- from agency reports -
There is palpable tension in security circles in Jos, the Plateau State capital, on strong intelligence that the Islamist extremist sect, Boko Haram is massing to strike Plateaus State. An intelligence source revealed on Friday that top police officers in strategic positions in Jos are being told of a secret plan by Boko Haram operatives to target Jos city for an overwhelming invasion, similar in degree to the large-scale violence it carried out in Kano on Jan 20, 2012, which left over 200 people dead.
According to the source, the inhabitants of the city are going about their normal duty and are not aware of the new threat to peace by Boko Haram operatives, who have wreaked havoc in most parts of northern Nigeria and the FCT since December last year and the beginning of 2011. The source said that Boko Haram men planned to carry out an overwhelming attack in Jos for some unclear reasons. It was learnt that the police authorities had put all their commanders on the alert to ensure that any such attack was foiled and the culprits apprehended.
It was learnt that all police officers in strategic postings had been placed on a 24-hour duty and effective rotation because of the intelligence report. The security official said, “As it is, Jos is okay. The Special Task Force has been able to ensure relative peace in the area. The STF is even working towards confidence building in the area among the warring factions.
“And they have been doing very well until very recently; this intelligence report came in to create a surge of tension in the city. I must add that this tension is not evident in the city as most of the populace are not aware of this recent threat by the Boko Haram to repeat the Kano attacks in the city. The report is alerting the police to be vigilant, and to ensure that such attacks did not take place anywhere near Jos and its environs.”
It will be recalled that in a recent message to President Goodluck Jonathan posted on the BBC website in Hausa language by the leader of Boko Haram, Sheik Abubakar Shekau, he said that the sect was at war with Christians because of what they did to Muslims in some of the cities of the North. Shekau specifically mentioned the areas where Boko Harm members are said to be oppressed as Zango Kataf (Kaduna State), Lantang and Yelwan Shandam (both Plateau). He demanded that the only condition for peace in the country was for people embrace Islam and leave according to Islamic injunctions. But an intelligence source has stated that the members of the sect might be targeting court premises and car parks for the attacks.
In a related development, strong indications have emerged that the Federal Government might enlist the services of international intelligence experts and US troops in its bid to arrest the raging Boko Haram insurgence in the country. Investigations showed that the FG was considering the engagement of some United States Marines, who are grounded in urban and anti-insurgency warfare to complement the efforts of Nigerian security operatives.
An intelligence source told one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity that while the FG was exploring several options to deal with Boko Haram’s threat to peace, the security chiefs had not briefed operatives of any such decision to bring in US Marines into the country to assist their Nigerian counterparts. The source stated, however, that there were verbal discussions in security circles about the likelihood of engaging the US Marines in a concerted bid to combat the Boko Haram onslaught, the deadliest of which saw the killing of more than 200 people last week in Kano and the Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic church near Abuja that claimed over 40 lives.
The source stated, “The issue of the moves being made to bring in US Marines into Nigeria is being discussed in security circles. But I can tell you that no document relating to that has been circulated though people have been saying that the government is perfecting moves to engage the services of American troops because of the Boko Haram issue. What I’m not sure is whether the American troops will be coming to join us for combat or they are coming to team up with us in the area of intelligence and monitoring; that is, to play a discreet role. Those are two different things.”
On Monday, some prominent personalities from Borno State, who described themselves as Borno Elders and Leaders of Thought, placed an advertorial in a national daily, in which they expressed their opposition to plans to invite American forces to help. They had made their case against engaging the American troops in the fight against Boko Haram on the premise that the nation did not have any defence pact with any country.
“We’re very much disturbed by newspaper reports echoed by international media houses and corroborated by certain clandestine statements by some highly-placed persons that American soldiers or Marines would be deployed in Nigeria. Though we feel that it is false, we hasten to caution that it is very much uncalled for. Since the Vietnam War till date, there has never been anywhere in the world American forces did anything good but destruction…”
The statement was signed by Alhaji Shettima Ali Monguno, a former Minister of Internal affairs, on behalf of 20 top Borno elders.
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The Borno Elders know more about Boko Haram than they are telling Nigerians. They should sheath their swords and give peace a chance. The Northeast is already the poorest part of the country with over 70% said to be living below the poverty line.
The Borno Elders should know that using Boko Haram to terrorize Nigerians will not take the Northeast anywhere, but rather it will only aggrevate its poverty. Please Borno Elders, I beg you to give peace a chance. If it is Al Mustapha’s release that is your demand, feel free to say it and don’t rigmarole round the issue.
it is good ideal to invite the USA security personal into Nigeria .