Security Forces Raid Boko Haram Camps in Borno

Security Forces Raid Boko Haram Camps in Borno

Nigerian soldiers

By Our Correspondents, with agency reports

With Tuesday’s declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno States and the subsequent deployment of more troops to the states, the military has moved to the next stage of dislodging Boko Haram terrorists who have carved a fiefdom for themselves in the troubled north-eastern flank of the country.

It was gathered Thursday that some of the 2,000 troops deployed in Borno in the aftermath of the presidential proclamation, have begun an offensive to retake territory seized by the Islamist insurgents by raiding camps in a game reserve in the state.

The Agence France Press (AFP) quoting a military source, said the troops raided the terrorists’ camps in the Sambisa Game Reserve, located in northern Borno, early on Wednesday to flush out members of the terrorist group who have killed about 4,000 people since 2009 when they took to arms struggle following the extra judicial killing of the sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf.

Where necessary, the military could also resort to air strikes as it confirmed Thursday that it was ready to launch air strikes against the Islamists.

“The entire Nigerian military is involved in this operation, including the air force,” defence spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade told AFP. “Definitely, air strikes will be used when necessary,” he said.

A force of “several thousand” soldiers along with fighter jets and helicopter gunships have been deployed for the offensive in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, he added.

While the military has vowed that the operation will “rid the nation’s border territories of terrorist bases,” there are doubts as to whether the security forces have the capacity to end the insurgency.

“The military is already overstretched,” former US ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell said Wednesday in an article for the Council on Foreign Relations.

The north-eastern borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger are also porous, with criminal groups and weapons moving freely between countries.

Analysts warn that despite the military build up, Boko Haram could scatter and find new safe havens.

However, in a bid to boost the military operation, a contingent of police-anti-terrorism personnel has been moved to Borno and Yobe States to beef up military personnel deployed to uproot the members of the dreaded sect from the two states.

In Adamawa State, the military has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the state while the state Governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd), in a state wide broadcast, queried the rationale for including Adamawa on the list of states on which the president imposed emergency rule.

The military raid came on the heels of the decision by the Senate to begin consideration of the request by President Goodluck Jonathan to approve the declaration of emergency rule in the three states on Tuesday.

However, the House of Representatives is yet to decide when to begin debate on the proposal as the president, by Thursday, was yet to transmit to the legislature the official gazette on the proclamation as provided under Section 305 of the constitution.

As the National Assembly gets ready to decide on the proclamation, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which is opposed to the imposition of emergency rule on the three states, Thursday softened its stance.

The nation’s leading opposition, which on Wednesday in its initial reaction to the proclamation, had urged the National Assembly to reject it, modified its position by calling on the legislature to carefully consider the president’s request before deciding whether to reject or approve it.

But the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in its reaction to the ACN’s position, urged the National Assembly to ignore the opposition party’s advocacy.

While the politicians were squabbling over the imposition of emergency rule on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the military Thursday launched a sweeping operation to flush out Boko Haram fighters from their enclaves.

A military source, who requested anonymity, told AFP that operations had started in at least one area of Borno State, the epicentre of the insurgency.

“Our men raided some terrorist camps in the Sambisa Game Reserve,” in northern Borno, early on Wednesday, he said. 

The source added that 2,000 troops had been deployed to Borno but declined to comment on the number of forces sent to Yobe and Adamawa.

Army spokesman, Brigadier General Ibrahim Attahiru, refused to discuss figures.
However, Olukolade, giving THISDAY an update on the military operation in the affected states, explained that troops surge and deployment were ongoing, making it difficult to give a precise number of troops that would be used for the operations.

He said: “It is improper for me to tell you the actual number since troops are still being deployed.

“But the operation has started in earnest. The push is on... and we will give details of our achievements later not now.”

Military sources confirmed that several arrests had been made with a massive manhunt still ongoing for the insurgents through cordon-off and search operations.

“The efforts by the security forces on the ground are also being supported by aerial surveillance of the terrorists’ movement,” the source said.

It was also learnt that the troops deployed to Borno and Yobe States had already reached the border towns of Ngala, Marte, Mafa and Konduga in Borno State; and Geidam, Gashua and Yusufari border towns of Yobe State with Niger Republic by Wednesday.

To prevent the insurgents from fleeing their training camps, all the facilities of all the four telecom service providers—MTN, Etisalat, Airtel and Globacom—were shut down in the early hours of Thursday in Borno and Yobe States.

A Maiduguri resident told THISDAY that they started noticing the lack of signals from the service providers at about 4.30 am Thursday.

The deployment of more troops to the two states, according to a senior military officer, has been split into the two targeted areas of training camps and the border communities where the insurgents live and from where they launch attacks on military, police and Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) formations and posts in the two states.

Speaking on the targeted training camps, the military officer said in Borno State, there are four camps at Mafa, Marte, Gomboru/Ngala and the Sambisa Game Reserves, comprising Damboa, Gwoza and Konduga Local Government Areas.

In Yobe State, he added there are four training camps at Gujba, Geidam, Gashua and Yusufari.

The Police Counter Terrorism Squad (CTS) has also been redeployed to Borno and Yobe States to add to the security forces already on the ground in the battle to uproot the sectarians from the two states.

Ten vehicles, comprising trucks and luxury buses, were seen in Maiduguri bringing in the men of the CTS on Wednesday evening.

A security source, who did not want to be named, told THISDAY: “As I speak to you, there is a serious battle between the military and the terrorists at their various camps.

“The military and the police were deployed to the area to level the camps and capture the insurgents and that should be done within little time we hope.”

Despite the declaration of emergency rule, a blast went off at the Maiduguri Monday Market on Wednesday and forced many traders to hurriedly close up their shops and flee the market for safety.

According to one of the traders, the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was placed in a black plastic bag in the roadside gutter. Two persons were killed in the explosion while a passerby was disembowelled.

Meanwhile, residents in all three states have reported seeing an increased number of military personnel.

Zangina Kyarimi, who lives in the remote town of Marti in northern Borno, leading to the border with Chad, told AFP that “large military teams” arrived late Wednesday.

“I saw dozens of military vans and trucks accompanied by tanks,” he said by phone from the town, which is considered a Boko Haram stronghold.

“We are afraid of what might happen in the coming days. We are thinking of leaving,” he added.

The security forces Thursday told banks in Gashua, Yobe State, to close, a resident, Musa Saminu, said.

“Around 30 military vans passed through the town... They were heavily armed. Some of them went to the banks and asked them to close as a precaution,” he added.

Red Cross spokesman, Nwakpa O. Nwakpa, said the organisation was prepared to offer relief to civilians impacted by the military operation.

More details on the emergency rule in the three states may be out on Tuesday when the Senate is expected to deliberate on the presidential proclamation with a view to either approve or reject it.

Senate President David Mark appealed to his colleagues during plenary Thursday to make next Tuesday’s session a date with history, explaining that their attendance that day would be crucial to an urgent national decision to be taken.

Also Thursday, the Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Benedict Efeturi, circulated a notice to all senators, informing them that the plenary of next Tuesday “will consider matters of urgent national importance.”

The notice added: “All senators are by this notice, requested to attend this crucial session of the Senate at 10.00 am prompt.”

But it was unclear Thursday why the Senate fixed Tuesday for a session on the emergency rule, as the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma Egba, told journalists that the president was yet to transmit the official gazette on the proclamation in the affected states, to the senate.

Responding to a question on whether Section 305(6) of the constitution, which stipulates the transmission of the official gazette to the National Assembly as well as debate and resolution of two-thirds of each chamber of the legislature within two days of the proclamation, as part of the process to ratify the president’s decision, had not been voided, Ndoma-Egba, a lawyer, said the proclamation would only take effect from the day it is published in the official gazette.

According to him, what the president did on Tuesday was not the official proclamation stated in the constitution, but only a broadcast which he said announced the president’s intention and described it as a mere part of the process.

He said: “The best we can make of what the president has done is that he has declared his intention to declare a state of emergency. That is what he has conveyed to Nigerians. He has conveyed his intention to declare a state of emergency.

“That state of emergency will be actually declared when an instrument proclaiming it is published in a gazette.

“The constitution did not say that the president must publish the gazette within 24 hours, 48 or 72 hours. So whenever the president publishes the gazette, then the two days or 10 days as applicable begin to run.

“For the purposes of the constitution, it is not a broadcast that proclaims a state of emergency. It is the instrument published in the gazette.” 

It was however gathered that the president’s wide consultations with stakeholders, particularly the leadership of the National Assembly, before the proclamation of emergency rule was what saved the democratic structures in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.

Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Afam Ogene, told reporters Thursday in Abuja that the collaboration between the executive and legislature influenced the departure from the past in the declaration of the state of emergency.

“We are aware that the president before the declaration did interface with the leadership of the National Assembly, and I can tell you that the input of the National Assembly has led to the management of the situation such that we do not have a complete state of emergency that would have swept away democratic structures in the concerned states as we had in the past,” he said.

However, Ogene explained that the House could not consider the president’s decision yet because it had not received any presidential correspondence on the proclamation on emergency rule.

Like Ndoma-Egba, Ogene said the perception the president had breached the constitutional process of proclaiming a state of emergency by not transmitting the official gazette to the National Assembly, 48 hours after his broadcast, would be wrong and hasty.
Faulting the imposition of emergency rule on his state, the Adamawa State governor, in a broadcast that marked his first official reaction to the declaration, wondered why the state, which, he said, had been declared the most peaceful among the six states in the north-east region, was included for emergency rule.

According to him, Adamawa is a peaceful state and has been judged as the most peaceful in the north-east region by international and national peace groups.

Irrespective of his reservations about the inclusion of Adamawa, Nyako pledged support to the troops and urged residents of the state to remain calm and prayerful during the period.

The military, meanwhile, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the state with effect from Thursday.

A statement by the Nigerian Army spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Nuhu, advised all residents to abide by the curfew that will last from 6pm to 6am daily.

A day after it called on the National Assembly to reject the declaration of state of emergency in three states, the ACN Thursday reviewed its position and urged the legislature to carefully consider Jonathan’s proposal before taking a decision on it.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party urged members of the National Assembly to study details of the emergency rule proclamation carefully to enable them make an informed decision on the issue.

“Members of the federal legislature, as the true representatives of the people, must decide - purely based on facts rather than sentiments - whether or not the emergency rule is the best option to resolve the Boko Haram crisis.

“Truly understanding the proclamation will enable them make an informed decision when the issue is brought before them,'” the party said.

Obviously worried by the discordant notes from opposition parties over the new security measure, ACN said a better understanding of the situation would show that democratic structures would not only be sidelined but castrated in the states affected by the martial law.

ACN alleged that the Jonathan administration, realising the groundswell of opposition that would be triggered if the governors and the Houses of Assembly members in the affected states were sacked, deceived Nigerians by leaving the elected officials in place.

It said its rejection of the imposition of emergency rule was because the democratic structure in the three states could be made subservient to the military superintending over the emergency rule.

However, the PDP urged the National Assembly to ignore the ACN’s suggestion and approve the emergency rule.

PDP, in a statement by its spokesman, Chief Olisa Metuh, chided the ACN for imputing political motives in all its comments, adding: “The state of emergency imposed on the affected north-eastern states is aimed at ensuring security of lives, property and sovereignty of the Nigerian state and has nothing to do with politics.

“As the National Assembly awaits when the proclamation letter would be sent to them, it is the hope and position of the esteemed lawmakers that they will not turn down the proclamation of the state of emergence because it was done in the overall national interest,” the PDP said.