Major General Kamaroudeen Biodun Role, recently retired from the service of the Nigerian Army where he last served as the General Officer Commanding 1 Mechanised Division. He told Sekyen Dadik, that he disengaged honorably and voluntarily from the Nigerian Army, having served for almost 36 years. Excerpts:

From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

For sometimes now, residents of Maiduguri, Borno state capital and its environs no longer sleep with their two eyes closed, as a result of the increasing wave of killings of police officers and prominent civilians by unidentified gunmen suspected to be members of the outlawed Boko Haram Islamic sect, which begun three months ago. A statistic of casualty released by the state police command revealed that so far, five police officers and seven civilians have been murdered in separate but similar circumstances. In all the attacks, the assailants drove on bikes to the homes of their victims to carry out the heinous act before fleing away.

Our correspondent gathered the coordinated killings are alleged reprisal attacks on the police by the Boko Harm group, in revenge for last year’s casualties suffered by their men during the sect’s uprising against the authority which led to the death of over 1,000 persons. Property worth hundreds of millions of Naira was also destroyed.

 These unexplained assasinations may not be unconnected to the alleged vow by the group’s current leader, Abubakar Shekau to mark a bloody one-year anniversary of the death of their former leader, Mohammed Yusif, who died under suspicious circumstances in police detension.

Although police had then dismissed the sect’s threat to avenge the killings of their men as baseless, security was nonetherless beefed up with operatives put on red alert at strategic locations in the Bornr state capital as a result of the spate of killings. The security measure include a stop-and-search operation on all motorists and the restriction of movement placed on the commercial motorcycle operators after  6.00pm. Security personnel in patrol vehicles patrolled the major streets.  Assuring the people, the state Police Commissioner, Ibrahim Abdu had said that there was no course for alarm as adequate security measures were in place to foil further attacks by the sect. CP Abdu had said ‘‘we have placed our men on red alert to stem any ugly incident in the state, just as the command is collaborating other security agencies in exchange of intelligence and surveillance report’’.

On its parts, the Borno state government had urged the public to remain calm, insisting that adequate security measures was in place to ensure that no individual or group breached the prevailing peaceful atmosphere then prevailing. A statement signed by the Special Adviser to Governor Ali Modu Sheriff on Media and Publicity, Shehu Mustapha Liberty, had  hinted that the re-introduction of the joint security outfit was part of the government readiness to deal with troublemakers.

However, despite these assurances and security measures, months later the sect begunthe coordinated killings of police officers after which they take away their rifles in broad daytime. The killings were not however, restricted to police officers, as prominent civilians such as ward heads and Islamic leaders, also fell prey to the assailants. Ward heads may have become among the prime targets due to their role in identifying members of the sect in their respective areas who fled during the 2009 clash between the group and security operatives.

 Some of the attacks carried out on civilians by the sect include the one at Gwadambari area where two gunmen on a motor bike assassinated the ward head of the area, Bulama Mohammed for being an alleged police informant.          

The group also raided the house of the Speaker of the state Assembly, Honourable Goni Ali Modu along Pompamari area in Maiduguri metropolis killing his police guard and stealing his service rifle.

Three hours after this incident, other gunmen stormed the home of the National Vice Chairman, (North-East) of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) adn brother-in-law of governor Sheriff, Alhaji Awana Ngala and murdered him.

Malam Goni Tom, an associate of late Ngala, who witnessed the attack, told newsmen that “the assailants entered into the house some minutes after eight in the night and started beating us, and one of them holding a rifle fired many shots at Ngala.  When they were convinced that he is dead, they fled”.

Three days later, the gangsters murdered a council chief in Bama town, Mamman Zanna and a Sunni Islamic cleric, Sheikh Bashir Mustapha alongside his pupil, Modu Sunoma at Gwange ward in the metropolis. According to family source, the late cleric may have been killed by the Boko Haram due to his strong opposition to their interpretation of Islam. He had, proir to his murder, received several text messages threatening his life.

 ‘‘Due to these threats, the deceased has been sleeping at unknown police station for safety, while his family relocated to the house of other relatives. However, sheikh Mustapha may have been trailed by the gunmen as, on that fateful day, he returned home to pick some belongings, that was how they got him’’, the source revealed. 

Three days later gunmen bombed a Gamboru police outpost wounding  three out of the five officers on duty. It was gathered that, the attack took place at about 9:30pm when over ten gunmen armed with AK47 rifles, drove to the police station in two Golf cars. An eyewitness, Malam Waziri Mohammed told our correspondent that on their arrival, some of the gunmen stationed themselves at different directions of the station, firing several shots on the air to scare public, while others entered inside and started shooting sporadically.

As the coodinated killings continue, commissioners and other top government officials, especially those presumed to be close to Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, have fled from Maiduguri with their families for fear of attack. Security operatives attached to the convoy and residence of the governor were reinforced with heavily armed soldiers. Similarly, hundreds of soldiers have been deployed at strategic locations to take over most of the areas hitherto manned by the police.      

The state of insecurity in Maiduguri and environs has adversly affected commercial activities. Traders who, under normal situation, close business at 6.00pm, are now going home at 4.00pm, just as most people are now under self-imposed curfew returning to their homes as early as 6.00pm. Similarly, vehicular movements have dropped by 80 percent with major streets and roads deserted with okada riders  the worst hit by the situation, as their movement is restricted to 5.00pm.       

Commenting to the situation, the Borno state Chairman of the opposition Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Comrade Zanna Shettima blamed the assassinations on Governor Sheriff calling on  him to resign for his failure to safeguard the lives of the citizenry. Speaking to Peoples Daily Weekend, Comrade Shettima argued that it is high time for the governor to surrender the mantle of the state’s leadership to a more responsible and patriotic individual who is capable enough to ensure safety for all citizens.

‘‘The call for the governor to resign was long overdue as he has failed woefully to govern the state in accordance with the constitution of the nation. It was unfortunate that innocent lives are being lost daily, but all what sheriff succeeded in doing was to concentrate on siphoning public funds and the agenda of 2011 general election’’, he alleged.

Also, Deputy National Chairman of Africa Liberation Party (ALP) Alhaji Abba Kale attributed the persistent killings to bad leadership and unemployment among the youths, saying the government should urgently address the problem to curb recurrence.  

According to him, the renewed Boko Haram violence was caused by poverty and unemployment among youths, asserting that if they are properly empowered to be self-reliant, the youths could not be misled into joining violent groups like Boko Haram.

Similarly, a group of prominent  Islamic scholars in state has written to the governor advising him to urgently constitute a high powered committee to map out modalities on how to trace leaders of the outlawed Boko Haram sect and dialogue with them in order to the wave of killings. One of the elders told our correspondent on condition of anonymity that the letter, which was given to Sheriff during his meeting with the clerics at the Government House, also alerted Sheriff on the imminent dangers awaiting the state, should the assassination of innocent people continue.

 ‘‘If the Federal Government succeeded in ending the Niger Delta crisis through a dialogue with the militants, I see no reason why Sheriff cannot adopt similar approach with the group as a strategy to motivate them to stop terrorising the residents.

We suggested that a committee comprising Islamic scholars, traditional institutions and other relevant stakeholders be constituted to identify leaders of the sect, meet with them and hear their grievances so as to proffer possible solutions”, the source disclosed further.

The Assistant Inspector General of Police (Zone 12), Bauchi, Mohammed Hadi Zarewa confirmed that the unidentified assailants who have been terrorising people were certainly members of the outlawed Boko Haram sect as several explosives they buried behind old Maiduguri Prison, were dug out by the police.

Hadi Zarewa, who briefed newsmen  in Maiduguri on the security situation of the state  said ‘‘we believed that the unidentified gunmen who engaged in the brutal killings of innocent people belongs to the dreaded Boko Haram group as we studied their victims mode of operation and arms’’. He also blamed the group for the Monday night’s attack on the Gamborou police outpost where the some members of the sect used explosives to blow up the outpost, injuring two of the officers on duty.

The AIG, who said he was specifically deployed to lead the police fight against the insurgents, revealed that some locally made bombs, believed to have been planted by the sect along El-Kanemi roundabout, have exploded within the week, but there was no casualty. In addition, the Inspector General of Police (IG) Alhaji Uba Ringim has deployed 400 heavily armed anti-riot policemen to the state as reinforcement to the ones already on ground.

 AIG Zarewa, however, stressed the need for the larger society to provide useful information to the police that might lead to the arrest of the assailants.

A number of people have been killed in explosions in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, as the country celebrated 50 years since independence. Earlier, a militant group from the Niger Delta had threatened to target the festivities. An amnesty that came into effect in the Delta last year has reduced unrest in the region. But the BBC’s Caroline Duffield saw both progress and tensions when she visited a rehabilitation camp for former militants.