Residents recall attacks that placed Nigeria on world terrorism map
problem for us. He was so shocked that he couldn’t lead that eid prayer. It was one of his deputies that led the prayer, and from then we parted ways with him.
“That was how they continued with their lectures here, saying they must overthrow this infidel government. When they held their meetings they never invited us because they knew we were not with them. From the time they had their meeting and came out with their ideology, I parted ways with him and we’ve never had anything good again,” Aujara said.
Aujara recalled that on one Sunday when they planned to strike by 3am, many of their followers from different states converged on Wudil and Al-Jasawi stationed them at different locations, including the police station they intended to attack.
“Many people moved their families from the area. I also moved my family to another location because we didn’t know what they were up to. The following day, our chairman, who accommodated Malam in his house, met me early in the morning, saying that since the parents of this man had put him under our care, we should inform them of what was happening before it got out of hand. So, on Monday he brought his car and three of us went to Bebeji, where we met his parents and told them what was going on and that they should come and take their son as we could no longer control him. We did not know that that early morning they had launched their attack already,’’ he recounted.
Another resident of the area, Muhammad Nura, told Daily
Trust on Sunday that the scholar stayed briefly at Sabon-Gari Arewa in Wudil before he relocated to Sabon-Gari Kudu, where he spent eight years preaching and impacting knowledge on people, especially youths and children.
He said, “From my little understanding, Al-Jasawi wanted to become a leader. That was why he relocated to Sabon-Gari Kudu when he realised that he could not get what he wanted in SabonGari Arewa. When he first arrived at Sabon-Gari Arewa, he tried to become the imam of one of the mosques in the area, but the people managing the mosque and some other worshippers resisted.
“After he spent sometime there without achieving his objectives, he relocated to Sabon-Gari Kudu, where he was appointed an imam of a community mosque. He was a nice and kind scholar. When it came to the issue of knowledge, Al-Jasawi was vast in almost all fields of Islamic jurisprudence; there is no doubt about this,” he said.
Another resident, Auwal Ibrahim Wudil, recounted his experience regarding the first attack by Boko Haram members in the area. He said it was a terrible experience that one would not wish to witness again. “When I first heard about an attack on the Divisional Police Office in wudil, I could not believe it because I never expected such thing to happen in this area,’’ he said.
Also recounting their ordeal, Alhaji Ibrahim Sanusi said that residents of the area were so terrified by the attack that it took them sometime to regain their senses. He recalled that many residents relocated their families, especially women and children, to other areas for a very long time before they brought them back to their respective homes after normalcy returned to the area.
Our correspondent, who visited the area, observed that all the houses that were demolished during the crisis have been reconstructed and
Sheikh AlJasawi, the leader of the group in the area and national deputy to the late Yusuf in charge of Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states, was said to have coordinated the attack
occupied by their owners. Also, the Divisional Police Office that was attacked by the insurgents is currently wearing a new look following a total rehabilitation work by the state government.
However, the community mosque, where Al-Jasawi was leading other Muslim worshipers in prayer, and the house where he stayed, have not been re-constructed. While the land where the mosque was built is left open, the house was only fenced by the owner, Alhaji Lajawa.
While Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states are synonymous with the activities of Boko Haram, very few people are aware that the first place that witnessed violence in 2009 was Bauchi.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the first place Boko Haram launched an attack on July 26, 2009 was at the Dutsen Tanshi police station, about 6am. The station was attacked twice.
Residents of the area said that on that day, after they came out from the mosque they saw a group of youths. One of the youths around the Dutsen Tanshi police station said they were out for a comprehensive jihad against the authorities and their collaborators, who connived to deliberately destroy Islamic values in the society by unconsciously turning Muslims to infidels.
He said the police and Army responded to the shootings and over 40 people were killed on that day. The station was destroyed while many residents left their houses for safety.
It was gathered that the Dutsen Tanshi episode alerted the police, along with the military to cordon all the suspected abodes of the carefully knit sect in Bauchi, which led to a shootout that left dozens dead, as well as many injured, including a soldier. A large number of them were also arrested. Some of the items brought along with the arrested persons included military uniforms, live ammunition, locally made explosives, daggers and other locally made weapons.
Another major attack was at the Federal Prison in Bauchi, where they freed all their members in detention. Apart from Bauchi city, Boko Haram attack was reported in Alkaleri, Azare, Ganjuwa, Darazo and other parts of the state.