "Sincerely speaking, my people, including the traders and other businessmen and women, have been prevented from travelling to Maiduguri to buy industrial and household goods for sale to customers in my chiefdom with an estimated population of 655, 000 in 11 wards and other border communities with Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... Besides that, there is no blessed day the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... gunnies will not kill 7 to 15 residents on these three roads that had already been blocked and taken over by krazed killers. My people have been prevented from going to work on their farmlands last year; and even the limited cultivated farmlands with harvests, including my 350-hectre farmlands and orchards at Jaje village, were seized by the bully boyz last October� Therefore, I am pleading, and will continue to beg the Military, Police and other security agencies in the state to take emergency action on the three blocked and taken-over roads in Gwoza council area. If my people flee to Cameroon, leaving me alone in this palace, who will I rule, as their traditional and religious leader in this chiefdom?" Those were the words of the late Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Idris Timta, in April, this year, in his "Save Our Soul" SOS, letter to the Federal Government and all the security agencies in Borno State. But by May this year, about one month after crying out, the late emir was sent to his grave, by the same people-Boko Haram, he had cried to security agencies, to save his people from. And even after his death, the bully boyz appear not done yet with the town, surrounded by several hills. At the last count, the town, Saturday Sun's investigations reveal, has been seized by the krazed killers, with the late emir's son, who is now the new emir, fleeing to safety. Before the emir's date with the bully boyz in May this year, one of his sons, who was the District Head of Takumbari, in Gwoza Council area of the state, was also killed last year by the krazed killers. To show their current control over the town, the bully boyz have appointed a spiritual leader, known as Ameer, for the town. The Ameer, who now sits on the emir's throne, and holds court regularly, right inside the palace, Saturday Sun's investigations further reveal, is a native of Gwoza. Gwoza, for whatever reason, Saturday Sun recalls, has always been a centre of attraction for the krazed killers, since 2004, when they first invaded Borno State, then on the auspices of the "Nigerian Taliban." The group first struck in Yobe State in December 2003, precisely December 22, a day after, according to the then governor, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, they had promised to leave the state. The group equally struck again on December 31 2003, in Yobe State, while on their way to Borno State on a New Year day, when they engaged in a gun duel with military personnel drafted to the border town between Borno and Yobe states, a situation that left two of the members dead. The group's first strike in Borno State, Saturday Sun further recalls, was recorded on Tuesday, September 21, 2004, when the group invaded Bama and Gwoza towns, in Borno State, where the Area Commander-in-Charge of Bama, Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Ismail Sirajo, was brutally murdered. But after about four days of shootout between them and a combined team of Army and mobile coppers then, the group was subdued, losing about 40 of its members in the process. The operation, carried out during former President Olusegun Obasanjo's second term in office, was supervised at the time by the current chairman of the Police Service Commission, retired IGP Mike Okiro, as DIG, in charge of Operations, under the then IGP Tafa Balogun. Why is it then difficult for the Army to rout the bully boyz from Gwoza, considering the fact that the late emir had raised the alarm on the group's occupation of parts of his territory before his death? Although, the Army is yet to issue any statement since the bully boyz occupied major parts of Gwoza formally, about two weeks ago, a highly placed personality from the area told Saturday Sun: "We are at a loss, as to what is happening. No one can really say, we can only continue to guess." "Remember that the governor once came up to speak on the need to equip and motivate our soldiers so that they can confront these criminals headon. His call was misconstrued. But recent events and statements from both the Presidency and the Army have further vindicated the governor. |
| Posted by:Fred |