How Cameroonian Vigilantes Are Aiding Military To Liberate Border Communities
The 150 Cameroonian vigilantes recruited by the Borno State Government to take part in combating Boko Haram insurgents have commenced operations with the Multi National Joint Task Force. And the action is yielding positive results, Daily Trust on Sunday reports.
The Special Adviser to the Borno State Government on Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), Jibril Tela Gunda, a lawyer, who spoke exclusively with Daily Trust on Sunday, disclosed that there was a joint military operation involving the Cameroonians.
“It is a collaborative border patrol agreement between Borno and the Cameroonians to solve the seemingly intractable problem of the insurgents tormenting communities at one side of the border and fleeing to the other.
“The public should understand with us that it has become imperative for us to do so to facilitate and expedite the liberation of communities along the border with neighbouring countries,’’ Gunda said.
Under the rules of engagement, he said the Cameroonians go on operations with the troops of the MNJTF and our CJTF, adding, “This has been yielding meaningful results, especially in the Gwoza and Bama axis in Nigeria and, maybe some communities at the Cameroonian side of the border.’’
But he would not say how many communities have been liberated so far as a result of the engagement of the Cameroonian vigilantes.
“I cannot say if the rules of engagement involve the Borno State Government paying the Cameroonians any mandatory allowance; all I know is that the government, out of goodwill, pays each of our CJTF a monthly goodwill of N20,000. I cannot say the same gesture is extended to the Cameroonians. I know that if they were paid, it could be by their own country,’’ the CJTF administrator said.
The deputy chairman of sector 6 of the CJTF, Umar Ahmed, said, “Contrary to rumours that state otherwise, the vigilantes are actually Cameroonians. They are already going out on operations involving the military and us.
“The state government has promised to give them 100 Hilux pickups, and it has already allocated some to them to aid their involvement in the joint operations,” he said.
Ahmed differed with his leader over the payment of allowances to the Cameroonian vigilantes by the Borno State Government, saying,
“Each of them is on a monthly allowance of N30, 000.’’
Daily Trust on Sunday cannot, however, find out the remuneration and other logistics aspect of the rules of engagement of the Cameroonian vigilantes by the Borno government.
“With their (Cameroonian vigilantes) engagement, more communities along the roads, especially in Malamfatori and Gamboru-Ngala, hitherto troubled or fully controlled by the insurgents have been liberated with their help. You already know that Marte, Krenuwa and a few other communities have been liberated,’’ he said.
Ahmed threw his weight behind the engagement of the Cameroonian vigilantes in the Boko Haram war, adding: “Since the military from countries can be brought together to form the MNJTF, there is no reason the CJTF and the vigilante of the concerned countries cannot be brought together along in the Boko Haram war.’’
The engagement of the 1,500 Cameroonian vigilantes is part of efforts by Governor Babagana
Zulum of Borno State in adopting unconventional means to supplement efforts of the military in the fight against Boko Haram in the North-East state.
In October, Zulum had engaged the services of 30 clerics to pray for the end of Boko Haram insurgency in his state. Isa Gusau, the governor’s spokesman, had in a statement said that the governor engaged the 30 residents of Makkah, Saudia Arabia to intercede for the state affected by years of Boko Haram violence.
The governor, according to Gusau, sealed the agreement with the selected persons who are residents of Makkah, to permanently offer daily ‘Dawaf’ (circumambulation of the holy Ka’aba) for the return of sustainable peace in Borno and the country in general.
Thereafter, the governor was said to have recruited 1,000 traditional hunters from different parts of the North-East and North-West to join in the fight against Boko Haram. The recruited hunters were believed to possess supernatural powers to resist gunshots and disappear and appear like Japanese ninjas.
Barely a month after he was sworn in, Zulum had in June 2019, appointed a retired army colonel as special adviser on security and increased monthly allowances of thousands of existing volunteers under the civilian JTF. He was also said to have acquired 160 patrol vehicles and surveillance gadgets which he distributed to the fighters he inherited.
Governor Zulum was quoted as promising to continue to “combine different approaches that include sustained support for the Nigerian Armed Forces, aggressive mass recruitment and equipping of more counterinsurgency volunteers into the C-JTF, hunters, and vigilantes, as well as a socioeconomic approach in enhancing access to education, job opportunities and providing other means of livelihoods through social protection initiatives.”
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the engagement of the 150 vigilantes from Cameroon was initiated by chairmen of local government councils located within the border communities in Borno State. The Borno State Government said it had donated patrol vehicles to members of Cameroonian vigilantes to enhance the fight against insurgents in border communities in the state.
Also, the vigilantes are said to have come from communities around the border areas who share socio-cultural affinities.
“Most of them (vigilantes) speak Shuwa-Arab language with a little Kanuri, while others speak fluent Kanuri with a little ShuwaArab. And from their intonations, one would easily know they are from border communities of KalaBalge Local Government Area.
“In those border villages you could find Nigerians and Cameroonians in one household and in one family, and two or more siblings with different citizenships. And that depends on where they would cross to obtain their means of national identification. Some even have dual citizenships,” a local source said.
On November 23, the Borno State Government, through the state Commissioner for Local Government and Emirate Affairs, Sugun Mai Mele, who was accompanied by a member of the Borno State House of Assembly, representing Mobbar Local Government Area, Usman Lawan Moruma, presented four security patrol vehicles and other items to the vigilantes.
According to the commissioner, Governor Zulum had engaged and equipped the 150 Cameroonian vigilantes who were to join Nigerian hunters and vigilantes in hunting Boko Haram insurgents in
Barely a month after he was sworn in, Zulum had in June 2019, appointed a retired army colonel as special adviser on security and increased monthly allowances of thousands of existing volunteers under the civilian JTF. He was also said to have acquired 160 patrol vehicles and surveillance gadgets which he distributed to the fighters he inherited.
parts of northern Borno.
The Cameroonians, from the Kesh-Kesh vigilante group, were said to have been presented with four surveillance vehicles and other fighting equipment at a brief ceremony in Damasak, the headquarters of Mobbar Local Government Area, on the fringes of Lake Chad.
According to a government source, the step was part of the governor’s multidimensional approach that encompasses support for the military, de-radicalisation and integration of repentant insurgents, investment in education to fight the Boko Haram ideology and use of social protection and creation of jobs to combat economic inducements used by the insurgents as part of recruitment strategy.
But the recruitment of vigilantes from Cameroon by the Borno State Government in the fight against Boko Haram did not come without criticism.
The president of the Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, Dr. Ona Ekhomu, condemned the decision, saying it was “a huge mistake” which could increase security threats in the North-East.
Ekhomu, in a statement said Governor Zulum did not have the power to recruit foreigners to conduct internal security operations in the state. He explained that there was no legal backing for foreign vigilantes to be armed to patrol Borno when they were not part of a recognised military alliance.
“If we say the military cannot defend Borno from Boko Haram insurgents, then the political legitimacy and authority of the Muhammadu Buhari government is questioned,” he said.
Ekhomu warned that giving the Cameroonian Kesh-Kesh vigilantes freedom to patrol the Borno countryside would increase their knowledge of the area and enable them to mount attacks when they no longer benefit from the largesse of the state government.
The expert said if local vigilantes were trained and well equipped, they could fight alongside the Nigerian military, Civilian JTF and local hunters to address the threat of Boko Haram.
However, Isa Gusau, the special adviser on public relations and strategy to Governor Zulum, who confirmed that the state government had donated patrol vehicles to members of the Cameroonian vigilantes to enhance the fight against insurgents in border communities of the state, debunked the claims by the security expert.
Gusau dismissed as misleading, claims that the vehicles donated by the state government to 150 members of the Cameroonian vigilante violated Nigeria’s sovereignty and military protocols.
He explained that representatives of the government presented vehicles to the Cameroonian vigilantes in concert with the headquarters of 5 Brigade, Nigerian Army Cell of the Multi-National Joint Task Force, Damasak, Mobbar Local Government Area of the state.
Gusau noted that Zulum was a member of the Lake Chad Basin
Governors’ Forum established with the support of the Federal Government and UN Security Council Committee on Counterterrorism.
He added that the gesture was in line with the forum’s spirit to enhance cooperation on cross border security among member states.
Gusau said, “Governor Zulum’s operational arrangements with the 150 Cameroonian vigilantes happened with full involvement of the Nigerian Army’s component in the MNJTF currently fighting Boko Haram in eight regions affected by the insurgents’ attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger Republics.
“The Cameroonian vigilantes are operating in parts of northern Borno, located in the shores of Lake Chad; and they are operating under the coordination and command of the Nigerian Army Cell of the MNJTF.
“One of the key benefits of having these vigilantes is the latitude to generate and pass on intelligence from border communities in Cameroon, and to pursue insurgents who occasionally flee from Nigerian territories to border communities in Cameroon, where Nigerian troops may be constrained to engage them.
“The main objective of the Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum is to ease cross border cooperation in the fight against Boko Haram insurgents in the affected countries.”
Vigilantes commence operation in Damasak
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the vigilantes, who were transported in a lorry from Maiduguri metropolis to Damasak town about a month ago, were first camped at Central School, Damasak.
Following their arrival, news was said to have filtered into the town as excited residents came from short and long distances to catch a glimpse of the vigilantes, who spoke local dialects as well.
“They were said to have been brought from neighbouring Cameroon, but they look and sound like natives,” Mohammed, a resident said, explaining that they might have been mobilised from border communities of Kala-Balge and Ngala local government areas of the state.
Local sources told Daily Trust on Sunday that the vigilantes had since joined the Multi National Joint Task Force in patrolling the area, saying they have since integrated with residents as they sometimes go round to buy food, recharge cards and other things.
“They lived at Damasak Central School for a week or two, but when the state government officials came and provided them with four security patrol vehicles, sets of torchlight, as well as uniforms and boots, they started going for patrols; and we have started seeing some results,’’ Mohammed said.
Another source lauded the arrival of the Cameroonian vigilantes, but however, said Damasak town was still in need of security reinforcement in whichever way to bring a lasting peace in the town and environs.
Other residents who spoke with Daily Trust on Sunday were happy with the deployment of the vigilantes, who they said were happily intermingling with locals.” Our hope is that when these Cameroonian vigilantes are armed and ready to fight, they should go out to those places and engage Boko Haram fighters,’’ an elderly resident said.
One of the Cameroonian vigilantes was quoted as saying, “We were able to set Boko Haram members running for their lives in our various localities, so we are now invited to come over here and help soldiers crush them. We will begin searching for them as soon as all the arrangements are set.’’
Gusau dismissed as misleading, claims that the vehicles donated by the state government to 150 members of the Cameroonian vigilante violated Nigeria’s sovereignty and military protocols.