Politics of Boko Haram and systematic ethnic cleansing

By Sunday Timothy Ayuba

After three years of observing the plight of the people of the North East, especially Southern Borno and Northern and parts of Central Adamawa States, it has become pertinent to shade light on some issues that could otherwise be swept under the carpet.

While for a long time, the military has claimed that it has “degraded the insurgents,” the phrase has only been realistic on pages of newspapers. In our opinion, it is clearly propaganda, because the areas have continued to be attacked by the Boko Haram insurgents, who are allowed to freely operate.

While Federal Government has done well to “degrade the insurgents,” it really is difficult for the ordinary person in the region to understand and accept the meaning of the phrase, because some villages here are still being continuously attacked on a weekly basis. Raids and invasions have become incessant such that the people have stopped going to their farms. This tells very hard on their health and food security guarantee.

In these areas, the serious and urgent matter of securing life and property has unfortunately become complex and politicized as even the security officers sent there are complicit in prolonging the insurgency in this region for their pecuniary gains. The role of the security agents themselves remain nefarious as they settle and take over (the major trading in foods like grains, beans, all livestock, smoked and dried fish) petty trading and farming businesses in the area at the expense of those they are meant to protect.

The onus rests on governors Kashim Shettima (Borno State), Umar Jibrilla Bindow (Adamawa State) and the Federal Government to expedite action to recapture Gwoza, Madagali, Gulak, Dille Bdagu, Musa, Killekasa, Yaza etc., from the insurgents because the war against Boko Haram is not over as propagated, until the people of Gulak and the whole of Gwoza are safely home in their ancestral lands. We shall consider the war over when we in the North-East region can freely travel from Michika to Gwoza to Maiduguri and there is a highway constructed to open the Sambisa Game Reserve area.

Furthermore, certain skills’ acquisition trainings and support are conducted mainly in the State Capitals: Maiduguri, Damaturu and Yola. Such are supposedly meant especially for the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, who have been asked to relocate to their villages. Clearly therefore, people who should benefit from these initiatives remain unreached.

These people are made to believe that government has little interest in their welfare. We hereby request that all government programs related to the IDPs and victims of Boko Haram terrorists be extended fully to these people. Government must be seen to be fair to all citizenry, regardless of religion or tribe.

Government’s effort to rehabilitate the areas and the people and restore normalcy so far is commendable (but it depicts selectiveness). They are selective. We have observed some calculated foot-dragging by the agencies charged with certain responsibilities. For example, INEC which is charged with the responsibility for electoral processes for political representations is not servicing these areas with adequate materials and staff to advance registration for people to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). Where these cards are available the owners have been refused the right to collect them. For a lack of opportunities like these in Damboa, Gwoza, Askira/Uba, Madagali local government areas, for example, elections were never held and those appointed to administer the areas are generally imposed on the people. At the moment Voter Registration is totally absent in Madagali Local Government Area. These people are made to believe that government has little or no interest in their welfare, and so despair sets in to the point that they believe that government of the day came in to worsen their situation.

We hereby demand the enhanced activities of INEC to cover areas unreached and with immediate assurance to these people to guarantee their political representations.

But where does the impression of ethnic cleansing come from? Simple. These communities have, for a long time, been denied their traditional institutions. These are predominantly Christian communities, but the Islamisation has long been in the offing, going by the history of developing Islamic radicalism. Our chiefdoms have been turned to emirates, by force, without any referendum from the people.

The way forward is simple if the interests are willing to pitch in. We recommend as a matter of urgency that: the urgent securing of areas bordering Sambisa Forest, as insurgency is still active in these areas; the dismantling of all IDP’s in the cities, like Abuja, Yola, Maiduguri and concentrating on those in the affected nearby towns and villages; immediate massive food supplies should be directed to the region to forestall mass deaths from starvation this year; urgent attention needs to be given to the distressed settlements whose people have fled and are squatting with relatives or living in shacks because their houses have been burnt down;

the urgent and accelerated provision of education for children who have lost four years of schooling in most parts of the region; and the urgent development of infrastructure like roads, water, light, schools, agricultural extension services, etc. in the hinterlands.

The North East Development Commission (NEDC), on its take-off, must prioritise infrastructural and human capital development for these areas, increased educational services and ensure employment for the widows, orphans and youths.

Finally, we urge the national media and international press to urgently unravel the remote parts of the North East, as there is more than meets the eye. Let them beam their voices from the ground zero please. Lardin Gabas Elders’ Forum was created in 2016 to help indigents in North-east.

Ayuba wrote this piece from Abuja