First-hand experience of Chidi Omeje, a freelance journalist who was among the group of newsmen taken on a tour of Borno State by the Nigeria Military. Check out the Exclusive story Driving
through
the dusty road that led to Sambisa
forest where the
infamous Boko Haram
terrorist group pitched
some of their camps was
one hell of a bumpy ride into a thickset of arid
forests that characterize
the savannah region. Bumpy, jarring and
dangerous as the bush paths
were, the tour of the sacked
camps provided anyone
with the trained eye of a
reporter, a great deal of insight on the true colour
and character of the so-called
Islamic Jihadists.
The Sambisa forest, which
they turned into a recruiting
ground and operational base
is a vast expanse of nature,
which was designated
'Games Reserve' by government. The intention
was to keep, protect and
preserve our priced species
of wild animals and other
elements of nature in their
natural habitat. As it has turned out, the Games
Reserve now seemed to
have been reserved for a
band of misguided blood-
thirsty fiends who slip in and
out of the belly of the forest to wreak havoc in the
northern part of Nigeria. Without doubt, Boko
Haram's violent campaign in
Nigeria since its emergence
has carved out a bloody
trajectory, etching its gory
sense of agitation in our wounded hearts and leaving
the rest of humanity
outraged. What manner of
shocking violence has the
Boko Haram group not
visited on Nigerians since their violent campaigns?
From bombing innocent
worshippers in the sanctuary
of their churches and
mosques to beheading of
defenceless citizens, kidnapping women and
children and detonating
Improvised Explosive
Devices(IEDs) in workplaces;
name it, they have carried it
out in Nigeria. Their campaign of violence has so
far claimed over 3000
innocent lives yet they are
baying for more blood of
fellow Nigerians!
Known for their defiant
posture and grim
determination to hold on to
actualize their nihilist agenda,
the terrorist group stepped
up its intransigence by actually sacking institutions
of government in a number
of communities in Borno
state. The so-called Jihadists,
who claim to be fighting on
behalf of Islam, took over communities and forcibly
conscripted young men into
their fighting force and made
women - their sex slaves!
They violated Nigeria's
sovereignty, burnt her flag and hoisted theirs, strutting
around those hapless
communities like an all-
conquering force. That was
before their nemesis arrived. On proclamation of state of
emergency in Borno, Yobe
and Adamawa States by the
President and Commander-in-
Chief, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan,
the Special Forces of the Nigerian military moved in
and dislodged the devils
from their camps; the troops
are currently 'sweeping the
forest clean'.
As our escort vehicles
meandered through the
forest path to reach the
sacked camps, the gory sight
and eerie feeling that now
characterize the desecrated grove was inescapable. The
first thing that assaulted our
sensibilities was the sight of
charred vehicles,
refrigerators, sewing
machines, coolers and such other items, which were
apparently stolen by the
terrorists. We were told that
as the terrorists retreated,
they destroyed any item
they could not run with. Then we saw fresh shallow
graves of gang members
who were summarily
executed by their kingpins.
We stumbled severally on
strange stuff, which bespoke the true colour and character
of our so-called Jihadists. In
almost all the camps we
visited, we saw countless
number of syringes, hand
gloves and test tubes obviously for administering
narcotic drugs; also scattered
in their camps were used and
unused condoms! In fact one
of my colleagues couldn't
help asking no one in particular, "…so these devils
are even afraid of venereal
disease?" From the accounts of their
victims that were rescued by
troops, the insurgents
repeatedly raped women
they abducted from various
communities. According to one of the rescued children,
"the terrorists are always
injecting themselves with
something after which they
will be behaving abnormally
as if they are in a trance". It is certainly not surprising to
learn that the insurgents
engage in substance abuse to
put them in the right state to
perpetrate the atrocious
crimes they carry out against innocent Nigerians. Indeed,
what could be deadlier than
the combination of drug
intoxication and evil
indoctrination?
It was also gathered that
whilst the kingpins of the
evil association live a life of
luxury in the camps, their
foot soldiers endure
subservient condition with instant death awaiting any
dissenting voice or suspected
mole among the zombie-like
subordinates. Tucked away, therefore,
from the prying eyes of
frightened locals and
outraged country, the
Sambisa forest and other
camps hitherto provided this deranged group a sanctuary
where they met their
various kinds of weird
fantasies, all in the name of
fighting for the Islamisation
of Nigeria. The question is, are these moral degenerates
and blood thirsty fiends
actually fighting on behalf of
Islam? The answer is
certainly no because Islam
abhors all that the terrorist group indulges in or stands
for. Will they win this war
they are waging against
Nigeria? Against, the answer
is resounding no. By Chidi Omeje
http://m.naij.com/news/36945.html |
