FACE TO FACE WITH BOKO HARAM A TRUE CONFESSION

FACE TO FACE WITH BOKO HARAM A TRUE CONFESSION

By Unknown   15:05   No comments:

How I escaped death fighting insurgency –Soldier
A Nigerian soldier fighting the Boko Haram
insurgency in Borno State has painted a picture of
the sterling efforts being made by Nigerian soldiers
in the north-east to overcome the terrorist group.
In this chat with Sunday Sun, the 38-year old John
Chukwu (not real names), explained how he had
escaped being killed many times by the Boko Haram
fighters. On one occasion, he explained: “They were
firing, but they couldn’t get me. I was just like 100
meters away from them. I was firing the RPG (Rocket
Propelled Grenade). If that weapon hits any wall, it
can bring the house down. I was firing the thing
until it got finished. Then the Boko Haram fighters
engaged me; to the extent that I walked from 20
meters up to 100 meters but they couldn’t get me.”
The soldier further assured that the war against
insurgency could be won a lot quicker if there was
more commitment by the government, the officers
and soldiers of the Nigerian Army.
*What is your rank in the Nigerian army?
I am a corporal.
Attached to which division?
Army Headquarters (AHQ).
*Which unit?
Sorry, I won’t say this.
*Apart from your posting to Borno, have you gone
on any other peacekeeping?
Yes, I was in Liberia and Sudan for 6 months, the du­
ration of peacekeeping is six months.
When were you posted to Borno?
I was among the first set of soldiers sent to
Maiduguri when the state of emergency was declared
there.
*When you arrived there, what was your initial
experience like? Did you feel prepared for the war
you went to fight?
When they drafted us, we didn’t even know exactly
what was happening. We were hearing of Boko
Haram, but we didn’t know exactly what they were
doing in Maiduguri.
You mean you were not briefed?
No, we did not know anything until we got to Maidu­
guri.
*Were you then surprised when you got there?
Initially, we were on top of the situation. That time,
wherever we came in contact with the Boko Haram
insurgents, we defeated them. That was during the
time of the Joint Taskforce (JTF). The first time, it
was just like a child’s play. But when we entered
there we started seeing the reality. We saw how
soldiers were being killed and there were bombings
everywhere. They deployed us to the bushes between
Nigeria and Cameroun.
*How long have you been there now?
I have spent a year and six months now. Currently, I
am still in Maiduguri.
*Why did you leave Maiduguri?
I got a pass to see my family.
*Do you feel motivated by the army? Apart from your
salary, what other incentives do you get?
Anyway, they try. They feed us sometimes twice a
day. Once in a while, they feed us three times a day.
*You sound as if the food is insufficient?
No, how can a human being feed twice a day? The
Federal Government budgeted N100,000 monthly for
each soldier in Maiduguri, but they are paying
soldiers N30,000. That is operational allowance.
Sometimes, they pay just N28,000. When you come
outside Maiduguri, people will be congratulating you
because they think that you have made it, but at the
end of the day, they just pay us peanuts.
*What explanation do they give you for the cut in
your allowances?
There is no explanation. That is why I am
complaining that the Army is very corrupt, even the
Federal Government as a whole. If you must com­
plain, you must do so through the same man that
cheated you. You have to pass through him to lay
your complaints. You cannot bypass him.
*You said you have been in combat with Boko
Haram insurgents. What do they look like?
Boko Haram fighters look like soldiers. When you see
them you will not know the difference between them
and soldiers.
*When you engage them, how do you distinguish
them from your colleagues?
The Boko Haram fighters are hardly fully kitted. You
may see one with canvas and another without
helmet. They hardly wear helmet because it is heavy.
If you don’t have endurance, you can’t wear it. In
the Army, there is standing order that everybody
must wear helmet whether good or bad. Boko Haram
fighters don’t like helmet. So, they will just cover
their heads with that their popular scarf; and wear
the army uniform.
*Do you feel that the government is sincere with the
war against the Boko Haram insurgents?
Mr. President is not sincere with the fight because if
you give someone money to buy weapon, you
should be able to know whether what the person
supplied is new or not. If you buy new Caterpillar
today, you will know that it is a new one. But all the
things we are using are old weapons that Alhaji
Shehu Shagari bought during his time in office. So,
when the government asks them to buy weapon,
they will go and repaint the old weapons and
present them as new ones. And the president will
take it like that.
*Do you think that the president will know that they
did not really buy new weapons?
He knows. There is no way the president will not
know that they didn’t buy new ones.
*If the weapons you use are outdated, does that
mean that Boko Haram has more sophisticated
weapons? What kind of weapons do they use?
Yes. They use Anti-Aircraft. You can use it to bring
down an aircraft from the sky. Boko Haram also uses
RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade). And people are
saying that we are fighting war in Maiduguri. And
truly we are fighting war, but there is no equipment.
Could you believe that there is only one jet operating
in Maiduguri?
*How many in your opinion are needed for the fight?
We need at least three or four jets. Borno is big. And
there is no way soldiers can cover the state. The
soldiers there are trying, but the problem is that
everybody in government is corrupt, both the
presidency and national assembly. This is a political
war; it is not a tribal or religious war.
*You mean Boko Haram is fighting for politicians?
It is a political war. This popular politician from
Borno (name withheld) is truly a Boko Haram
sponsor. There was a time they attacked Gamboru
Ngala. That was where that man’s father used to
live. At that time, Boko Haram destroyed more than
200 houses, killed 18 policemen and about 350
civilians, burnt a police station and destroyed more
than 150 vehicles on the road.
The father of that politician was in his house, but
nothing happened to the house. They only broke
some of the glasses, forced themselves into the
compound and moved 14 vehicles from the
compound.
There was a man from Adamawa State who told me
that he was abducted by Boko Haram as he was
returning from Maiduguri with his family. They were
camped in Sambisa forest. In that forest, our big
men go there on Fridays. Whenever they are coming,
they (the captives) would be asked to lie face down.
The man said he managed to look up sometimes and
the only person he could recognize was that
politician.
The man even told us that we (soldiers in Maiduguri)
are just fighting for nothing. The big men in Nigeria
know what is going on. There is no day in Maiduguri
that you will not lose at least 15 soldiers. Soldiers
are dying in large numbers. If you go to the cemetery
in Maiduguri behind Maimalari Barracks, the graves
there are uncountable. If anybody dies in Borno, they
will bury him there whether his people come or not.
The army does not want people to know that they
are killing soldiers. And truly they are killing soldiers
in Borno.
*You mean that the army is not telling the people the
truth about the war?
They are not telling you the truth. And you know,
Army has their own spokesman and their own
pressmen. It is what they tell you that you will take.
They hardly tell you that they killed soldiers; and
they are killing soldiers everyday.
*Do you still have the will to fight on?
Yes, we have the will to fight on. Our slogan in the
Army is: “No going back.” The problem we have is
the weapons that we don’t have in Borno.
*Have you been in combat with Boko Haram?
It is the life in Borno. Even as a civilian, you will be
seeing how soldiers are doing it. Personally, I have
escaped death twice. I was firing to the extent that
my ammunition got finished. Then Boko Haram
engaged me face to face; they were firing at me, but
it was God that saved me.
How did you escape?
They were firing, but they couldn’t get me. I was just
like 100 meters away from them. I was firing that
RPG. If it hits any wall, it will bring the house down.
I was firing the thing until it got finished. Then the
Boko Haram fighters engaged me; to the extent that I
walked from 20 meters up to 100 meters but they
couldn’t get me. I think that it is just God that said it
was not my time to die. At the end of that day, they
killed one of our men and injured three that day.
*Do you think that Boko Haram have more fighters
than the army? Are people still joining them?
They are increasing in number. If they find
themselves in any village, they will capture any
young man from 15 years and above and force them
into Boko Haram. Then there are foreigners joining
in.
How true is the story that some soldiers escaped to
Cameroun?
It is true. That same place in Ngala; this is Ngala
(pointing to a map), this is Cameroun; the distance
is not up to 15 meters. All these places are water. So,
there is no other place they can go to apart from
Cameroun.
*So the Boko Haram fighter overpowered them?
They are many. They are many. You know what
happened in the first place, soldiers killed many of
them. When Boko Haram ran out of ammunition,
they will go and come back. So Boko Haram went
home and reinforced.
So, finally the soldiers ran out of ammunition. It is
either they need to camp or they called for
reinforcement. Meanwhile, Boko Haram had already
reinforced and they kept firing at the soldiers.
Normally, soldiers fire controlled firing, but for Boko
Haram, once they fix their magazine, they will finish
it on one person. Five of them can engage you like
that and about 90 rounds will be coming to you at
once. So, there is nothing you can do.
*Is it that the army does not send enough soldiers?
Borno is too big. What they do sometimes is that
they will deploy 200 soldiers to this place, 100 the
other place and may be 50 in another place. And
Boko Haram knows everything. They use small boys
in the village to spy on the army. The boys will
pretend to be helping the soldiers and then gather
information for Boko Haram.
*You also claimed that some soldiers are working for
Boko Haram?
There are many; both soldiers and officers. There are
many of them.
How do you think this war can be won?
Sincerely, I don’t know. But if the government can
bring in more weapons, maybe, we will be able to
win the war. We have just one jet in Borno. The
same jet is serving Adamawa, Yobe, Kano and
Bauchi. In the whole of Nigeria, we don’t have a jet
fighter. I don’t know what is happening. Sometimes
when you call for jet for reinforcement, the jet will tell
you ‘I only have one bomb,’ ‘I want to go and
refuel,’ I can’t see them.’ Sometimes when the jet
comes, it will start bombarding and killing soldiers.
*Do you feel helpless as a Nigerian soldier?
Nigerians can help themselves if the president agrees
to bring in modern weapons. I don’t feel helpless, it
is something we signed. I will be going back to
Borno.
*So, why are you volunteering this information?
I am doing this because of my friends who have died
fighting this war. I lost eight of my friends in one
day. We were going for an operation and one of our
vehicles was ambushed. I was just lucky to be in
another vehicle. That was how my friends lost their
lives. More importantly, I want Nigerians to know the
truth about what is happening in Borno.

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The so-called Abia elders and charlatanism - PROF. OKEY ECHENWA

The so-called Abia elders and charlatanism - PROF. OKEY ECHENWA

By Unknown   07:56   No comments:

In my over 20 years as a university teacher in the
United States, I had never been as awed and
disappointed as I was when I read the disjointed,
malicious and tendentious publication in a Nigerian
national daily of September 17, 2014 by a pseudo-
political cum pressure group by the name Abia
Patriots. They made a lot of ludicrous, outrageous,
subjective, pitiable and substantially unverifiable
claims with regard to the performance of the current
man in the saddle of leadership in my dear state, Abia,
Chief Dr. Sir T.A. Orji. The publication could at best be
seen as a poorly-handled PR stunt by a group fighting
hard to do the hatchet job for which it had been
settled.
Initially, I thought it was a mere theatrical display by a
band of social misfits masquerading as elders, until I
got to a point where they started making serious, but
bogus claims. I was thrown aback by the polemics they
spewed with infantile braggadocio and probably,
senility too, (since they claimed to be speaking on
behalf of some ‘masked’ Abia elders).
If the word ‘elders’ is interpreted in the context it was
used in the said publication, then it can be safely
concluded that Abia State does not have ‘responsible’
elders. Elders, for all I know, are men and women who
have come of age in terms of life’s experience and
sagacity – ready to offer wise counsels for the peace,
development and good governance of their people. In
fact, elders, in the community where I come from in
the northern part of Abia State, are men and women
that are held in awe, and have worked with dignity and
candour to protect their reputation and
accomplishments in life. They are also men and
women who speak the truth with brutality and finesse,
and do not dabble at vainglory and puerile rigmarole.
This is why it is a big deal in my place to behold elders
with reverence.
Suffice it to say that elders all over the world are
peacemakers, evil-fighters and bearers of good tidings.
Beneath their age is also mundane rationality, which is
spiced with celestial wisdom and illuminating and
penetrating mind. Above all, elders are usually above
board and do not pander to the whims of any political
overlords or desperadoes.
Pitifully, the so-called Abia Patriots made nonsense of
whatever ‘elders’ stand for by embarking on political
merry-go-round in such an obtrusive manner,
smacking of haughtiness and jaundiced emotionalism.
No wonder many of these elders from my clime are
ready to prostrate themselves even before idiots and
nonentities to pick up crumbs underneath the table.
What a way to fall!
Going through the trash the Abia Patriots published, I
could not help but laugh at the bizarre level
governance has been brought to by the government in
my state. The whole stuff has become a theatre of the
absurd, where even fools claim they are wise. It’s
needless to state here that I am pissed-off by the
continued murder of truth in my state – to such a
height that barefaced lies are laundered as if they were
factual.
I come from a remote part of Abia State where the
presence of government is non-existent. The only time
the government has ever remembered us was in 2002
when a rural electrification project and a borehole were
extended to us. I think that was during the tenure of
Orji Uzor Kalu as governor. One Arua Arunsi was
Commissioner for Public Utilities, I guess. Since that
year till now, no single government project has sprung
up in my community.
So, one could imagine how aghast I was when I read
that lately, one of the projects allegedly built by the
Abia State Government was located in my community. I
am constantly in touch with home and therefore
conversant with what is going on there. We may be
poor rural farmers, but we contribute to the economic
development of Abia State in so many ways. It was the
little savings my father made from his subsistent
farming that paid my way through college, and today,
I am a professor. There are many folks like that who
went through the crucibles to attain greatness. The
pain in my heart became graver when I came home in
Easter of this year to see my dad and other relations. It
was one trip I will forever regret undertaking. The only
consolation I had was that I met my father in good
health, having lost his wife and my mother a year
earlier. From the Port Harcourt Airport, I had hoped to
have a smooth ride home since the stretch of roads
from the airport to the city centre were all well-paved.
Hitting Alaoji in Ugwunagbo Local Government (I
guess) of Abia State, hell was let loose. From that spot
onwards it was like a journey to the pit of hell: deep
potholes, garbage and putrefying smell from refuse
dumps filled to the brim and begging for somebody to
come cart them away.
I do not want to say everything I saw or else I’ll spill
the beans. But the undisputed truth that must be told
is that our people are in hell on earth. Period! Whatever
else anybody is talking about Abia State – a place that
has been turned into a strange land by a governor who
lacks the pedigree to hold such a highly demanding
office – is sheer buffoonery. The ramshackle
appearance of structures, including the ravaging
poverty in the faces of the traumatized people,
underscore the decay in the system. Only a blind man
would not see the absence of government in all
ramifications.
Ordinarily, I would not have joined the fray in the
battle of supremacy between the serving governor and
his predecessor – for that is entirely their business.
Where I am concerned is how the crisis affects the
ordinary man in our state. That Orji Uzor Kalu made
T.A. Orji governor and T.A. Orji later defected from the
union and joined another party are all known facts.
But how is that any of my business? I see the
disagreement between the two men as marriage gone
sour. After all, it is common knowledge that marriages
contracted in recent times seldom work. Divorce has
become an alternative. So, what is strange about it if
the ‘marriage’ between former governor Orji Uzor Kalu
and Governor T.A. Orji experienced the same fatal
fate?
It is a pity they have chosen to wash their dirty linens
in the public theatre, making mockery of the exalted
office of governor. How I wish Abia was lucky to have
had a compassionate person, and not a hustler, as
governor! Unfortunately, we have been burdened with
the liability of swallowing our bitter pill while, waiting
and praying that his tenure expires even tomorrow. But
tomorrow is wishful thinking. We will have to wait for
another 7 long months before the state is rid of the
brigands that have presided over its affairs for 8
frightening years.
T.A. Orji would have become a hero if he had proved
by action that truly Orji Uzor Kalu was the cause of his
inability to perform between 2007 and 2010, when he
claimed to have been liberated. Who held him in
bondage, in the first place, if one should ask? He was
given the mandate by Abia people to be their governor
and serve them. That he was not able to discharge that
responsibility satisfactorily is entirely his kettle of fish.
It has got nothing to do with anybody else.
The sad part of it all is that the period between 2010
and now has become the most grueling for the people
of Abia State. So, who then was holding who hostage?
To put it mildly and succinctly, governance has gone
to roost in God’s Own State.
Therefore, I find it difficult to see any other rationale
behind the publication by the Abia Patriots than
selfishness. Who are they working for? Or is it the hand
of Esau and the voice of Jacob? The publication was a
slap in the face of the people of a state where workers’
salaries are in arrears for many months; not even
teachers have been paid for the same long period. The
roads in Abia are about the worst in Nigeria, yet the
administration is said to have received over half a
billion naira from its own share from the federation
account. Where has all the money gone to, for
goodness sake? Great God, so people could be this
heartless?
One revelation of the publication by the Abia Patriots is
that it shows how fidgety the governor could be. He is
already blaming Jonathan’s government for not being
able to fix the roads that belong to it. Is this a sign
that he could deny the President when it matters most?
A more reasonable person would have put this view in
a more diplomatic way rather than show undue
fussiness when the occasion demanded a bold face.
For me, the real lesson of the publication is that Abia
State is a state without duteous and committed elders.
The elders we have at present who gleefully parade
themselves in the corridors of power are nothing but
political jobbers, swaggering daily to the perilous
tunes oozing out of the cacophony of noise made by
fools and buffoons.

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A Celebration of Fela Kuti’s life

A Celebration of Fela Kuti’s life

By Unknown   07:04   No comments:

A documentary about legendary musician Fela Kuti’s
life and politically-charged music has just been
released.
Finding Fela, Alex Gibney’s documentary, celebrates
the life of the visionary Nigerian musician and social
activist, Fela Kuti.
It comes as the latest in a posthumous outpouring
that is proving relentless. Albums are being re-
released, FELA!the musical is in full swing and,
perhaps most importantly, Fela’s self- proclaimed
Kalakuta Republic in the heart of Lagos has been
resurrected as the New Afrika Shrine.
Fela’s home/studio/nightclub was burned down by the
Nigerian army in response to his 1977 Zombie album,
the title song of which, performed here by the FELA!
band, features on Finding Fela as one of three tracks
that isn’t a Fela Kuti original.
A big question arises here: Can you respectfully edit a
Fela Kuti track for a compilation when the majority
weigh in at around 10 minutes? Somewhat tactfully,
shorter tracks such as Jeun Ko Ku and Viva Nigeria
have been included on the two-disc set.
Tracks that have been edited may indeed be frustrating
for fans, but an unobvious selection – the excellent
female-led Upside Down , for example – will probably
reset the balance by reliving some forgotten Afrobeat
favourites.
As an all-encompassing closer, Fela’s son Femi,
backed by the FELA! band, play Colonial Mentality live
at the New Afrika Shrine. As you’d hope, the energy is
infectious.
Finding Fela premieres in Nigeria next month at
Felabration (felabration.net) the 13th annual music and
arts festival celebrating the musical icon from October
13 to 19.

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