A statement by the Director of Defence Information, Maj-General Chris Olukolade, revealed that the suspect, who is the top intelligence operative of the dreaded sect as well as the leader of a youth vigilance group, popularly known as the Civilian JTF, spearheaded the abduction of the over 200 female students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, on April 14, 2014.
Olukolade claimed that the suspect, who is also a business man, was responsible for the killing of the Emir of Gwoza, Idrissa Timta, by insurgents on May 30, 2014, and several devastating attacks on military formations and the detonation of several bombs in Maiduguri since 2011.
The Defence spokesman also stated that confessional statements by Ya’ari led to the arrest of some female members of the cell including one Hafsat Bello, responsible for payment of insurgents on the payroll of Boko Haram and one Haj Kaka, said to be an armourer as well as a spy for the group.
We commend the efforts of our security agents in being able to apprehend Ya’ari, and others that are vital in operations of Boko Haram. Perhaps, the intensification of efforts on intelligence gathering by our security forces is yielding the expected results. We urge the security agents to continue in their stride until the insurgents are reined in. Since the suspect is a mole in Civilian JTF, efforts should not be spared in ridding the vigilance group of spies that masquerade as patriots.
Let the kingpin suspect and others arrested with him be tried and if found guilty be given condign punishment. We say this taking into consideration our predilection in this country to arrest, detain insurgents and charge them to court and do nothing thereafter. Government’s insouciance in handling criminal cases of this nature and those involving high profile individuals does not help matters. We can recall how the trial of suspected killers of former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bola Ige, political party chieftain, Harry Marshal, and human rights lawyer, Barnabas Igwe and wife, amongst others, were stalled. Nigerians are becoming tired of such lackadaisical attitude to adjudication of criminal justice in the country. Lack of diligence in the prosecution of criminal matters and lack of conviction might have been responsible for the increase in high profile crimes.
Therefore, the arrest of these Boko Haram suspects should not go the way of others not yet prosecuted. Arresting and putting terror suspects in detention is not enough. There is the need to arraign them before a court of competent jurisdiction. Let this matter be seriously handled by the government and the judiciary so that Nigerians would be kept in the know of what is actually happening in the campaign against terrorism in the country. There will be no room for cover-ups. The suspects should be diligently tried and given commensurate punishment if found guilty to serve as deterrence to others that would like to toe such despicable path. That is the only way the government can demonstrate that it is committed to the war against terrorism in all its ramifications.
We should not wait for another jail break before swinging into action.
The security agents should not rest on their oars in view of increasing attacks by the insurgents. Rather, they should continue and intensify the war against terrorism until the insurgents are finally contained. It is worth reminding them that the war on terror requires more efforts and intelligence to succeed. Therefore, all hands must be on deck to stem the ferocity of the insurgents and ultimately win the war. There is no doubt that the nation is confronted by a strange security challenge never seen before. The security agents must rise to the challenge and tame the terrorists. Apart from massive deployment of troops and sundry logistics, the security agents need lots of intelligence to be able to subdue and overcome the insurgents.
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Strides in war against insurgency |
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