Uwais’ Disappointment

Recent reports that Ibrahim Uwais, son of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammed Uwais, has allegedly joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria are disappointing, writes Ojo M. Maduekwe

When President Goodluck Jonathan admitted that members and sympathisers of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, had penetrated his administration, many people concluded that he knew who they were but wondered why he was reluctant to make a public example of them.

President Jonathan probably was not only referencing the threat from the North to make his administration ungovernable. As the Commander-in-Chief, it was not unusual that he had in his custody, a file or files that contained the names of prominent people or their relatives sponsoring the group.

This assumption was supported by the response in identifying Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche as the suspect behind the 2014 twin bomb blast in Nyanya, Abuja, which killed nearly a hundred people and injured over 200. The name Ogwuche was introduced into the public consciousness days after the April 14 attack. But it was not so for the federal government.

The first recorded but unreported interaction the government had with Ogwuche regarding any criminal activity was in 2011. An army deserter, Ogwuche was first arrested on November 12, 2011 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on arrival from the United Kingdom for suspected involvement in terrorism-related activities.

He was released on bail to his father, Agene Ogwuche, a retired army colonel on October 15, 2012, following intense pressure from human rights activists, who alleged violation of his human rights. It is not clear why someone accused of terrorism-related activities was released and why he was not charged to court. His father’s influence cannot be ruled out, obviously.

It took nearly two years from the time of his bail till when he was again accused of plotting the Nyanya bomb blast. There are unanswered questions such as: was he ever under surveillance after the bail? Also, even though he was on bail, it is not clear why his investigation was stalled, and why Ogwuche had to kill nearly a hundred people before he was arrested.

The lapse in resounding intelligence or so it seems by the Nigerian security agencies was recently repeated when the news broke out that Ibrahim Uwais, son of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Uwais, had travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS).

Uwais was Nigeria’s Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1995 till 2006. After retiring from the Supreme Court, Justice Uwais chaired a controversial panel on electoral reform that submitted a report on 11 December 2008 with recommendations that included establishing commissions to deal with electoral offences, constituency delimitation and political parties’ registration and regulation. The former Justice has refused to comment on what he described as “hearsay”.

Unlike in the case of the December 25 2009 underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, whose father, Umaru Mutallab, had expressed concern to officials at the US Embassy in Abuja, a month before the attack that his son had fallen under the influence of religious extremists, Uwais is said to have been unaware of his son’s soft spot for terrorism, even when he claimed to hate Boko Haram.

Going by an online news portal, The Cable, there is the possibility that the Nigerian security agencies on their part may have been in the know of Ibrahim’s leanings. The Cable quoted a source as saying that when he took the decision to join IS in Syria, Ibrahim had urged his wives to return to their parents, to which they refused and opted to go with him.

It is not clear how the unnamed source was privy to this information since Ibrahim was alleged to have left Nigeria with his family early February without a word to his extended family. If his extended family was left in the dark by Ibrahim, it is right to assume that the source who is “in the know of the development” would be a security officer.

That being said, this could be a source of concern for the federal government. An intelligence gathering plan that may likely follow this would be to profile children of the wealthy and influential from the North of Nigeria. It could as well lead again to several foreign countries imposing some form of restrictions on Nigerian travellers, especially Northerners.

Sequel to the attempted downing of the Northwest Airlines Flight 253, the US president, Barack Obama, ordered a comprehensive visa policy review and tightened rules for Nigerians, particularly students and those between the ages of 20 and 60.

Though the US State Department had sought to assure Nigerians of no discriminatory treatment, officials of the Department still declared that, “The new policy is evolving, but in line with Obama’s directive: those whose visa applications have been turned down will not be reconsidered and those with questions on their applications will be turned down.”

New security measures approved by the US included a thorough body search of all Nigerian visitors to the country; a mandatory seating of all passengers one hour before arrival; and additional deployments of armed marshals on flights into the country. Pillows were banned, and passengers were instructed to carry bags or electronic devices on their laps.

These measures followed an instruction that, “Any passenger who doesn’t cooperate with aircraft personnel will be detained and taken off the plane at the nearest airport. The new restrictions don’t target any nation but are in the overall security interest of America.”

For those travelling through Amsterdam, the government approved the use of the controversial body scanning device that sees through clothing in order to detect explosive devices on the body. Some other countries followed suit.

For instance, Netherland introduced body scanners on all US flights, weeks after the incidence. The body scanner was going to be a permanent fixture according to government officials.

Just like it happened with Abdulmutallab, the younger Uwais joining a terrorist group has put a twist to the cause of joining a terrorist organisation. It appears poverty is not the only reason people are susceptible to recruitment into terrorist groups. As it is with Abdulmutallab, Ogwuche and now Uwais, religion seems to also play a role, through ideological indoctrination.

That the younger Uwais chose to join the ISIS weeks before the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to the group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, probably suggests that Uwais, while in Nigeria, was in contact with the Boko Haram sect.

Being the son of an influential Nigerian, his role was rumoured to have been that of a conduit pipe for the group to move large sums of money without being traced.

Also, that he was radicalised in Nigeria at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, according to a source who spoke with The Cable, leaves so much room for worry. This again brings to the fore the need to apply both military might and the carrot to members of Boko Haram. Religious leaders must be recruited by government for the purpose of de-radicalising terrorists.

Already, the federal government through the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the president is doing something in this direction. The NSA has a programme, the ‘Soft Approach on Countering Violent Extremism: Nigeria’s De-radicalisation Programme’.

Said to be targeted at building trust between the government and the affected communities, if successful, the soft approach programme which is to be driven by religious and community leaders, is intended to counter “the ideology of violence, build trust and community resilience at the grassroots,” according to the coordinator, Dr. Fatima Atilu.

A laudable programme since military might appears to have failed to stem the tide, it appears more still needs to be done about the de-radicalisation of terrorists. The case of Uwais has exposed tertiary institutions as prospective recruitment grounds that might have been overlooked in the past by the security agencies.