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[size=14pt]Chibok girls: Govt drops swap deal for ceasefire[/size]

Posted by: Yusuf Alli, Abuja


in Featured, News

May 27, 2014

We know where girls are but can’t use force, says Defence chief

AFTER rejecting a prisoner swap deal with Boko Haram, the Federal Government is pushing for ceasefire as part of the ongoing back-door talks for the release of the abducted schoolgirls, The Nation learnt yesterday.

The government, according to sources, is tinkering with releasing “soft” detainees arrested in connection with Boko Haram activities.

But it was learnt that the sect is yet to respond to the ceasefire proposal, fueling fears that the two parties may be set for a long battle.

The government is believed to be asking the facilitators of the back-door talks to tell Boko Haram to accept a ceasefire.

The source said: “The thrust of the ongoing back-door talks is just for the sect members to lay down their arms and release the abducted girls. The government wants ceasefire from Boko Haram.

“We are still talking. The Federal Government is rubbing minds with Boko Haram contacts.”

Responding to a question, the source added: “There was no time President Goodluck Jonathan agreed to the swapping of Boko Haram members with the girls. This position has not changed as I am talking to you.

“Only soft detainees like wives, children, brothers, sisters and uncles of Boko Haram members, may be released, in line with the rules of engagement.

“So far, we do not know their attitude to the ceasefire demand; they are yet to get back to us.”

It was gathered that the military may take delivery of three surveillance aircraft to assist in the search for the abducted girls.

A military source added: “All what we are doing is still surveillance of suspected areas or camps where the girls are purportedly held hostage.

“The US, the UK, France and others have been assisting in the surveillance, which is a 24-hour business along Sambisa Forest axis, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Mali borders. The troops on ground are still within the fringes of Sambisa Forest.

“As part of plans to strengthen the operation in the Northeast, the military will soon get delivery of three surveillance aircraft.”

[b]A British newspaper published on Sunday that the schoolgirls, who were kidnapped on April 15, would have regained their freedom by now but President Goodluck Jonathan called off a prisoner swap deal with Boko Haram at the last minute. The Mail on Sunday said a Nigerian journalist, Ahmad Salkida — who reportedly fled to the United Arab Emirates last year following threats to his life on account of his closeness to the militants — was said to have been appointed by both the government and the extremists to broker an agreement for the release of the girls in exchange for Boko Haram members in detention.

“Sources in the Nigerian capital Abuja described how Shekau had agreed to bring the girls out of their forest camps in the remote northeast of the country in the early morning and take them to a safe location for the prisoner swap,” the paper wrote.

“They would have been dropped off in a village, one group at a time, and left there while their kidnappers disappeared. There was to be a signal to a mediator at another location to bring in the prisoners.” Curiously, the federal government was only expected to release 100 “non-combatant, low-level sympathisers” of Boko Haram, rather than commanders and foot soldiers, the newspaper reported.

About 2000 Boko Haram members are said to be in detention. Accused of being a Boko Haram sympathiser, the Borno-born journalist has always insisted he only maintains a “professional relationship” with certain members of the group whom he knew long before it became violent. However, he was reportedly persuaded by the president’s aides to embark on a “secretive and dangerous” trip home to meet Shekau, after the president “personally signed a letter of indemnity” protecting him from arrest by security agents. But while attending the May 17, 2014 Paris terrorism summit with leaders of four African countries and representatives of the European Union, United Kingdom, and the United States, Jonathan called home to halt the deal, the paper said. The about-face, it is believed, has angered Shekau, raising fears that the girls might now be endangered.

“The next video we see from the terrorists could show the girls being killed one by one,” The Mail on Sunday quoted an intelligence source as saying. The turnaround may as well spell the end of any peace deal with Boko Haram, as Salkida is about the group’s most-trusted and unbiased go-between with the Federal Government.

“He is probably the only civilian with access to Shekau. There is trust between them and Salkida had only one aim — to get the schoolgirls out,” the source said. “He reported afterwards that the group of girls he saw were alive and well, and being adequately fed and sheltered. They told him all they wanted was to go home.” Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati was quoted by the newspaper as saying he was not aware of any attempted rescue plan.

The BBC also reported that a deal for the release of some of the schoolgirls was close to being secured when the government called it off.

Some of the girls were set to be freed in exchange for imprisoned Islamist militants, reports the BBC’s Will Ross.

But the government cancelled the planned agreement shortly before the swap was due to take place.

The reasons for the withdrawal are unclear.

It came just after President Jonathan attended a meeting in Paris hosted by President Francois Hollande of France where leaders said they had agreed a “global and regional action plan” against Boko Haram.[/b]

The girls, who were mainly Christian, were taken from their school in Chibok, in  Borno State and are thought to be held in the Sambisa forest, close to the border with Chad and Cameroon.

Do you agree for Amnesty to Boko Haram as proposed by some politicians and religious leaders?

If you read my last interviews with Abul Qaqa, he has always said that if
amnesty means forgiveness then they are the ones that should forgive
government for the wrong done to them in 2009. According to them many
Nigerians don’t see what they undergo instead it is only what they do that
is easily shown in the media. And I think issues as sensitive as amnesty
suppose to have been tabled first through a trusted mediator who has access to the leadership of the sect before you take it to the media. The sect as I understand heard about the amnesty on the pages of newspapers. Abang, how would you feel if you heard about your marriage proposition with a man from a third party and not from the man? I think you will feel irritated at best.

State Governor, Isa Yuguda has said, Political Boko Haram behind rejection of Amnesty, do you agree?

The question Mallam Shekau  has spoken on the amnesty. Is he the political Boko Haram?

How many types of Boko Haram Groups do we currently have? As Isa Yuguda has said there is political Boko Haram.

Of course there are many elements that hide under the cover of the group to carry out all kinds of atrocities. There are some that were once members but they have been cut off by the main group but I don’t believe there is any faction. Abdulaziz that is in contact with the Borno Government
insisted that he is speaking on behalf of Mallam Shekau even when Shekau
denied that, he never called himself a factional leader. Even the Ansaru
remained imaginary to me, because one of the main criteria for any Jihadi armed group is to have an Amir, leader. So who is the leader of any of these factions? At least many will know the leader and his antecedent when he was a loyal follower of late Mohammed Yusuf or Shekau?

What is that one thing you believe is driving the Boko Haram ideology and how committed are they?

The state of lawlessness and injustice have not changed in Nigeria for many decades now and it serves as the pillar for the ideology of resistance.
They are committed and believe without doubts that they are God’s warriors.

You once said the way out of the conflict is for a trusted and independent body to ferry moderate clerics to a third friendly country with the leadership of Boko Haram… Are you speaking the mind of the sect? Because they (Boko Haram) had requested former head of state Muhammadu Buhari, to lead the peace deal to hold in Saudi Arabia?

First of all, the sect never said Buhari should be a mediator or mentioned
going to Saudi. It is the same Abdulaziz group that declared ceasefire that
made the pronouncement on Buhari and co. When they called me to dispatch this same message to the media, I asked the caller several questions about who he was and why haven’t the sect reached me through the usual source. He could not give me answers so he called ignorant journalists that spread his message like wild fire. I am sorry to say this, if the sect knows where to find General Buhari (someone I respect a lot) they will make an attempt on his life. To them, any retired and servicing soldier, police, politician or civil servant is an infidel that deserves to be killed. So how can the same sect with such an ideology listen to General Buhari, the Governor of Borno State or any other politician or the Sultan? The average member of this sect see all these people whether they are muslims or not as ‘living corpses’. For God sake have we not been listening to this people in the last couple of years?. Am I the only one listening to them? It seems the
sect have been more consistent with their message than the Federal and
state governments involved in this conflict.

Your second question about going to a third friendly nation to have an
ideological debate with the sect. For me, I will always maintain that since
this is a problem of doctrine then it must be tackled through a coherent,
profound counter doctrine. There has not been any concrete ideological
intervention by the appropriate authorities only military intervention. If
the sect members say the Qur’an allows them to kill Christians and fellow Muslim security agents, politicians, teachers, vaccinators and opposing clerics. I think it is wise for Muslims that disagree with them to
understand their arguments clearly and bring a superior one to counter it,
and I don’t think you can hold such a debate before the eyes of the JTF. It
can best be done with the assurances of a third friendly nation whom the
sect can trust and the clerics of this nation may serve along side other
international clerics as arbiters. I think such an informal dialogue will
not only make us understand the reasons of this conflict but what is
feeding it and it will provide us with the best possible way to approach
dialogue or amnesty.

President Goodluck Jonathan did describe Boko Haram as a “Ghost” when he visited Borno.. do you agree they are ghosts?

They are human beings like us. I told you about my contact with many of
them. So am I in contact with ghosts? When I single-handedly facilitated
the Dr. Datti Ahmed’s attempts to dialogue by the special Grace of God, did I have meetings with ghosts? Do Nigerians believe in ghosts?

Who is the true and real leader of Boko Haram?

The sect has always had one leader and nobody within the group or outside
the group has ever disputed that

What do you make of the killings of innocent women and children by the Boko Haram sect?

It is shameful and sad!

Do you think the Nigerian Government is prepared to put to an end the insurgency in the North?

How they will do that remains to be seen

What is your biggest regret?

Our leaders that are responsible in resolving this conflict are too arrogant to learn and study their opponent. You can only solve a problem if you understand in the first place, and so far, all I see in the media and amongst religious and political leaders is a fatal guessing game and Nigerians continue to die in their ignorance

What is your recommendation for the security agencies and the sect to bring about sustainable peace?

The sect must understand that Islam teaches Muslims that forgiveness is the highest level of strength while revenge is the highest level of weakness.

Our Leaders must also be truthful to Nigerians and deal with these security
challenges without bringing in the usual corruption they employ in every
facet of our national life, at least they should know that human lives are
involved here.

The Conservations series spotlights a freelance Journalist, Ahmad Salkida
who has extensively covered the radical Islamic sect. He talks about his
relationship with Boko Haram, ties with the late Leader, Mohammed Yusuf  and how the Boko Haram sect have been more consistent with their message than the Federal Government.

You are the only Nigerian, publicly known to have direct links to the leadership of Boko Haram in your line of duty as a journalist. Therefore, who is Ahmad Salkida?

I am from Biu Local Government Area in what is now the troubled Borno
State. I grew up in that peaceful and homogenous part of Nigeria. I was
born a Christian from a Christian family, and as a young primary school
pupil in the early 80’s I would sneak into gardens and climb Mango or
cashew trees while my mates were in school. To me then, the school system
was an infringement on my understanding of personal liberty. I feel, if someone has the capacity to learn in a few months or years why subject the person to six (6) years primary school, six (6) years secondary education and four (4) years in the university. However, I read many of my mother’s novels. She had hundreds if not thousands of books. I managed to go to several schools to please my parents but I ended up not writing the
secondary school leaving exams. But I was a teacher to many of my friends
and peers at the time, and I helped dozens of graduates with their final
year project work. I knew within me that I can be a good writer, a good
researcher and a good investigative journalist but that was tantamount to
wishing for the impossibility since everyone had to go to school to achieve
that. I also had an obsession to leave Nigeria to Europe or America to live
my dreams at a very early age. In the 90’s, when my mates were in the
university, I was briefly a Marxist, a free thinker and in 1997 I finally
embraced the Islamic faith on my own volition. At that time I had two (2)
completed manuscripts which my mentor, late Dr. Jibrin Bala Mohammed, an associate professor in journalism encouraged me to write.

In early 2000 I moved to Abuja with the hope that I could get a publisher
for my books. I was sent out of my relative’s house because they feared
that I could convert their son to Islam. So I got a job as a night guard in
Wuse Zone 2. In the night I worked as ‘Mai guard’ while in the day time I
was called a brilliant and aspiring writer. It was at that point that I met
Obiora Chukwumba through Uche Ezechukwu, two wonderful Igbo gentlemen and one of Nigeria ‘s finest set of journalists that I always remain thankful to. Obiora, the pioneer managing editor of Insider Weekly Magazine gave me my first job in February 2001 as a reporter, after a few reporting assignments I did for Uche. I did not present the usual smart curriculum vitae; mine was just a Primary School Certificate but Obiora believed that information that is unique and refreshing from someone like me was more valuable than
the frequent parading of cute ivory tower diplomas that offer so much ego
and polish with no substance. I worked as a reporter for several newspapers
in Abuja and Maiduguri.

I didn’t have a degree like many of my colleagues therefore I could not
afford to wait for press releases and interviews. I was always looking for
scoops or doing my development reporting to survive the competition with graduates in the news room. I was trained most especially by Obiora that
every major news outbreak frequently starts as a signal which is most often
ignored, sometimes even by acclaimed journalist. As a reporter for Uche
Ezechukwu’s New Sentinel  in 2006 I pleaded with Emmanual Yawe, the
managing editor to see the news value of my first interview with late
Mohammed Yusuf. I was eager to tell the world the influence he was having
on thousands of youths in the area.

Two parents had earlier approached me in my area to talk to their kids
about their new found obsession with the teachings of late Mohammed Yusuf
that made many youths to abandon school or resign from civil service, etc.
I was seen by many, though not as a role model for education, but for hard
work and commitment to whatever I set to achieve in life. I began to write
exclusively on the sect and painstakingly built and developed a network of invaluable sources within the group.

In 2009, you were exiled from Maiduguri to Abuja by the then Borno State governor Ali Modu Sherrif. What was your offense?

First of all, I was not the favorite of my colleagues in the Government
House Press corps and I could count the number of times I visited the
government house as a reporter in the state. I worked alone and focused
mainly on development stories for the Daily Trust from July 2007. I was
close to late Mohammed Yusuf by then. Obviously, I was the only journalist
he knew very well. Whenever I was free from work I would attend one of his
preaching sessions. Of course many Muslims do that especially if you are
the type that always seeks knowledge. During the sect’s major altercation
with a special security outfit setup by Ali Modu Sheriff that led to the
shooting of twenty (20) sect members I was given exclusive access by the
sect to the victims by their leader, my reports were very detailed and
different. I also reported severally for the Daily Trust about the build up
to the war by the sect but I guess that crisis in July 2009 was never meant
to be prevented by the government of President Umar Yar’adua. When the
crisis broke I was the only reporter who could go into the sect’s enclave,
even security agents were eager to hear from me what I saw when the sect
held sway for over three (3) days. On Tuesday the 29th of  July I received
a call from late Mohammed Yusuf to meet him in the afternoon of that day
for an important interview. As a journalist I felt I should inform the
authorities. I met the Commissioner of Police in the state, Christopher
Dega. I was in his office that morning and he referred me to his deputy
commissioner. In the office of the deputy commissioner and in the presence of the commander of Mobile Police unit, one Ahmadu and James Bwala, a reporter with Tribune newspaper I told them about my intention to interview the sect leader and I said I just wanted them to be aware. James was courageous enough and volunteered to follow me but he was discouraged by the officers. I also complained of harassment by the Mobile Police and soldiers during the course of my work and the senior officers assured me that they will send a radio message for me to be allowed to do my work. I left the police headquarters and headed to my house. I needed to tell my wife about the risk I was going to take. At then, the banks were closed and I was surprised to see the famous Oasis Bakery in Maiduguri selling bread in the middle of a war. Sadly I had only fourty (40) naira on me which could not buy a loaf of bread then I saw my childhood friend and school mate Umar Kadafur, who was the serving chairman of my local government area going into the government house I followed him and when I was standing with my friend and playfully struggling with him to give me some money, one
Yusuf in the office of the director of press dragged me into the office of
the Chief Security Officer to the Governor, insisting that the governor’s
aide wanted to see my face for the first time. The aide wanted to know from
me why I did not shave my beards and lower my trousers below the ankle to
avoid the wrath of the security agents. I then, told him that it was wrong
for security agents to brand innocent people that wear beards as Boko Haram and often times killing people on account of that. He, also asked me
whether or not I was abducted by the sect members for a while and released.
I put the record straight that, I only ran into a mob together with the current chairman of the NUJ in the state Abba Kakami and thereafter I was left off the hook when the sect members were convinced that the brown apron
I was wearing carried an inscription of Daily Trust and also one of the sect unit commanders recognized me. Sadly for me, the CSO did not like my guts and my style of reporting. In the presence of one Hayatudeen Mohammed, a permanent secretary in the state, he ordered for my arrest, calling my
crime ‘counter intelligence.’ At the Government House I was assaulted by
the mobile Police Constable Sani Abubakar, I was made to lie down with my face down instantly I urinated in my pants when two mobile police men contemplated who was going to pull the trigger.

Thank God I am alive today. I clearly heard the CSO ordering the police not
to shoot me at the government House that “Oga” does not want to see a
corpse here. Surprising till today none of the nearly twenty (20) reporters
present at the scene reported how I was assaulted instead they all reported
thereafter that I was treated well and that I was held in protective custody for my safety.

I was then driven to the Police Headquarters in the state where I was kept in a cell with fifty eight (58) others. After spending thirty (30) hours in the cell and about forty eight (48) hours without food or water. I was
then allowed to wash up the urine that had dried up on my pants and
relieved myself of my running stomach. My cell mates, some of whom were members of the sect while some are innocent bystanders were being called out and executed one by one, everyone was waiting for his turn.

Well to be fair to Daily Trust and the NUJ, they pleaded for my release. I
think that was where the first mistake happened, if they were sure that I
am a journalist they should have condemned my arrest and detention and demanded my release and demand even an apology. To have entered a plea on my behalf was like making a submission of guilt on my part, which created a lot of doubts to many persons and made me to lose interest in everything around me. For me, I believe three things helped me; Christopher Dega, the commissioner of police (who is alive today) was reluctant to carry out the order to execute me, a mole within the Boko Haram had also confirmed my story that I am just a journalist, and I learnt recently that the then Deputy Governor Adamu Dibal worked tirelessly to plead for my life from Ali Modu Sheriff. I was then ordered to leave my state immediately for my own safety by the Borno State Government.

Tell me about your relationship with Mohammed Yusuf who founded Boko Haram in 2002 and was its spiritual leader until he was killed in 2009.

He heard about me through one of his students. According to late Mohammed
Yusuf my life story and how I met and married my wife within 5 days was
remarkable to him. He invited me to his house several times, we ate
together and kept in touch. He tolerated me so well that he told me not to book an appointment anytime I wanted to see him for anything. I was a
frequent guest to his house with my miget asking questions and I later
asked him if he will allow me to write a book on his activities, he said
yes. I became known to many of his lieutenants and I was not surprised when late Mohammed Yusuf asked me to work with the Public Affairs unit of his sect to setup an Al Mizzan style newspaper which he wanted me to be editor.

At first I was so excited but my wife cautioned me and I later insisted on
three (3) things: (a) that I wanted total editorial control (b) that I must
introduce columnists that do not share his ideology (c) and I wanted to be
a partner in the project. He never got back to me on that but our relationship remained very cordial.

On the day I was arrested Tuesday 29th July 2009 he desperately wanted to
see me few days later he was captured and executed by several mobile police
men behind my detention room along side many other youths and his followers.

Do you think the extra-judicial killing of Mohammed Yusuf led to the insurgency by the Boko Haram group?

I think the extra-judicial killing of their leader is symbolic because it
served as a proof to the hundreds of sect members and other innocent
bystanders that were picked up since 2009 till date and executed in the
same manner late Yusuf was killed. Apparently extra-judicial killings have
never stopped till date. If independent minded investigative journalists
will be allowed to operate in the state they will reveal mass graves of
thousands of youths some of them women and children killed in cold blood in Maiduguri. Many have taken arms today not necessarily because they subscribe to the ideology of the sect but because of the despair they find themselves occasioned by the abuse of the rule of law and the constant denial of any form of injustice by the security agencies even in the face of documentary evidence.

As one who understands the issues around the sect, Is the Boko Haram Sect linked to Algeria’s Al Qaeda?

Yes, they are in touch and in some kind of partnership and collaborations,
and I think that relationship is growing.

Shehu Sani, a human right activist said you can call for a truce between government and the Boko Haram sect.. why you?

I can’t speak for Shehu Sani but what I know is only God can bring an end
to this crisis and no one person with access can do it. If government is
not committed and sincere what ever access a person has will be lost. I
also want to say here categorically that the sect have always shown
readiness to talk whenever I approached them but the people in government, I sense have frequently laid up too much confidence in their ability to subdue the insurgents militarily. You see total lack of enthusiasm and absorbing obsession with pecuniary interests. Moreover, top politicians seem not to find it acceptable that the purveyor of such strategic mediatory offers was me. Last year we were in the middle of developing a blueprint for action to resolving this whole mess that if government can release unconditionally women and children in various detention locations and treat the detained in a civilized manner for all to see, the sect may consider a partial ceasefire where unarmed civilians will be spared. The
government officials stone walled, arguing that there were no women and
children in detention, the  window collapsed. So, I was helpless.

You have extensively covered the conflict between the government and Islamist sect Boko Haram, is  your life under threat?

My life has always been on the line since 2009. It is not easy dealing with
the insurgents as a journalist, not every thing they give you can be news
and the slightest change in your report by your editor who does not know
how erratic they can be to you, that may cause you, your life. The same
thing with the authorities who always wanted me to report only what they
want Nigerians to know. I have been invited severally by top security
officials to be wired during some of my interviews in order to arrest them.
I was put under a lot of pressure to betray my sources. My refusal to do
any of these things therefore was interpreted by many as unpatrotism and cold complicity. I can assure you it has never been the same for me and my family after my arrest in 2009. My first daughter who is 10 years old once
came home in 2010 to say some kids will not play with her because their
parents told them her father was Boko Haram. Before 2009 I was an
attractive bride in journalism in the North but in the last few years I
could no longer get proper employment (in cases where I get the chance rivalry and suspicion trail my everyday activities) many media houses have suddenly realised that I am not a graduate and my nearly 13 years journalism experience no longer count in giving me proper employment that is in itself a threat to a husband and a father to four kids.

Why did you flee Nigeria for the United Arab Emirates, Dubai?

I think the revelation that I came to the UAE was a mistake on the part of
my colleagues. Since the threat to my life intensified after my article on
the questionable ceasefire declared by one Abdulaziz (whom Abubakar Shekau has disowned) in February 2013, it became absolutely necessary for me to flee. I cannot remain in Nigeria just because God saved my life several times. I have to flee not to seek asylum but as a law abiding citizen of
the world and open a grocery shop and support my family whom I feel I have
exposed a lot with the constant trauma I caused them as a result of my work
as a reporter in Nigeria.

You once said the government’s security agents have accused you of being a member of the sect, again I ask, are you a Boko Haram member?

Even as a child in the 80’s I have seen a lot of misgivings towards me. The
moment my parents and every senior member of my community realized my
disdain for formal education they lashed at me. People believe that every
person must go to school to succeed in life, no one thinks that by learning
handcraft or any other skill acquisition you can succeed. I was stigmatized
and many parents would warn their kids not to come close to me. Also as a
young convert to Islam in the 90’s till date, I experienced all kinds of
stigma by many Christians, of course many Muslims will react violently if
some one renounces the Islamic faith but both violence and stigma can kill
or break any person. Also as a journalist, I have seen a lot of violence
and stigma because of my rare professional access to a dreaded sect and to many, this is wrong, they want me to work like any other journalist who depends on press releases by the Joint Task Force (setup by government to curb terrorism in Nigeria) to report the crisis. My exclusives was never
seen by many as a journalistic feat instead all I would get are mere unfounded allegations of being one of them. I don’t believe in violence. Every Sunday I pray that my mother who is always among the first to go to church will come back home alive and safe. To answer your question directly, I am not
a member of Boko Haram and never will be.

[size=14pt]Nigerian Journalist, Ahmad Salkida with Access to Boko Haram Flown Home to Negotiate with Group[/size]


From UK Daily Mail

Ahmad Salkida, a Nigerian journalist who previously worked for Daily Trust and Premium Times and reported extensively on Boko Haram, fled Nigeria to Dubai 2 years ago after being accused of being a Boko Haram sympathizer. He said he fled after ‘his life and that of his family became endangered’ after security agencies began to mistake his in-depth reporting on the terrorist group as evidence of his closeness to them.

Salkina went underground for several weeks before finally fleeing Nigeria. Salkida was perhaps the only Nigerian journalist/civilian to have access to Boko Haram, and he said at the time that he’d turned down Boko Haram’s many requests for him to publish exclusive interviews and materials for them.

Nigerian government flew  Ahmad Salkida back home a few weeks ago to negotiate with Boko Haram on their behalf, since he’s the only civilian who has allegedly seen Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and come out alive.

See Mr. Salkida's tweets below

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https://www.jaguda.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/12.png


One hundred non-combatant, low-level sympathisers were to be freed and the two groups brought together in a convoy of buses accompanied by a hand-picked go-between, respected Nigerian journalist Ahmad Salkida.

The plan had been agreed in tortuous negotiations in response to worldwide outrage over a night-time raid on a school in the town of Chibok on April 14 when the girls were abducted from their dormitories.

Mr Salkida was born in Borno State, where Boko Haram originated. He has known its leaders all his life and has unprecedented access.

He has been arrested on several occasions accused of being a Boko Haram sympathiser, and he fled with his family to Dubai two years ago.

But two weeks ago, he was summoned out of exile by President Jonathan’s aides. He initially feared he might face arrest, but was then given a letter of indemnity signed by the President when he flew to Nigeria.

Sources said Mr Salkida was able to travel by taxi to the group’s forest camp to talk to Shekau two weeks ago. ‘His mission was secretive and dangerous,’ they said.

He is probably the only civilian with access to Shekau. There is trust between them and Salkida had only one aim – to get the schoolgirls out.

He reported afterwards that the group of girls he saw were alive and well, and being adequately fed and sheltered. They told him all they wanted was to go home.

Salkida’s mission was complicated by the chaos surrounding government’s pronouncements about negotiations with the terrorist group.

Shekau has released two shocking videos showing the girls dressed in hijabs and reciting verses from the Koran.

[size=14pt]Boko Haram from the beginning[/size]

By Our Reporter on May 18, 2014

COVER

Ahmad Salkida, a former journalist with the Daily Trust, was with the Boko Haram sect from inception and had a close relationship with the sect’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf. Accused of being a Boko Haram accomplice, Salkida was detained and almost got killed in the clash between the Boko Haram and security agencies in 2009 during which the sect leader was captured and later killed in police custody. This article written in 2009 by Salkida, who is now believed to be on exile, gave an insight into the evolution of the Boko Haram group. He also made reference to Abubakar Shekau who later emerged the sect’s leader after Yusuf.

I have closely followed the activities of the Boko Haram sect. In fact, I was invited by the late Mohammed Yusuf at that period to establish and head an Al-mizzan styled newspaper for him. However, in the course of our delibera­tions, I tabled the following issues that set us apart: I wanted to be partner in the project. I wanted editorial freedom to edit out anything I may find inciting the public in the publication and I wanted to introduce a regular column that totally disagrees with his ideology.

I think my conditions, at a time when I hadn’t any gainful employment, shocked the prospective investor who thought any budding journalist would rush at the opportunity to become an editor-in-chief especially of a promising paper, on account of the large followership and the group’s loyalty to their Imam.

However, my relationship with the late Mohammed Yusuf continued as he visited me when I lost my eight-month-old son who died of malaria. Perhaps, he saw me partially as one of his students and partially as a dissenter due to my independent disposition. But to be fair to him, I admire his depth of knowledge, oratorical prowess and apparent will­ingness to emulate Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

In early 2002, Yusuf was seen by many as a likely heir to the renowned the late Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam in Maidu­guri on account of his brilliance and closeness to the late renowned scholar. But all that changed shortly when one late Mohammed Alli approached the late Yusuf with reasons to boycott democ­racy, civil service and western oriented schools. The late Yusuf then disengaged his service with the Yobe State Govern­ment.

Then, in a 2006 press release signed by the sect’s Shura (Consultative) Council, they stated that Islam permits them to subsist under a modern government like Nigeria but has explicitly prohibited them from joining or supporting such governments in so far as their systems, structures and institutions contain elements contradictory to core Islamic principles and beliefs.

The Alli argued that the sect must em­bark on Hijra (migration), but Yusuf de­clined and Alli proceeded to Kanamma in Yobe with his faction, and one thing led to another. The group launched an in­surgent attack on the police that resulted in the loss of many lives and property in Kanamma and later in Gwoza in Borno State. The insurgents, a renegade group that called itself ‘Taliban’, led by Alli, fiercely disagreed with the late Yusuf and many of the escapees later returned to Yusuf.

Unlike Alli, Yusuf went on undeterred, though he was prevented from preach­ing in several mosques and was denied TV/radio appearances in the state. But he set up a preaching outlet in the front of his house at the railway quarters and at Angwan Doki, Millionaires’ Quarters among others. The demand for his tapes increased by the day all over the North and the proceeds therefrom increased tremendously. He then asked his land­lord and in-law, the late Baba Fugu Mo­hammed to allow him to build a mosque, which he named Ibn Taimiyya Masjid.

It was in Ibn Taimiyya Masjid that the late Yusuf, together with his hard-line top lieutenant, Abubakar Shekau alias ‘Darul Tauhid,’ began to build an imagi­nary state within a state. Together they set up Laginas (departments). They had a cabinet, the Shura, the Hisbah, the bri­gade of guards, a military wing, a large farm, an effective micro finance scheme, and the late Yusuf played the role of a judge in settling disputes. Each state had an Amir (leader) including Amirs in Chad and Niger that gave accounts of their stewardship to Yusuf directly.

The sect led by Yusuf took advantage of the poor quality of our education­al system, the incessant strikes, cult activities, widespread malpractice and prostitution that is made worse with no offer of jobs after graduation to whee­dle many youth to abandon school and embrace Yusuf’s new and emerging state that promises to offer them a better alternative.

The late Yusuf also took advantage of the irresponsible leadership at all levels of government with unemployment, pov­erty, corruption and insecurity becoming the order of the day. And as he points out such failures, citing verses of the Qur’an and the sayings of the Prophet, the youth see him as the leader that will indeed deliver them from malevolence to the Promised Land.

In my write-up of February 28, 2009 in the Sunday Trust I wrote about the sect, where I alerted the general public about the sect’s total disregard for civil obe­dience. The report in question warned that to disregard the simmering cauldron “smells like rebellion…and it will be irre­sponsible of any authority to wait for the occurrence of violence before it acts in the face of impending threat to law and order.” In subsequent reports and during my interactions with senior security agents, I did not only predict the crisis but hinted on the strategy of the sect. But typical of investigative journalism, instead of these revelations to catch the attention of the relevant agencies, their attention was shifted on how to frame me. Apparently, the plan was never to prevent a crisis but to allow it to occur.

However, in fairness to the govern­ment of Borno State that is living witness to the unruly behaviour of the sect and its extreme dislike for government insti­tutions, the state government like other governments in northern Nigeria saw the need to halt this nuisance in their states. They were alarmed that the sect that started with a handful of people is hitting the 7-digit mark and one day (if not very soon) the likelihood that the sect may determine the politics of the land cannot be dismissed.

According to Isa Yuguda, the Gover­nor of Bauchi state in a recent interview with a weekly newspaper, “When the Boko Haram issue came, I sat down and scientifically organised a commando raid on their stronghold. We identified them over a period of time and made sure the Ulamas came and preached against them for two weeks and they in return issued fatwa against the Imams that were preaching against them. We had to attach policemen to the Imams because the Boko Haram people threatened to slaughter them. We planned for them.

“We cordoned off their area around 3a.m. in the morning and phoned my neighbours in Borno and Yobe states about the operation I was going to carry out because their leader was there at that time. After exchanging gunshots for sometime, we smoked them out of their houses. They were fully armed with grenades, machine guns and rocket launchers,” said Yuguda.

Having kept track of political activities in the state, I knew very well that (the then Borno State Governor) Ali Sher­iff, unlike Yuguda, could not afford to strike first, Borno could take anything from him but not an attack on Muslims. However, the government in Borno set up a joint security patrol nicknamed, ‘Operation Flush’ to serve as a constant check on the sect.

As the crisis started in Maiduguri, reporters did the obvious; ‘live and tell the story’ and they stayed mostly in the Government House (GH) and most of them contacted me directly or indirectly to get briefed because I chose to do the ‘unexpected’, which is to ‘risk my life to tell the story.’ Indeed, I took undue risk, which exposed me to the unimaginable that would form the subject of a book I am now writing.

On Tuesday 29th July 2009 when I made a stop at the Borno State Gov­ernment House, a staff of the GH, one Yusuf dragged me into the office of the Chief Security Officer to the Governor, insisting that the governor’s aide wanted to see my face for the first time. The aide wanted to know from me why I did not shave my beard and lower my trousers below the ankle to avoid the wrath (Alas! bullets) of the security agents.

I, then, told him that it is wrong for security agents to brand innocent people that wear beards as Boko Haram and even kill them based on that. In fact, to keep beards, to wear turbans and nisfusaak (trousers above the ankle) are part of the prophet’s Sirah, which was recommended to every Muslim over 1400 years ago, and it is seen as a deeply spiritual task by many Muslims all over the world.

He, also, asked me whether or not I was abducted by the sect members for a while and released. I put the record straight that, I only ran into a mob and thereafter I was let off the hook when they were convinced that the brown apron I was wearing that carried an inscription of Daily Trust had nothing to show that I was a government official.

Sadly for me, the CSO did not like my guts and the fact that I reported the two sides that clearly exposed the Achilles’ heel of his boss. He ordered for my arrest, calling my crime ‘counter intelli­gence.’ At the GH I was assaulted by the mobile police (at the quarter guard post). There, a Police Constable Sani Abuba­kar, held my beards and pulled me to the ground, he kicked my legs to forcefully remove my loafers.

I was made to lie down with my face down. Instantly I urinated in my pants when two mobile policemen contemplat­ed who was going to pull the trigger.

I was then driven to the police head­quarters in the state where I was kept in a cell with 58 others. After spending 30 hours in the cell and about 48 hours without food or water (because, I couldn’t break the fast I was observing upon my arrest), I was then allowed to wash up the urine that had dried up on my pants and relieved myself of the run­ning stomach that became the audible music in our cell as everyone witnessed how cell mates were being called out waiting for his turn.and executed. Everyone was  Surprisingly, none of my colleagues investigated and reported the assault against me, even when some of them searched for me in the crowded cell as I sat without shoes on the floor. Instead, speculations were rife amongst them that indeed I was a Boko Haram member, on account of the following baseless talk: That I wear beards and trousers above my ankle and yet I came from a Christian background and this, to many of them, makes me an extremist. That I was doing fairly well as a journalist in the last ten years with a mere primary school certificate and that makes me a Boko Haram too. That my fair complexioned spouse was a Shuwa Arab and given out to me in marriage by the late Yusuf and finally, they said the late Yusuf had contact­ed some members of the media on two occasions through me in the past.

Now that I no longer carry my youthful goatee and halfway trousers to avoid being branded a terrorist meets your require­ments. However, I want to state here that I am proud of my Christian background as a Muslim because it has afforded me a unique sense of tolerance and impartial view for the need for dialogue that many born Christians and Muslims lack, leading to the kind of mistrusts we see today.

My wife is a very proud Tarok, from Langtang LGA in Plateau state. I met and married her in Abuja in 2002 and never saw Yusuf in her life. Yes, I was perhaps the only journalist known to the late Yusuf on ac­count of what I mentioned earli­er on. But, when has it become illegal to know a public figure who later became a criminal?

I started a career in jour­nalism as a staff reporter with Insider Weekly Magazine, from 2001 to 2002. Thereafter, I had a stint with Crystal Magazine as a Special Projects Editor and later a founding staff with New Senti­nel and freelanced for several media. Currently, I work as a reporter with the Media Trust Limited. I do not posses any formal educational qualification beyond primary school. Howev­er, I was self educated through years of extensive reading of books.

As a primary school pupil in the early 80’s, when the late Yusuf was a little kid himself, I would choose to climb a tree and read a story book while my mates were in school. Some­how I managed to complete my primary school but my disdain to learn in the four square walls of a classroom continued during my secondary school and my father decided to discontinue funding my education.

Although there was an extraordinary effort by the correspondents chapel and the Nigeria Union of Journalists to secure my release but as my wife who is yet to recover from the trauma of that crisis argued, the NUJ should have demanded for my release and outrightly condemn my arrest but instead, they pleaded and pleaded until I was released. This is an admit­tance that indeed one of their own is guilty as alleged and as my wife always said, this allega­tion will hang over my head for the rest of my life.

Recently, when Al-jazeera showed video footage of extra-judicial killings the world became aware of some of our experiences in Maiduguri, and typical of Nigerians, we heard calls for probe. The most disturbing call for probe is the one by the very government that ordered the summary executions in the first place. Can a military or police officer go to town and kill many innocent citizens without an order from above? If this is possible, then it should not be a probe of extra-judicial killings. Instead, government should probe insubordination and total breakdown of law and order amongst security agents leading to numerous deaths. And let us not forget, what happened to the previous probes set up by the federal government? I have a disturb­ing video that confirmed what security agents told me during my arrest. ‘No prison for Boko Haram members, we want them all dead.’ Is it the gover­nor of Borno State that gave such an order or Mr. President that has absolute control over the police and military under the constitution? Oh, ours is a country where the constitution is always disregarded.

Why did they execute Yusuf together with Baba Fugu Mo­hammed and Bugi Foi before any trial? Was it to cover the dirty tracks of undercover agents that worked for years with the late Yusuf, leaving the impression that these two (that are the richest people close to the late Yusuf) funded the uprising? Why are the sophisti­cated guns of Boko Haram that were used to keep Nigeria’s defence forces away from their enclave for three days not dis­played to the public alongside their corpses? What we saw were mostly bow and arrows.

Where is Abubakar Shekau? The police said he died from injuries he sustained during the crisis. Can we believe them after all? They said Yusuf died in a shootout when in fact over 50 mobile policemen shot him behind my detention room, at the armoury right inside the police headquarters. In my opinion, Abubakar Shekau, the second in command of the late Yusuf may be alive.

Over the years, the failure of security agents to prevent crisis that often times leads to loss of lives and property worth billions of naira goes unpunished. We never hear any apology or resignation from political leaders or heads of se­curity agents. The only punish­ment is, erring commissioners of police are transferred to an obscure department of special duties at the Force Headquar­ters in Abuja, as was the case with the commissioners during Boko Haram and the recent Jos crises.

Were it not in a country like Nigeria, where government had failed to provide basic life support for its citizens, the late Yusuf may never have thrived. With a functional environment with opportuni­ties for all, equal justice for all, fairness to all and governance by leaders that are responsi­ble for their people, the rude and retrogressive teachings of the late Yusuf would have not received the attention of about a million followers all over the North. Indeed, Yusuf’s teaching was an abuse of the fact that Algebra, reproductive health and the science of astronomy all had roots in Islam, if indeed it is true that he said boko is haram.

From my interaction with him, he never said boko is haram plainly. In fact, the name Boko Haram came to being during the crisis. What he always said was, as long as anything that contradicts the teachings of Islam (in his own view) exists in the educational system then it is haram to go to that school unless such things cease to exist. As members of the sect realised, they cannot ensure such change, especially in a secular state like ours; they withdrew from schools completely. But I am aware that the late Yusuf had plans to set up a school, a hospital and a market in the future to complement the sect’s micro finance scheme and other Laginas.

Unfortunately, late Yusuf’s teachings that caused crisis and death of hundreds of our gallant security agents and made people like Yusuf to die, contradicts not only Islam  his followers but his very existence. I saw when members of the sect slaughtered a police sergeant, L. Adamu. The policeman pleaded with them that he was never against them and said he was a fellow Muslim, but they slaughtered him like a goat. Was this the reason why the police and military summarily executed the suspected sect members in the same manner the sect did to their colleagues?which he claims to be preaching to

Suffice it to say here that govern­ment should investigate why the sect took up arms against it. What were the issues that led to the armed strug­gle? And what are the chances of recurrence of violence. Government must as a matter of urgency police our porous border because Shekau may be living close by. Government through religious and traditional lead­ers must dialogue with the displaced family members of Boko Haram and ensure that their children all go back to school.

Government must begin to locate them and assure them of a fair trial at home in order not for them to easily fall as fodders to any al-Qaeda ad­vances. Religious institutions like the one headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abuba­kar III should be empowered to be independent and be able to effec­tively regulate and censor religious activities in the country.

•Salkida is a journalist and can be reached at salkida@gmail.com