NationalMirror Northern youths hunt Boko Haram members INUSA NDAHI AND AZA MSUE June 12, 2013 Some youths in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, have embarked on massive manhunt and arrest of members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect. The action of the youths, who are now being addressed as “Civilian JTF” is to rid the city of the menace of the sect members, who have killed hundreds of people in bomb and gun attacks over the past two years. The state, along with Adamawa and Yobe, has been without telephone services since the declaration of a state of emergency last month by President Goodluck Jonathan. The youths have been moving from house to house, arresting suspected Boko Haram members and handing them over to the Joint Task Force, JTF. Yesterday, the youths were at the Government House, Maiduguri, where they held a closed-door meeting with Governor Kashim Shettima. It was learnt that the meeting centred on how the state government and the security agencies would support them in their quest to rid the state of the Boko Haram menace. Yesterday, two of the youths apprehended one suspected Boko Haram member at the popular Kasuwan Jagol area of Post Office in Maiduguri and took him to JTF office. Also, in old Maiduguri area of the metropolis, a resident who did not want his name mentioned told our correspondents that on Monday, a youth group arrested about 18 suspected sect members and handed them over to security operatives. It will be recalled that last weekend, some youths in Hausari ward and its environs assisted security operatives in the arrest of 20 suspects when they stormed the area. A source said that the state government and the security operatives have commended the important role the volunteering youths are playing “as they live, mingle and know members of the sect.” The source added that government and the security operatives were now recruiting them in all the wards of the metropolis to help identify and arrest the terrorists. Although he did not give details of the stipend government would pay the “Civilian JTF” per month, our correspondent gathered that huge amount of money had been budgeted for the exercise. Residents of Maiduguri and Jere council areas have expressed gratitude to the youths for their heroic efforts. The exercise, they said, have started to yield positive results. In a related development, the JTF has said that the two roads leading to the destroyed Boko Haram training camps and hideouts at the Sambisa Games Reserves Forest, SGRF, will remain closed to motorists and cyclists to prevent fleeing suspects from escaping into Maiduguri and adjoining communities. JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, said yesterday that “as the military Special Force operations are going on, these roads have to be closed to prevent the fleeing Boko Haram terrorists from infiltrating into Maiduguri and other towns.” Transport fare on these alternative routes, however, have shot up from N750 to N2000, while the Bama-Gulumba- Dikwa-Maiduguri route also rose from N250 to N1,500, about 600 per cent increase. A commuter at Bama Road Motor Park told our correspondent yesterday: “It is God that saved us on the desert tracks of Dikwa area this morning, as we had to pass through “stop-andsearch” at the many barricades erected by soldiers on the Maiduguri-Dikwa road.” Our correspondents also learnt that because of the closure of the road that leads to Cameroun, prices of bananas and other fruits had increased by 200 per cent. A vegetable seller said: “Since the closure of the two roads by security operatives on May 16, we had not been getting supplies of Cameroonian bananas that sell for N50 a bunch.” . 6,000 flee Borno, Yobe, Adamawa –UNHCR Meanwhile, more than 6000 people have fled Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states to neighbouring countries after the air and ground offensive against the Islamic sect by the military, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, said yesterday. Those that spoke to UNCHR said they fled for fear of being caught in the crackdown on the Boko Haram sect. In Baga, close to the Niger border, UNHCR spokesperson, Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva that “refugees report that air strikes by government forces are continuing from time to time, and that planes are regularly flying over the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where the state of emergency has been in force since May 14. “People arriving in Niger also mention the increasing presence of roving armed bandits in several states in Nigeria. Rising commodity prices coupled with preexisting food insecurity is also becoming a major concern for the populations of the affected states.” Niger has so far received 6,240 people, comprising Nigerians, returning Niger nationals and people of other nationalities, according to UNHCR. There have also been arrivals in Cameroon and Chad in the past weeks. “New arrivals are either renting houses or staying with host families, who are themselves living in very precarious conditions,” Edwards said. UNHCR officials who have visited several border villages hosting new arrivals also met some Nigerian families living out in the open, under trees. The presence of the newcomers is also putting a strain on meagre local food and water resources, the agency said, noting that Niger, a country in the Sahel, itself struggles with food insecurity due to years of drought. “UNHCR plans to deliver some relief to the new arrivals as well as to the host community. We are also helping the local authorities to register new arrivals,” Edwards said. Meanwhile, UNHCR described the security situation as “extremely difficult.” It added that information about the humanitarian situation and displaced people in the North-East is limited since it is not present in the areas that are under a state of emergency, due to the prevailing insecurity. In another development, a Northern group, the Concerned Arewa Youth Forum, CAYF, yesterday backed calls by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, for the arrest of Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari over his comments on the proscription of Boko Haram. In a statement signed by the National Coordinator, Jibril Mamman Vatsa, the group warned against any attempt to drag the CAN president into a political matter. Buhari had last week during a radio programme reportedly said that while Boko Haram sect members were being killed and their houses destroyed, Niger Delta militants were trained and given employment. Oritsejafor called for Buhari’s arrest over what he described as an inciting comment. But, CAYF Coordinator, who is also the son of the late Maj.-Gen. Mamman Vatsa, called on Buhari to resign from politics and allow the peace to reign in Nigerian politics.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:49:57 +0000
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