The closing week of last month for most Nigerians who live and do their legitimate businesses in the North Eastern states of Bauchi, Yobe, Maiduguri and even the North Western states of Katsina, Kano and Sokoto, will remain one of the worst in their lives because of the sectarian religious unrests masterminded by a self styled Islamic fundamentalist group known as BOKO HARAM [Western Education is evil] or the Nigerian Taliban headed by the now allegedly ‘assassinated’ leader MOHAMMED YUSUF. Although most people who live in the Northern parts of Nigeria have witnessed several bloody religious and ethnic conflicts in the past years especially since the re-emergence of civil rule in 1999, but the recent clashes between the followers of the so-called BOKO HARAM Islamic sect and the Nigerian security agents including the Police, and the Nigerian military was unprecedented in scope, scale and levels of casualties and for the first time in recent years, members of the different security agencies have engaged themselves in the game of blaming each other for neglecting earlier intelligence on the activities of the BOKO HARAM which has now led to the open bloody confrontation that has left over seven hundred persons dead including an undetermined number of police and military operatives.
The first Human Rights organizations based in Nigeria to react to the recent crises in parts of Northern Nigeria was the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, which blamed the failure of hard intelligence for the unprecedented scale of clashes between the security agents and the followers of the extremist Islamic sect- BOKO HARAM. The Rights group had stated emphatically that if the operatives in the State Security Service [SSS] and the Police had taken their intelligence gathering jobs seriously, they would have been able to nip in the bud the violence that enveloped most parts of Northern Nigeria for nearly a week which led to a very high and unacceptable casualties especially on the part of the so-called BOKO HARAM members who were initially said to be armed with locally fabricated weapons. Subsequently, some members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly also blamed intelligence failure for the unrests. As expected, those concerned with intelligence gathering jobs in the State Security Service [SSS] were cleverly exonerated of any blame by no other person but the President, Umaru Musa Yar’adua who stated that the activities of the Islamic fundamentalist group BOKO HARAM had come under surveillance for a very long period of time even as he gave his blessing for the military to crush the members of the sect ruthlessly.
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The president spoke with the State House media crew at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on his way to Brazil even as violence continued in parts of Northern Nigeria as if to say he was perfectly demonstrating the story told of a ‘man who literarily chased rats while his house burns’. President Umaru Musa Yar’adua, had stated thus; ‘’our security agencies have been tracking them for years. The operation we have launched now will contain them once and for all. We are going to continue with the security surveillance all over the Northern States to fish out any remnants of these elements and deal with them SQUARELY AND PROMPTLY.
I want to assure the people of this country that peace and security of lives and properties will be fully guaranteed’’. But what is the essence of security surveillance if the attackers are not stopped before they struck? Secondly, I am shocked at the high rate of killings that took place during the clashes in Maiduguri, Borno State and the reported extra-judicial execution of MOHAMMED YUSUF and the lead financier of Boko Haram – Alhaji Buji Fai said to be a former commissioner of religious Affairs. There must be a judicial commission of inquiry to determine the remote and immediate causes of the violence in parts of the North even as the judicial commission should be empowered to unravel the circumstances that led to the death by controversial means of the two leaders of the Boko Haram who were allegedly captured alive before they were killed by the Nigeria police. If indeed these two high ranking leaders of the violent religious sect were gunned down by the police after being captured alive as being alleged, then those responsible for the dastardly act of extra-legal execution must be named and prosecuted for murder because the members of the Armed forces and police in Nigeria are under obligation to respect the provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which in several sections clearly outlawed extra-judicial executions. Section 33[1] of the 1999 constitution states that; ‘’Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in the execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria’’. The import of this provision means that extra-legal and summary execution of suspects in police custody is illegal, unconstitutional and security operatives guilty of such heinous crime must face the wrath of the law in line with the spirit and principle of the RULE OF LAW. Section 36 [5] provides that every person charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty. If it is found that the sectarian leaders were captured alive and executed by the police, then the culprits must be fished out and prosecuted. This is the best way to restore hope in the system and re-assure members of the civilized world that Nigeria truly respects the principle of RULE OF LAW and not THE PRINCIPLE OF RULE OF BRUTE FORCE. In quelling the uprising, was excessive military force used? Nigerians demand an answer.
On the ongoing blame game, the States Security Service[SSS] told the Senate of the Federal republic of Nigeria that it prepared several detailed intelligence reports on the activities of Mohammed Yusuf and his Boko Haram sect long before the violent uprisings in parts of the North and that it forwarded same to relevant action agencies like the Police and the office of the National Security Adviser to the President but unfortunately no action was taken to arrest these dangerous religious extremists. The question is why would the State Security Service wait for the police to take action? Is it not the same SSS that arrest journalists arbitrarily? Heads must roll because of this spectacular failure of intelligence. Nigerians are waiting.
+Onwubiko heads the Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.
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