The Mortification of Babachir Lawal

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal is the highestranking federal government official to visit the traumatised residents of Dalori Village on the outskirts of Maiduguri. Here, 86 people were slaughtered by Boko Haram terrorists on January 30. Rather than comfort the beleaguered villagers, the SGF spent time blaming them for “poor intelligence gathering.” He said: “It shows a lack of intelligence ... Poor intelligence gathering by locals is to blame for the attack.” What Lawal is saying is that the attack would have been averted if the hapless locals had been up and doing with intelligence gathering. The SGF expects them to effectively gather and supply intelligence to security operatives. There is nothing wrong with community policing. However, it is obvious that there was very little the poor villagers could have done in this direction. To blame the hapless villagers for the Boko Haram attack due to inability to supply intelligence is most wicked. Are the intelligence arms of the military, police and the DSS not on ground in these troubled areas? What about the men of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA)? It is a shame if they are not on ground. If they are, then, they should be held responsible for the Dalori attack and punished accordingly. Babachir should also note that “Dalori villagers actually got the signal a few days before the attack that the insurgents were likely to attack them; they reported this to the constituted authorities but nothing was done to provide security for residents and their belongings.” This is according to Senator Baba Garbai who represents the area. The SGF must go back to Dalori and apologise for his shameful statement.