DEAD END

An end to the security challenge posed by the dreaded islamist sect, Boko Haram, appears far-fetched, as the most wanted leader of the violent group, Sheik Abubakar Shekau, has suddenly disappeared from the radar of the Nigerian security forces and their foreign partners.

Saturday Sun exclusively gathered from the top hierarchy of the Nigerian security network that search teams recently sent to some African countries to gather information on the whereabouts of Shekau, following his recent escape from capture in Mali, have since returned home with no clue.

The Federal Government had, through the Joint Task Force Operation Restore Order in Maiduguri, Borno State, last November declared 19 members of the Boko Haram sect, including Shekau wanted and offered N290 million reward to anyone with information that will lead to their arrest.

The JTF offered N50 million rewards for information that could lead to the arrest of Shekau, while the reward for information on each of his lieutenants ranged from between N25 and N10 million.

The security outfit had said Shekau and others are “wanted in connection with terrorist activities, particularly in the North East zone of Nigeria that led to the killings, bombings and assassination of some civilians, religious leaders, traditional rulers, businessmen, politicians, civil servants and security personnel among others. They are also wanted for arson and destruction of properties worth of millions of naira.”

Some of Shekau’s lieutenants listed in the wanted list include Habibu Yusuf (N25m); Khalid Albamawa (25m); Momodu Bawa (25m); Mohammed Zangina (N25m); Abu Saad (N10m); Abba Kaka (N10m); Abdulmalik Bama (N10m); Umar Fulata (N10m); Mustapha Ibrahim (N10m) and Abubakar Suleiman Abu (N10m).

Saturday Sun recently reported that the fleeing leader of the Islamist sect, who was recently wounded in a near death capture attack in Mali, was the focal point of a four-day high level meeting held last month in Paris, France between a team of top Nigerian security chiefs and their French counterparts. The Nigerian delegation to the security meeting was the National Security Adviser, NSA, Mr. Sambo Dasuki.

The parley, it was gathered, was a follow-up to a recent visit to France by President Goodluck Jonathan. While the president’s visit was multi-lateral, that of the NSA’s team was “centred on exchange of intelligence, re-assessment of the ongoing battle in northern Mali and drawing fresh plans on how to capture the wounded Boko Haram leader (Shekau), who recently escaped being captured, though with some injuries.”

The outcome of the meeting in Paris was said to have revealed that following the attack on Shekau’s base in northern Mali through severe aerial and ground attacks from French bomber jets and Chadian troops respectively, the wanted sect leader escaped with some injuries out of Mali through the Chadian border.

The revelation from France “led to the decision to return home and devise a new means of searching for the fugitive within the neighbouring African territories.”

It was gathered that new search teams were subsequently constituted to work with intelligence and other security agencies in five African countries, with a view to gathering any clue on the movement of Shekau within their territories.

“The search teams involving the NSA actually went out to Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Niger sometime around the middle of this month and came back to the country end of last week without any clue on where Shekau is. All the countries visited returned the same verdict that the person we are looking for is not in their jurisdiction,” a top source in the military circle told Saturday Sun.

The source further revealed: “The visits, however, achieved something tremendous and that is the fact that all the countries visited have the same security challenge from islamist groups like us and so they were very willing to collaborate with us on many frontiers. They assured us they would continue their search for Shekau within their territories and seek our support to capture him anytime they have any information on him.”

Saturday Sun gathered that government became desperate to capture Shekau dead or alive following the rise in the number of daring attacks carried out by members of his sect. The rise, it was noted, was in form of reprisal on the injuries he sustained in the recent near capture attack on his base in Mali.

Nigerian security forces have also ruled out the possibility of Shekau escaping into the country after losing his base to French and Chadian soldiers attacks in northern Mali. “It is very much unlikely he escaped to Nigeria because he is someone who coordinates a lot of his members activities through mobile communication and so there is no way he would be communicating within the Nigerian territory that our hyper-sensitive tracking equipment would not have picked his location,” a top official within the country’s intelligence community revealed.

Now, with the invincibility status Shekau has attained, the source stated: “The debacle will invariably have to be a prolonged one, with both sides conceding more casualties but I see the government changing tactics sooner than later because it is becoming clearer that the enemies are more in number and only dialogue or amnesty or whatever name it may be called will only bring the much needed lasting peace.”

There are, however, indications that help may again come from Nigeria’s major foreign partner in the fight against terrorism, the United States of America, which last Monday expressed concern over the rising spate of killings and bombings in different parts of the country, especially in the North, which has been under sustained terror attacks by Boko Haram and Ansaru.

The USA had, last year, assisted the country with useful intelligence, which led to the discovery that Shekau and his top commanders were coordinating attacks on their Nigerian targets from a base in northern Mali, which Saturday Sun had exclusively reported.

The US ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terence P. McCulley, was said to have conveyed the American government’s feelings during a closed-door meeting he held in Abuja with the Minister of State for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada and service chiefs.

The ambassador was said to have conveyed the concern of his country over the heightened state of insecurity in Nigeria and called for more action from the Federal Government to end the terror campaign in the country. He was particular about the recent Kano bombings, the re-emergence of ethnic killings in Plateau State, prison attacks and jailbreaks in Warri, Delta State, Borno and Ganye in Adamawa State.

Besides, the ambassador was also said to have expressed the USA’s willingness to assist Nigeria in fighting terror, while urging the security chiefs to do more in containing the menace.

The latest promise will be the second major assistance coming from the USA government in the last 12 months on how to end the Boko Haram menace in the country. The Barack Obama administration had equally earlier designated four leaders of the sect as terrorists but declined to categorise the group as such.

Source: Sun