The
war of words between the Joint Task Force in Maiduguri, Borno State and
a senator accused of sheltering a Boko Haram commander took a dramatic
turn on Monday. The embattled Senator accused the JTF of killing 15 boys
playing football on a field in the city, an allegation which this
newspaper was unable to confirm yesterday because of the tense security situation in the Maiduguri.
Senator Ahmad Zannah (Borno Central)
made the grave allegation while denying a report credited to the JTF
that Shuaibu Bama was arrested in his house. Zannah, who had said that
the suspect was arrested in the house of a former governor of the state,
also blamed the JTF for the escalation of violence in the city.
Our correspondents report that though
the JTF has been accused of extra-judicial killings in recent times, it
wasn’t clear if the Senator’s allegation was an attempt to shift
attention from himself or get back at the task force.
Two weeks ago, there were reports that
soldiers had gone on the rampage after a bomb believed to have been
detonated by Boko Haram killed an army officer in the city.
Eyewitnesses had told journalists that soldiers opened fire on residents indiscriminately and burnt houses and shops. An Associated Press reporter, who went round the city after the alleged killing, said he counted 30 bodies. Nurses at a hospital in the city later told a Reuters reporter that they saw 30 bodies in civilian clothing after the shooting.
However, the army had debunked the report, saying that its men did not harass or kill civilians on the day of the incident.
Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman
for the JTF, had told AFP that, “there was no incident involving the
killing of 30 civilians. Also, there was no arson and harassment by the
JTF troops in Borno State.”
On Friday, the JTF had said that Bama,
who was high on its list of wanted terrorists, was arrested by task
force troops in a serving politician’s house in the Damboa Area of
Maiduguri.
But Zannah, who admitted that Bama is
his nephew, said that the JTF wanted to frame him up because of his
stand against the task force’s excesses. He then cited the killing of
the young football players as one of such excesses.
He said, “They are not operating in the
way they are supposed to operate in that state. I’m sure you must have
read a little of what has been happening: the burning of some houses and
shopping plazas. This is just a small portion of what is happening,
because all these things are not exposed.
“Let me tell you something, just the day
before yesterday (Saturday), without any provocation, they went and
killed innocent boys playing football at a field – about 15 of them.
They just shot them all, everybody ran away and they took their bodies
to the hospital.
“The constitution does not allow them to
kill people at will. I have started exposing them. We have been quiet
for some time and when we saw that nothing was happening, nobody is
restraining them, so we had to speak out because people are just being
killed unnecessarily.
“They don’t consult the leaders in Borno
State at any given time. They went there and just started harassing
people from the outset. They have never contacted or tried to sit down
to discuss with the leaders of Borno. I am ready to stick out my neck to
do anything that will bring security to this country.”
The lawmaker accused the JTF of teaming
up with his political opponent in the last election to smear him. He
vowed to seek redress.
“I will seek redress in court. The
allegation is grievous and I will go to court to clear my name. My
historic defeat of the former Governor of Borno State, in the person of
Ali Modu Sheriff, at the poll has not and will not go down well with
many forces and individuals in this country.
“Therefore, this latest campaign by the
Military Joint Task Force in Borno State to disseminate falsehood
against me is a campaign to rope me into the JTF dragnet, declare me a
Boko Haram member, financier, sympathiser, or even activist and declare
my seat vacant.”
The senator insisted that though his house was searched on the day Bama was arrested, his nephew wasn’t found there.
He said, “They searched my house, they
brought out all the men inside my house, asked them to sit down outside
the scorching sun of Maiduguri and then asked them whether they knew
Shuaibu Bama. So, one of the boys volunteered to take them to the
place…eventually, they went and arrested the man in that (another
politician’s) house.
“That was exactly what happened. But I
was really surprised to see that these people have started saying that
they arrested Shuaibu in my house, which is not true, and I will not
take it lightly.”
Zannah said he did not know Bama as a member of Boko Haram, even though he knew him to be of a “bad character”.
When contacted, the Director Army Public
Relations, Brig-General Bola Koleosho, insisted that the JTF arrested
the terror suspect in Zannah’s residence.
Koleosho said that the senator’s claim
that the JTF wanted to set him up because of his criticism of the
military was flawed. He urged the Senator to own up.
Koleosho said, “Sincerely speaking, you
don’t call a dog a bad name to hang it. Please does it add up? We are
all stakeholders in this Nigerian project. There is nobody in JTF that
can do that. Of course except if he is saying that everybody in JTF is
mad.
“When does it become an offence or an
illegality to play football? While we don’t want to join issues with the
senator, this doesn’t simply add up.
“Look, the JTF has been in Maiduguri for
quite some time and we have been facing the problem. What the senator
is saying that the JTF wants to set him up because of his criticisms is
not true. He has admitted that the boy is his nephew. He should own up
that the boy was found in his house.
“The JTF still stands by its word that
the boy was arrested in the senator’s residence; the JTF insists that
the wanted terrorist leader was arrested in his house. You see, we are
all Nigerians. What are we setting him up for? There is no need for
that. Seriously speaking, the JTF cannot come down to such a level.”
But Senator Ali Modu Sherrif, who is
also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the All Nigeria Peoples
Party, described Zanna as a “drowning man”.
A statement issued on Monday by his
Special Assistant, Mallam Umar Duhu, accused Zanna of desperately
“looking for somebody to hang for his sins” on.
The statement says “It is also on
record that the State Security Service has invited Senator Zanna to
clarify his involvement with the suspect and his links with Boko Haram.
“Given his recent political encounter
with the immediate past governor, now the BOT chairman of ANPP, Senator
Ali Modu sheriff, he appears desperate to settle scores by dragging Ali
Sheriff into the controversy.”
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