Outrage trails Borno massacre

Chadian, Nigerien troops involved in operation

. NASS probes incident as UN, others condemn attack

Outrage yesterday trailed the killings of 187 people during last weekend’s clash between members of the Joint Task Force, JTF, backed by Nigerian and Chadian forces, and the Boko Haram Islamic sect in Baga, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State.

The clash in the largely fishing town in the northeast on the shores of Lake Chad, on the Chadian border and close to Niger Republic also left about 2,000 houses razed, while scores were injured.

Reactions to the high casualty recorded during the clash came from the National Assembly, political parties and the northern elders, even as it was learnt that troops from the neighbouring Chad and Niger were involved in the operation.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives set up separate committees to probe the incident. President Goodluck Jonathan had also on Monday set up a committee to carry out a full-scale investigation into reports of high civilian casualties in the confrontation. Rescue workers meanwhile, struggled to reach the town yesterday. The National Coordinator of the Red Cross, Umar Mariaga told AFP that his staff were still struggling to reach Baga, where the security situation remains uncertain.

“We are making efforts to get clearance from the security agents to get in and assist the victims of the violence,” he said. Much of the town remains deserted after the fighting on Friday, which forced thousands of people to flee, said a resident who asked that his name be withheld.

“Baga is still under military siege,” he told AFP. “The town is at a standstill with little food and water, which has forced even those of us that stayed behind to start leaving.” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was “shocked and saddened at the reports of high numbers of civilians killed.”

Washington also condemned the violence and the deaths of many civilians. The military has been accused by leading rights groups of widespread atrocities in the campaign against Boko Haram, including killing scores of civilians.

The details of the alleged military atrocities in Baga are still emerging, but it could mark a major setback in Nigeria’s effort to end the insurgency. Baga’s location near Chad and Niger Republic is problematic for Nigeria’s security forces as people from the three countries move freely through porous borders, said Shehu Sani, an expert on religious violence in Nigeria.

The security forces struggle to identify the insurgent and criminal groups migrating in the region, a confusing and lawless environment that has led to the reckless targeting of innocent civilians, said Sani.

“The security agents are very much confused as to who is an insurgent and who is not,” he said. In the Senate, a joint committee was set up to probe the killings of those the Senators called “the innocent.”

The probe committees, which are the National Intelligence, Police and Defence were asked to turn in their report within 14 days. The decision of the Senate followed the intervention of Senator Maina Lawal (Borno North) who raised the issue under matters of urgent national importance drawing from Order 43 of the Senate Order Rules.

Maina, who said he comes from Baga, said that following the military operations, which lasted three days, the town was currently in total ruin, with 180 to 200 lives lost and numerous others unaccounted for. According to him, 2,000 homes, 62 cars and 284 motor cycles and tons of food stuff were destroyed.

The lawmaker, who said he would not like to delve into the controversy of the possible perpetrators of the act however noted that the scale of atrocities were condemnable. He prayed the Senate to “call for a full scale investigation to unearth the truth, as this is a recurring decimal in all such past instances in Borno.”

Maina also urged the upper legislative chamber to “call upon all concerned agencies of government, NEMA, states and local governments as well as good spirited individuals to come to the aid of the surviving victims women, children and the aged who are in dire need.” Senate President, David Mark also condemned the alleged high civilian figures occasioned by the action of the security operatives.

He said the task force must operate under globally accepted military standards as well as the rule of engagement prescribed by the military. According to Mark: “We cannot have this high number of Nigerian casualties at a given time.

The military task force must conduct themselves within the rules of engagement provided for them as well as the global best practices.” While fielding questions from newsmen after the Senate session, Maina revealed that members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect has sacked about one third of the local government councils. He said in some of the council areas the sect also sacked the police, immigration and the customs.

He described the situation in some of the affected councils as complete breakdown of law and order. According to the lawmaker: “The truth of the matter is that when JTF intensified their operations in Maiduguri, of course, they concentrated in Maiduguri understandably because it is the state capital, it was too hot for them.

They ran out and fizzle into the country. “In the country side, there is no police standing. In Borno North, there is no Police outpost or divisional offices standing. It is true. What was written is not true of everywhere but there are such areas that government officers don’t go for the fear of their own lives.

Ask the Immigration officers or Custom officers when last they visited their Banki outposts? Where there are supposed to be an Inspector and three constables they are not there and when they are not there and there is somebody with a gun, he rules. “I thought we are informed enough about the gravity of the situation in Borno. Not just Northern Borno but Borno State in general.

So, when papers reported that officials of government have abandoned their posts whether federal or state, apart from areas where the military are operating, I am afraid, it is largely true. And that is exactly why we are talking of this brute application of force we apply. About one third of neighbourhoods in Maiduguri is closed already and you can see grasses as tall as myself.”

The House of Representatives also urged the Federal Government to direct an inquiry into the killing. The House made the call on the Presidency after it passed a motion on the pogrom sponsored by Muhammed Tahir Monguno and seconded by Hon. Abdurrahman Terab both of ANPP-Borno. Monguno who brought the motion under matters of urgent national importance, decried the persistent clashes between the Boko Haram sect and the Joint Task Force commissioned by the Federal Government in Borno and Yobe States leaving scores dead.

He warned that if the Federal Government continued to ignore the continuous killing of these civilians, there is a possibility that the people might begin to sympathize with the sect. “If the Federal Government continues to ignore calls to address the cases of indiscriminate shooting and killing of civilians in Borno and Yobe States, there is a tendency that members of the public would begin to sympathize more with the sect than the government and it will help the sect recruit more hands to the sect”.

He lamented the massive loss of lives in these areas as he disclosed that because of the porous state of “our borders in those states”, Nigeria has joined forces with Chad and Cameroun in the battle against the sect.

He said that soldiers were killing civilians in the hundreds for every death of a soldier and therefore called on members of the sect to “embrace the amnesty offered by the Federal Government”.

The House thereafter adopted a the motion and directed that the Federal Government “set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the circumstances leading to the death of the soldier and 185 civilians” and that the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, should provide relief materials to the victims who lost their property.

In its reaction, the Northern Elder’s Forum, NEF, called on the Federal Government to deploy only Hausa speaking soldiers to Borno, Yobe and other troubled states facing insurgency, just as it expressed fear over the recent composition of the amnesty committee headed by government officials.

Spokesman of the forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said during a visit to Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, secretariat in Kaduna, that using soldiers to curtail insurgency would aggravate the situation.

The forum demanded judicial commission of inquiry into Baga killings adding that it should expand terms of reference for people to come out and testify. NEF said: “This is because most of these soldiers posted to these areas are not only known as soldiers but they are coming from totally different backgrounds.

If you want a peace keeper in Borno, you need a person who can speak Hausa, somebody who can speak Kanuri, somebody who can speak Shuwa and most of the soldiers posted there cannot even communicate in Pidgin English.

“This certainly is not the way an operation like this should be conducted. That is why we believe the President need not just a probe. We need a judicial commission of inquiry to unravel what has happened in Baga.” On the amnesty he said: “Where the government has one of its ministers as chairman of the committee and the secretary of the committee coming from the government this will not give the kind of confidence one expects to get because the other side was saying they don’t need amnesty because it was the government that offended them.

The only worry in some quarters is about the independence and neutrality of the committee because of its chairman and secretary.” The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, also condemned the reported killings.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also warned the JTF against engaging in extra-judicial killings, saying the security agencies must respect the relevant rules of engagement in their ongoing onslaught against the sect in order to spare the lives and property of innocent civilians.

‘’Without jumping to any conclusion on what really transpired in Baga, we hasten to say that the military, in fighting an asymmetric war against insurgents, must ensure a strict observance of its rules of engagement to avoid the kind of deaths that were recorded in the border town.”

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