Our military runs like a municipal govt — Enahoro, ex-Army chief

By Bashir Adefaka
Major-General David Olanrewaju Enahoro, a former Commandant, Command and Staff College, Jaji, retired in  2002 as Chief of Policy and Plans, Army Headquarters. Before then, he served as Director, Military Training, Nigerian Defence Academy; Directing Staff, Director and Acting Commandant, National War College. Born on May 2, 1947 in Uhonmora-Ora, in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, Enahoro, an alumnus of University of Benin and a holder of University of“Ibadan Master of Science Degree in Strategic Studies; has been guest lecturer and external examiner to the National War College and National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, and is a“recipient of Fellow (fwc) and Member (mni) of both institutions. In an one hour forty-five minutes interview  at his farm centre in Uhonmora-Ora, Edo State, he spoke  on issues bordering on security with particular emphasis  on restoring the integrity of the military and the police. Excerpts:“
Gen EnahoroLet me start by asking you about your military career?
I had a management career, post command….What I am trying to say is that I commanded from platoon to the infantry corps. I also served as staff officer from adjutant through brigade major in a brigade to Colonel HQ, Colonel GS in a division. I ended up as Chief of Policy and Plans at Army Headquarters. And I was a senior instructor in jungle warfare, combat survival at Jaji at the time we started a special warfare course.

You mean counter terrorism course? What year was that?
We started a course in counter terrorism as far back as 1982.

 You mean you had started preparing for counter terrorism even at a time it wasn’t so much an issue in Nigeria?
Then why does it look like we have problems in Nigeria because we don’t plan ahead?“From 1982, we started special warfare course, combat survival course, desert warfare course, jumbo warfare course, mountain warfare course and amphibious course, which we now transferred to Calabar. If you put all these together, you see the need for counter terrorism because we were preparing for force people scenario. We had learned from the crisis in Kano caused by Maitasine in 1980 which spread to Bulunkutu in the North East where General Muhammadu Buhari as General Officer Commanding (GOC), Third Armoured Division, Jos, at that time flushed them out. We started a counter terrorism stream and we were running about three courses every year.“I went back to that same Jaji as Deputy Commandant and later I became the Commandant. And by the time I was leaving Jaji  in 2000, the counter terrorism course was still running!
At that time, what rank?
I was a major general.
And the same Staff College Jaji that this counter terrorism course was offered was where Boko Haram fighters chose to attack in recent years. How do you feel about that?
Very sad! But one thing I know about terrorists is that they strike hard to frighten. So, I was not surprised that they decided to go into the heart of counter terrorism training, but if they did that too, we have ourselves to blame for some reasons. At a stage, I saw everybody wanting to go for counter terrorism training. The police, the SSS, the Navy;  even cadets were being given counter terrorism training and I was wondering what was happening to the nation.
Is there anything wrong with that?
No, if you give out  counter terrorism training then, of course, terrorists will attempt to hit, particularly if they are trained terrorists because they want to say, `Oh, you are just“wasting your time.’ And that is exactly what I thought happened.
So, are you trying to say some of these terrorists were home grown people who received training from Jaji and who, therefore, had known the art of counter terrorism and were trying to black the efforts of the military at curtailing terror.
It is possible because I am not aware that there was any attempt to streamline the selection process. I am not too sure because everybody went there….
(Cut in) …to receive a training that should have been restricted to the Army?
There is no basis, no need for it because we have enough trained counter terrorism soldiers to handle the situation and, up till now, I still think we can deal with the situation.
Where do you do you want President Buhari to start  the war against terror from? Is the war winnable?
We can win the war. We can make the nation a safe place. I am not saying we can eradicate terrorism all together but we can put  it in check. As a matter of fact, the way the Boko Haram situation came in, the terrorists went into what we call ‘open offensive’ too early, and that would have been the time for the military to hit at this tide because, at that time, nobody was against the involvement of the military. The people prematurely went into open offensive.
Why we did not take it as a civil war at that stage and handle it like any other war, I do not know, I cannot tell because I am no longer in service and so I do not know what informed or what influenced the so-called lackadaisical approach in the Army. But if you ask me, I will say that I saw some rivalry, I saw a design by some people to make a name. Of course the police would say, `We are on top of the situation.’
The Army would tell you,  We are on top of the situation. The DSS would tell you, `We are on top of the situation. Anybody you discussed with would say, `We are on top of the situation.’ And a few I met from time to time I asked, `Which situation are you on top of? So, it is winnable and I am sure President Buhari has not taken a strong step at winning the war.“When Buhari said in his inauguration speech that he was relocating the military high command to Maiduguri, I was shocked.
Why the shock? You mean he shouldn’t have relocated the military high command to the centre of the storm?
Let me land. I now asked myself, `Does it mean there was no high command to coordinate the operations there and there are people saying we are fighting terrorism? You have a situation where you read from papers that at least there is a Division, 7 Division, operating from Maiduguri. There is a Division, Three Mechanised Division, supporting it and operating from Jos. We know that there is a Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) comprising forces from Niger, Cameroon, Chad,“Nigeria operating there. We know that the Army was operating, the Navy operating, the Air Force operating. You mean there was no coordinating centre?
That is what Buhari’s statement means. And it means that we had been fighting Boko Haram without direction! Buhari confirmed that we really didn’t know what fighting in a theatre entails. You can be a fantastic soldier at a platoon level, at a company level, at a battalion level without knowing a thing about theatre operation because it has to do with what we call the ‘operational order’. But that order ought to flow from a concept of operation that should come from that high command, which will get field intelligence and access to the policy of the political class that“could relate with the headship of all the elements right there. Only in that way can you fight a coordinate battle.
I thought somebody would come out, after President Buhari such thing in his speech, to say, `Your Excellency, we have such command'; only for me to now hear the Chief of the Naval Staff speak on the television saying, `We will now give a thought.’ You will give a presidential order a thought?
Should the response of the military have been that they would give a presidential order a thought or that they swing into action without querying the order?
That `we will give a presidential order a thought,’ if that was what the Chief of the Naval Staff meant, it means admitting that they didn’t have one such command already on the ground. Are you excited? So, now we know that they are trying to put up one but I am worried.
Why worry?
I hope nobody will bastardise the concept of military high command. I hope nobody will turn the military high command to another budgetary outfit. I hope so because this is a place where they should do intelligence analysis, analysis of area of operation, come up with concept of operation and give operational directives.
That is the only way these Boko Haram people would hit, stay there for hours and nobody could respond because we do not have a coordinated centre. So, Buhari has started well. As for whether he will recall people like me, it is not so essential because there are people he can call upon. But he should be able to identify the pseudo-professionals and separate them from the  professionals.  So, I know that President Buhari, being a man that I know his principles, knows who to call and when to call the people but he should be keen in those who know. War against terror is fought principally at three levels: locating, responding and  follow-up. To simplify that, counter terrorists are those we call trackers.
They are called trackers because the moment you see a terrorist, till you capture or destroy him, you give him no respite. And until you do that, you will be doing nothing because they hit and run. When they run, you pursue them. I heard the Chief of  the Army Staff saying they had tracking dogs at a time. It means that these dogs could follow in an operation. If there is a terrorist running, you use the dogs to  pursue.“In 1970, when I was in School of Infantry in Britain, we went on an operational exercise and we had to go with helicopter tracking insurgents for three days. That was a School of Infantry. That gives us an idea of what it entails. But here I don’t know whether they are even using the helicopters that we claim we have for tracking. I think we are using our helicopters as bombers.

Admiral Murtala Nyako, a former governor of Adamawa, said he saw a military helicopter supplying items to people inside a bush he believed to be terrorists and that he advanced towards the place and that the military people warned him against that, which was how his problem started. Do you think it is possible there is a collaboration between unscrupulous elements within the military and the terrorists which has frustrated the effort of the government towards winning the war?
Terrorism or insurgency is one operation from which you cannot rule out anything. But I don’t want to believe that a Nigerian military helicopter could be used to drop arms and ammunition for terrorists. But I am worried that we still have not been able, up till now, to know the source of their armaments. I am worried!

Nyako just said, upon his return from self-exile, that he would provide information to President Buhari government, which will help him to track the terrorists. Is it that we lack the political will to find out?
The political will will flow from professional advice. Whether we get the appropriate advice on which to base the will is a different thing. Because the way I see it, we see the equipment“displayed by the military on television and on the pages of newspapers. What I see them display are basically equipment used at one time or the other by Nigerian Army. I have not seen anything that“they are displaying that seems to me to be new invention they are bringing from anywhere.“But again I am not surprised that that has happened because in this country; we have seen three different types of war. Military barracks raided and equipment carted away.
We have read severally of police“stations raided and equipment carted away. So, they may indeed be using our equipment against us. Would we know how much of it was really carted away especially when they attacked a whole brigade“headquarters, when they took over a regiment of artillery. This is why sometimes when I heard they used anti-aircraft weapons, I just smiled.“Well, again, it is not surprising that it is possible. We ought by now to be able to identify the source of their weapons if neighbouring countries have stopped providing them hiding places. They too are suffering the same fate have stopped in Nigeria with the terrorists. It appears we have no control over our sky. If what Nyako said is true, it could have been any other helicopter or it could even be a helicopter making supplies to some of our troops somewhere because, we wouldn’t know where the troops are. But definitely, helicopters are critical means of fighting terrorism.
But do you see our military using the helicopter as critical means in the ongoing fight against Boko Haram?
As a matter of fact, I am surprised why the Nigerian military has not created helicopter-borne force. I know that before I left the service in 2002, the plan was on. We had identified places of purchase. I led the team on behalf of the Federal Government. So, we should by now have had helicopter-borne troops for helicopter-borne operations, which was why I was not surprised when they said they wanted helicopters and so on and so forth. By now, they should have had a helicopter-borne unit, which is not an Air Force unit. No. You don’t just take helicopter and give it to the Air Force. It is wrong.

May be because they are the ones in the air or which of the forces should really use helicopter?
Oh, then they should give all their cars and lorries to the Army. Look, helicopter is principally an Army weapon for special operations; the US would say marine. But in the Air Force, they“use it basically for search and rescue. The Navy uses helicopter for anti-submarine operations. The Army uses helicopter for special operations, counter insurgency. The police uses helicopter for patrol. So, all the services have their different ways of using helicopter. You should understand now why a high command is desirable; to pull for the purpose of a common goal and identified mission so that everybody can focus on the mission.
Here I don’t know what happened but, like I said, with time I am sure the appropriate information will get to the President.“Don’t forget that those who respect themselves stay away from pseudo-professionals if they had to remain sane. “The main ingredient for military strategy is information through professionals: correct information, adequate information, timely information. When information is“coloured, when information is delayed, the strategy will NOT work! If you cannot tell your Commander-in-Chief that these boys in the field are not being adequately catered for or when somebody says, `oh, the welfare situation is poor’, you go and say, `No, they are lying, they are playing politics,’ you will get to the situation we got to where you now had to start virtually court marshaling everybody. Because you allowed things to slip off your hands.
You didn’t tell the Commander-in-Chief the correct thing. It now started telling on the soldiers and they had no choice…. And once it’s telling on the soldiers, you have the results we are having. If it were in the United States of America that somebody like the governor of Borno State came up with what he said about the poor equipment of the Nigerian soldiers facing the highly sophisticated weapons bearing Boko Haram insurgents, the military high command would pick on it to tell the National Assembly,  Please, see“our predicament. We need this, we need that.

In spite of these anomalies, do you think there will still be solution?
There is always a solution. I am not too sure how many insurgents they have identified and how many camps they are in. The first thing was to identify or locate them. And the Americans, the British and French were here and they went back. Why? They went back because they didn’t have the high command to liaise with. They met staff officers. They were being told to work with staff officers. They are not used to working with staff officers. They wanted to know what the commanders were doing and they wanted to be sure that the message that they wanted to convey to you was safe. If they were not sure, they will not share the message. I am not even surprised too that they didn’t agree to sell to us the …..helicopters because they knew that they would not be used for the purpose they were meant for.

Now you heard President Buhari say five years of insurgency enough is enough. And you heard him ordering relocation of military high command to the centre of the storm in Maiduguri. All these point in one direction, that if you do not have military background as leader of a country, you are not likely going to have it well administered because a President with military background knows how many soldiers make a battalion and so there is no way a so-called professional will, for budget reason, come and misinform him and will get away with it. You earlier on said you hoped the high command would not be enmeshed in budget scandal. I mean, a minister of finance saying N500 billion was given to the military and there was no up-to-date weapon commensurate with the fund to prosecute the fight against Boko Haram, for which the new President is considering a probe. Amnesty International has asked President Buhari to probe alleged war crimes committed by the military under the guise of fighting Boko Haram. What is your opinion; should he go ahead and probe?
It is normal that Amnesty International will raise issues when there is war because they do not take sides they have no business with any side. And unfortunately because of their particular background, and I have that problem too; I really don’t talk on sentiments whenever I comment on something, I just say it the way I see it.“One mistake that came up was the Nigerian military attempting to raise issue with Amnesty International because the whole world will tell you, `Why would Amnesty International blackmail you? But I am glad that that statement did not come from the President of the country or members of government.
So, they will see it as (military) people attempting to defend themselves. It is normal to accuse. It is also normal to defend.  When President Olusegun Obasanjo authorized the operation in Zaki Biam, Amnesty International actually came up to accuse Nigerian military. You didn’t hear the military respond but it was actually probed. Open investigation was done to prove that, like the case of Zaki Biam, for example, it was known that riff-raffs, ex-soldiers were slaughtering people with photographs taken and were selling them in open market. Amnesty International or America did not go further. A clear conscience fears no accusation.
Then you talked about the background of the Commander-in-Chief. Let me be very frank here. I have looked through American history and I think only two of its Presidents so far didn’t have  military background. Even in other countries that you don’t think that they have military background they have the advantage of military training and national army. Most countries in the world run their national service within the ethos of military training. When the National Youth Service Corps was established in this country, we had thought that it was the beginning of something. That was an opportunity to infuse ethos of military training in graduates.
And if you read The Prince, you will find that those who aspire to rule need military training, military education, because of the completeness of military education.“I have always looked at this nation too and have said if General Gowon were to be civilian President at the age he was head of state, this nation would have gone far in development. All those military officers succeeded to the extent they did because of their military background. The first thing is for you to know and appreciate the situation, define your mission, identify weaknesses and strengths and it applies to other disciplines which is where strategy has suddenly become a common term.
It is a military term that has now spread into other disciplines. If you talk of history now, they even tell you ‘strategy for collecting data. So, there is something in military background for a Commander-in-Chief. Even if he has none, he must  have those advisers that see things dispassionately. You must let the Commander-in-Chief see things openly without hiding anything. Your loyalty will be judged from the day the Commander-in-Chief takes a decision. People say but the military is autocratic. I just laugh.
I served for 34 going to 35 years in the military and I have not seen any organization that gives everybody so much room to prove himself. A platoon commander sits down with his privates and others to discuss and they express their minds. When the company commander now comes to discuss with his company, he sends his platoon commanders away and speaks with everybody without their commanders so that they can even report their own commanders.
Up to the highest level like in the Army Headquarters when I was there, every week, the staff in the headquarters would meet with the commanders on the field. That is sufficiently consultative. The difference now is where you have to take a decision. Remember, the buck stops on your table and I am sure you are not going to ignore the facts that are laid bare. This is now where your level of loyalty comes. Whatever your view, once the commander has taken those decisions, you owe a duty to implement them. That is part of what would have come out from a basic military training for a Commander-in-Chief.

But many Nigerians don’t really see the military in the light you so project?
What is wrong with Nigeria is that the military thoroughly messed up itself because of its involvement with politicians. If the military did not take over, may be the respect for the military would still have been a lot higher. You see the military that now has decided, since our time, just turn your back at politicians and let them do what they want to do the way they want to do it because, in the final analysis, the military will never get praise for anything.
“In this country, nobody remembers that, but for military intervention in 1966, there would have been no Nigeria again. I was not in the military then. But it got to a stage you could no longer move from Lagos“to Ibadan through Ikorodu Road. How would you do it when the whole of Western Religion was on fire, when the whole place was no longer safe, when the politicians themselves were boasting and bringing in the boys, when local police were recruited? When the military came in, normalcy returned but they should have been able to know when to go.
And in any case, even in their entrance, they were perceived to be partisan and then it was obvious that some people would react. So, that they reacted was not unexpected. But I was already in the military  when they started the baton exchange from one military regime to another, when all we could have done was to go away at that time, we ran down the essence of the military. Now let me go to the question of equipping the military. When I look at this country I smile. We have an Army that manufactures, a Navy that manufactures, an Air Force that manufactures.
I don’t know whether the police have started manufacturing; of course, I won’t be surprised. These are not primary military functions. You don’t manufacture what you want to use. It is not possible. Even the ordinary pistol, you will be surprised the number of parts and the diverse ways those parts come about. Even when we said we set up DICON (Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria) in Kaduna, we didn’t seem to see it as a military company heading a very wrong concept. In developed countries now, nations collaborate to produce even the most basic military ware but here we think that we can do it within the military.
I read in the papers that the Air Force had manufactured unmanned vessels and I have been asking myself, where are the unmanned vessels? The money being allocated to the military may not actually be going for what it is meant to achieve. We have a military that is like a municipal government: you run schools, you run markets, you run everything. That is what we have. What bothers me most is that we run so many services that very little is left for the actual materials required. I am not criticizing the current, but the truth is that the Nigerian military was never planned, is not planned and must be planned. And it does not necessarily mean that you are going to throw away the present military. No. You will also consider the present military from what we call the forces in being  a factor in arriving at your new plan.

Security, as you can see, is mostly considered in the focus of the new President. What is your advice towards effective security re-positioning?
In considering security, adequate attention must be paid to the police. Our policing is at zero level. If the police is effective, most of what is happening now would not happen because it is the police that is closest to the populace. In every Local Government, the police is there or should be there. As a matter of fact, as a junior officer, when we had a joint operation, we had to do it from police operations centre because they used to have communication covering the whole country. If that were still there, what happened that Boko Haram spread out of control? That should not have been so.

What would you say is problem of the police therefore and what is the solution?
I am aware that the problem of the police started when they removed what they call e-branch, the intelligence wing and merged it to form the National Security Organisation (NSO) at that time, which is precursor for SSS. That was the beginning of the collapse of police effectiveness.
The police e-branch was a critical aspect; they focused on the locality.“The second thing that went wrong was that they decided to behook the police. Police suddenly became interested in living in barracks and so they were distancing themselves from the people they were meant to be close to. Behooking, that is, you are putting them in barracks when you don’t even have the  means to maintain them there and that affected their morale and that also affected their equipment. If there was anything the police was proud of, it was his baton and torchlight.“Nigeria Police is perhaps the only police in the world that is too sophisticated to do foot patrol. If you go to Britain from the airport and I have been to 97 countries in the world, you see police men on foot patrol, their hands at their back. So, if you have that, there could still be this suicide bombing once in a while but not daily occurrence like we have in Nigeria now.
The security challenges we have are so because, like some say, the level of policing is too distant from the people. I hear some people say state police will make things worse now as politicians will be using them. And the question I ask is, the federal police, is it not being used by politicians; not necessarily the politicians in the Federal Government, even politicians outside government?“Every level of law making must have a law enforcement agency. Until we recognize that, we are just not ready for a good police. Even the palace should have police. Local government should have its police.“Universities should have their police. In Nigeria here, go to Shell, they have their police. They just train them with the Nigeria Police because they are serving them. So, the earlier we tell ourselves the truth, we need the police to be closer to the people.“There are areas of policing that must be centralized: investigation, intelligence.
That is why when we think that the EFCC is the solution, we are joking. The police is the solution. Even“the functions of EFCC, ICPC, NDLEA are all police functions. So, it is just a matter of looking at those functions and see those that must be centralized and then you think of the funding and making a common standard for all levels of the police. The central government will now use funding to effect compliance.“Again, there is no uniform for the police and it is bad. I don’t know whether you observe that the police wear camouflage. They wear T-shirts. Does it mean that they are ashamed of their uniform or that“only when by wearing camouflage looking combative will drive away the criminals? Even in the military, combat uniform is meant for combat.
Now, as a police man,  you want to look combative and it comes to a time that nobody is even frightened and too many people are just willing to die.“I hope the present administration will tell them to wear their uniform, to have working dress for the Army, for the Navy and  the Air Force. You even have working dress for them, they are different because they work in a different environment. The camouflage is for forest environment. Even the police ADC behind a governor wears camouflage because he has to look combative. No, no, no.
And you think it is simple? It is not. There is the case of a man in Benin, each time he goes home he sees the police on the road wearing just any type of dress. So, one day he took for granted that they were the police and they told him, “Mo boy, shut up your mouth. We are armed robbers.” Many times that armed robbery happened on the road, people thought that they were police because the police on the road no longer want to wear uniform. Who knows whether they are policemen or not? If policemen wear their uniform and the uniform is provided by the authority with a standard, when we see a policeman we will know he is a policeman, not a soldier-police.

APC Group Defends Akande, Says He Spoke Like a Sincere Leader

The Action Group of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has risen in stout defence of the former Interim Chairman of the ruling party, Chief Bisi Akande, saying his recent utterances on the crisis bedeviling the party at the National Assembly were those of a sincere leader.
The group, through a statement by its spokesperson, Segun Dipe, said the ramrod qualities of Akande qualify him to see when things are skewed towards failure and was right to have called the people involved to order.
“Here is the man who steered the ship of our party through the turbulent waters from conception to birth. He did so with sincerity of purpose and great sacrifice that even President Muhammadu Buhari, a man of few words, not given to praise-singing, confessed that he respected Akande’s patriotism while acknowledging how he led the interim party ‘with dexterity and integrity.”
The party Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, also admitted that he saw in Akande trustworthiness and sincerity. Is it such a person that would now wish the smooth-sailing ship of the party should capsize?”
APC-AG recalled how Akande had journeyed with former governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, through thick and thin from the dark and lonely days of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the Action Congress (AC) and then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before arriving at the APC, saying such a person knows what true loyalty and discipline are and should be taken serious when preaching them.
Akande had been criticised for his recent utterances with which he cautioned some party members, whom he accused of trading the party’s birthright and dining with the enemy with a bid to get choice positions.
Specifically, he mentioned some northern elites and the PDP members within the APC as those rocking the party boat with indiscipline and disloyalty.
But the APC Action Group said the former interim chairman was on point and had only reiterated what was already in the public domain. Perhaps it is making more meaning to them now that it is coming from a person of Akande’s flawless character.

Women Groups Defend Appointment of Zakari As INEC Boss

Women Groups Defend Appointment

 Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
About ten different women non-governmental organizations have expressed support for the appointment of a woman, Mrs. Amina Bala Zakari, as the acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

 A statement jointly signed by Women in Politics Forum (WIPF), Proactive Gender Initiative (PGI), Women Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), 100 Women Lobby Group, Equity Advocates, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ),  Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Women Foundation of Nigeria (WFN)and Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF).
The groups said the appointment was in line with the national gender policy.

 "Women in Politics Forum (WIPF) and other  appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Mrs. Amina Bala Zakari as the acting INEC Chairperson. This has shown that our President is a gender sensitive leader,” they said.

Sani Abacha Didn’t Die Of Apple-Al-Mustapha

By Toyin Akingbade
“When I got to the bedside of the Head of State, he was already gasping. Ordinarily, I could not just touch him. It was not allowed in our job. But under the situation on ground, I knelt close to him and shouted, “General Sani Abacha, Sir, please grant me permission to touch and carry you.” Contrary to insinuations, speculations and sad rumours initiated by some sections of the society, I maintain that the sudden collapse of the health system of the late Head of State started previous day (Sunday, 7th June, 1998) right from the Abuja International Airport immediately after one of the white security operatives or personnel who accompanied President Yasser Arafat of Palestine shook hands with him (General Abacha) I had noticed the change in the countenance of the late Commander-in-Chief and informed the Aide-de-Camp, Lt. Col. Abdallah, accordingly. He, however, advised that we keep a close watch on the Head of State.
Later in the evening of 8th June, 1998, around 6p.m; his doctor came around, administered an injection to stabilize him. He was advised to have a short rest. Happily, enough, by 9p.m; the Head of State was bouncing and receiving visitors until much later when General Jeremiah Timbut Useni, the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, came calling. He was fond of the Head of State. They were very good friends.
They stayed and chatted together till about 3.35a.m. A friend of the house was with me in my office and as he was bidding me farewell, he came back to inform me that the FCT Minister, General Useni was out of the Head of State’s Guest House within the Villa. I then decided to inform the ADC and other security boys that I would be on my way home to prepare for the early morning event at the International Conference Centre.
At about 5a.m; the security guards ran to my quarters to inform me that the Head of State was very unstable. At first, I thought it was a coup attempt. Immediately, I prepared myself fully for any eventuality.
As an intelligence officer and the Chief Security Officer to the Head of State for that matter, I devised a means of diverting the attention of the security boys from my escape route by asking my wife to continue chatting with them at the door – she was in the house while the boys were outside. From there, I got to the Guest House of the Head of State before them.
When I got to the bedside of the Head of State, he was already gasping. Ordinarily, I could not just touch him. It was not allowed in our job. But under the situation on ground, I knelt close to him and shouted, “General Sani Abacha, Sir, please grant me permission to touch and carry you.” I again knocked at the stool beside the bed and shouted in the same manner, yet he did not respond. I then realized there was a serious danger. I immediately called the Head of State’s personal physician, Dr. Wali, who arrived the place under eight minutes from his house.
He immediately gave Oga – General Abacha – two doses of injection, one at the heart and another close to his neck. This did not work apparently as the Head of State had turned very cold. He then told me that the Head of State was dead and nothing could be done after all.
I there and then asked the personal physician to remain with the dead body while I dashed home to be fully prepared for the problems that might arise from the incident. As soon as I informed my wife, she collapsed and burst into tears. I secured my house and then ran back.
At that point, the Aide-de-Camp had been contacted by me and we decided that great caution must be taken in handling the grave situation.
Again, I must reiterate that the issue of my Boss dying on top of women was a great lie just as the insinuation that General Sani Abacha ate and died of poisoned apples was equally a wicked lie. My question is: did Chief M.K.O Abiola die of poisoned apples or did he die on top of women? As I had stated at the Oputa Panel, their deaths were organized. Pure and simple!
It was at this point that I used our special communication gadgets to diplomatically invite the Service Chiefs, Military Governors and some few elements purportedly to a meeting with the Head of State by 9a.m. at the Council Chamber. That completed, I also decided to talk to some former leaders of the nation to inform them that General Sani Abacha would like to meet them by 9a.m.
Situation became charged however, when one of the Service Chiefs, Lieutenant General Ishaya Rizi Bamaiyi, who pretended to be with us, suggested he be made the new Head of State after we had quietly informed him of the death of General Sani Abacha. He even suggested we should allow him access to Chief Abiola. We smelt a rat and other heads of security agencies, on hearing this, advised I move Chief Abiola to a safer destination. I managed to do this in spite of the fact that I had been terribly overwhelmed with the crisis at hand.
But then, when some junior officers over-heard the suggestion of one of the Service Chiefs earlier mentioned, it was suggested to me that we should finish all the members of the Provisional Ruling Council and give the general public an excuse that there was a meeting of the PRC during which a shoot-out occurred between some members of the Provisional Ruling Council and the Body Guards to the Head of State When I sensed that we would be contending with far more delicate issues than the one on ground, I talked to Generals Buba Marwa and Ibrahim Sabo who both promptly advised us – the junior officers – against any bloodshed. They advised we contact General Ibrahim Babangida (former Military President) who equally advised against any bloodshed but that we should support the most senior officer in the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) to be the new Head of State.
Since the words of our elders are words of wisdom, we agreed to support General Jeremiah Useni. Along the line, General Bamaiyi lampooned me saying, “Can’t you put two and two together to be four? Has it not occurred to you that General Useni who was the last man with the Head of State might have poisoned him, knowing full well that he was the most senior officer in the PRC?”
Naturally, I became furious with General Useni since General Abacha’s family had earlier on complained severally about the closeness of the two Generals; at that, a decision was taken to storm General Useni’s house with almost a battalion of soldiers to effect his arrest. Again, some heads of security units and agencies, including my wife, advised against the move.
The next most senior person and officer in government was General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who was then the Chief of Defence Staff. We rejected the other Service Chief, who, we believed, was too ambitious and destructive. We settled for General Abubakar and about six of us called him inside a room in the Head of State’s residence to break the news of the death of General Abacha to him.
As a General with vast experience, Abdulsalami Abubakar, humbly requested to see and pray for the soul of General Abacha which we allowed. Do we consider this a mistake? Because right there, he – Abubakar – went and sat on the seat of the late Head of State. Again, I was very furious. Like I said at the Oputa Panel, if caution was not applied, I would have gunned him down.
The revolution the boys were yearning for would have started right there. The assumption that we could not have succeeded in the revolution was a blatant lie. We were in full control of the State House and the Brigade of Guards. We had loyal troops in Keffi and in some other areas surrounding the seat of government – Abuja. But I allowed peace to reign because we believed it would create further crises in the country.
We followed the advice of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and the wise counsel of some loyal senior officers and jointly agreed that General Abdulsalami Abubakar be installed Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces immediately after the burial of General Sani Abacha in Kano. It is an irony of history that the same Service Chief who wanted to be Head of State through bloodshed, later instigated the new members of the Provisional Ruling Council against us and branded us killers, termites and all sorts of hopeless names. They planned, arranged our arrest, intimidation and subsequent jungle trial in 1998 and 1999. These, of course, led to our terrible condition in several prisons and places of confinement.
By Toyin Akingbade

APC Crisis: How NEC made Oyegun, Saraki, Dogara winners

…As Tinubu, Akande are curiously absent
•Govs, aggrieved camps’ meeting fail to broker peace
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
Like a prosecution counsel whose absence stalled the hearing of his case in a law court, the failure of the National Leader of  the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the former interim National Chairman of the party, Chief Bisi Akande’s, to attend  the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting, on Friday, stopped the hearing of “their  case” against the leadership of the party and the National Assembly respectively. This is the inside story of how the APC National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, was let off the sack hook.
Apart from President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired military general who is obviously not known with generous, frivoulous, broad smiles, every other person wore smiles on their way out  of the meeting.
From the ruling party National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, to the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and Speaker Yakubu Dogara, the smiles beamed. The governors were not left out. Trust Governors Adams Oshiomole and Rochas Okorocha who spoke to journalists. Their smiles were expectedly infections. But these were  wry, seemingly subdued smiles that flashed just across faces.
Sure, one would think that those smiles were from the heart. But beyond  the facade was deep seated pain arising from the stalemate of the core issue that brought them together. In any case, many thought it was a conscious calculation to hoodwink the media and the world knowing what the expectations of the members of the public were of them from the meeting.
Vote of confidence on Oyegun
But Oyegun’s happy mood was real. No doubts. He had hitherto been on tenterhooks. Two reasons were chiefly responsible. One: He was let off the sack hook and unexpectedly given a vote of confidence by the gathering. Two: His perceived critics were not available to frontally press their charges against him.
Indeed, to any keen follower of the ugly developments in the All Progressives Congress, APC, since June 9 when the 8th National Assembly was inaugurated, expectations were high that the National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting  of the party, held on Friday at its national secretariat in Abuja, would have resolved the logjam. But that was not to happen.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara;Senate President, APC Chirman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun Dr. Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC NEC Meeting.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara;Senate President, APC Chirman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun Dr. Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC NEC Meeting.
What is the logjam? The Senate President, Saraki, and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Dogara, were elected into office in defiance of the directive of the party which had, in a straw poll, on June 6,  produced Senate Ahmed Lawan and Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila as official candidates for the portfolios. Since then, all things fell apart for the party. That was round one of the problems.
Round two: While every effort was made to placate the powers-that-be in the APC, who obviously godfathered and even midwived the candidatures of Lawan and Gbajabiamila, another tsunami hit the party. What happened? The party’s hierarchy, in what was believed to be a coerced move, sent in a list of candidates to be made Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip, ditto for the House of Representatives. But their list was rejected  by the senators who eventually picked their choices for the positions.
Meanwhile, the letter containing the names for the Reps principal offices was not read by the Speaker, a development that culminated in a free- for -all on June 25 on the floor of the House. And then the party boiled further.
The crisis escalated when it sprawled menacingly to the national secretariat of the party, threatening  Oyegun as the National Chairman as some quarters accused him of taking gratification.
But the man has since dismissed the allegation saying it is neither here not there.
And determined to broker peace among the APC warring parties, the Chairman summoned a meeting of the NEC for Friday.
Buhari, Saraki, Dogara, senators, Reps, governors elected on the platform of the party and every other person who had the licence to attend graced the event. But the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the former interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, upon whom most things in the party revolved around were conspicuously absent.
Rhetorics
One would have thought that the core issue, being the crisis in the party, would be exhaustively discussed and laid to rest, but you can’t bet it was scarcely mentioned in the course of proceedings. What rather transpired in the meeting were words of admonition, warnings, cautions and, in the end, there was a basket full of resounding rhetorics. Yet the crisis raged on. Otherwise, why would a NEC that had the powers to take decisive and definite decisions pass on the responsibility of brokering peace between the aggrieved parties onto the governors to mediate?
Meanwhile, in the preclude to the closed-door session, the President had asked everyone to pocket his selfish ambition and allow the party and, by extension, his government to work.
‘Winning the battle, losing the war’
He said: “The elections have come and gone. The APC has won the battle, but lost the war. This is the paradox of democracy and we shall see how we can manage it going forward.
“I have already addressed you through the Chairman, through the leadership of the party, through your excellencies, the governors, and through our senators and House of Representatives members.
“The APC must not disappoint its constituency, that is the nation-state. We have to convince our various constituencies that we are individually worthy of the sacrifices that they have made.
“Let us as members of the APC no matter our personal differences get together and use the mandate given to us by this country. This is my personal appeal to you in the name of God. Whatever your personal interest or ambition, please keep it close to your heart and in your pocket. Let APC work.
“Let the system work and let us have a government that will earn the respect of our constituencies.  My problem is the constituencies. I thank you very much for listening to me, and I thank the leadership across the board, and I appeal to you to please continue to work together.
“Please accept the superiority of the party.   I cannot confine myself to the cage or Sambisa forest and refuse to participate in NEC or BoT. So, I respect, the superiority of the party.  But God in his infinite mercy has helped by giving us acceptance. Let us not throw this success to the wind”.
APC will overcome challenges – Oyegun
In his welcome speech at the meeting, the National Chairman expressed the hope that the challenges in the party would be resolved before the resumption of National Assembly  on July 21.
“We know the issues the challenges the party is passing through. In the process, we will discuss the challenges. I can assure you that they will be dealt with conclusively before the National Assembly reassembles”, Oyegun said.
APC governors to meet Saraki, Dogara
Briefing journalists after the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that NEC resolved that Pregressives Governors Forum, a body of APC governors, would meet with Saraki and Dograra later as part of the moves to settle the conflict.
He stated that both the NEC and the governors unanimously expressed satisfaction with the Oyegun-led party executive by passing a vote of confidence on him.
He said: “The National Legal Adviser came to seek the approval of NEC as to the certain candidates of NEC who should be members of BoT and a motion was moved and carried after which NEC and the governors passed a vote of confidence in the leadership of the party.
“NEC has provided an enabling environment to look into ways of resolving the national assembly lock jams. Later in the day, the governors will be meeting with the Speaker and the Senate President in a further attempt to find a lasting solution to the lingering logjam at the National Assembly.
“Also, it is important to let you know that everybody in the party is united on two issues which are party supremacy and the need to ensure that this government deliver its campaign promises.”
APC will not break up—Okorocha
Also with journalists at the end of the meeting, Okorocha, who is the Chairman of the governors group,  stated that the problems in the party would be resolved amicably.
He said: “Many people think that there will be problems between APC members at this meeting. But I am assuring Nigerians that we have met and discussed what affects all of us and we have understood ourselves. We have also reiterated our support and loyalty to our leadership. We are also going to meet on the issue of the National Assembly crisis and it will be resolved amicably. So, I can confidently say that the crisis facing the party is almost over now.”
APC will come out of problem stronger—Oshiomhole
Similarly, the Edo governor, Oshiomhole said that APC would come out of its present challenges stronger and better.
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC NEC Meeting.
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and President Muhammadu Buhari at the APC NEC Meeting.
“In human societies, you are bound to get divergent views. We can’t be perfect because we are human. The only thing is to recognize our limit and work together. The fact that the president left his office to attend the NEC meeting shows that he believes in the supremacy of the party because all of us, the president inclusive went for the election on the platform of the party,”he stated.
“I expect that the party will work as unified entity especially as we promised the nation change. We had a very interesting discussion during the meeting and we affirmed the superiority of the party. We also have confidence in the way the president is giving leadership to the country. And so we all pledged to be Layla and dedicated to the party and the administration.
“I think we are leaving this place much, much stronger than we entered. But the good thing about democracy is that it allows even the fool to be foolish and the intelligent also to be intelligent. In the process of discussion, we intended to appeal to people to buy into our beliefs and our actions for us to be strong. And I am happy that those that are expecting chairs will be thrown, people coming out wearing long faces. But the party came out to say after we are APC”.
Tinubu, Akande absent at NEC meeting
Curiously absent at the meeting were Tinubu and Akande. Both had been dissatisfied with the turn of events in the National Assembly and the APC. While Tinubu was said to have been using the party leaders against Saraki and Dagara as National Assembly leaders, Akande exploded in a letter, warning against a North’s conspiracy against the Youraba of  the South-West. But at the APC NEC meeting where the issue could have been discussed both men stayed away. Consequently, the NEC decided to step down their case, a development many felt had given Saraki, Dogara and Oyegun an edge in the crisis.
Lai Mohammed defended their absence.  “If you look at our Constitution, neither of them is a member of the EXCO of the party. I think it is at the discretion of the NWC or NEC whom to invite or not and I also saw that quota as act of respect for his position. I don’t want to fathom more reasons why they are not here, but like I said neither of them is a  member of the EXCO of the party”, he said.
Peace meeting
Having received the blessing of the NEC to mediate between Saraki/ Lawan’s groups and Dogara/Gbajabimaila’s  groups, APC governors took the peace meeting to Imo State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro where they met with the aggrieved groups. But like the NEC meeting, the Asokoro meeting ended in deadlock. Again, beaming with broad smiles, Okorocha and Oshiomhole, who have apparently become the mouthpiece of the Progressives Governors Forum, briefed journalists.
“You will not see any more disagreements as against the past. Peace has come to our party. Both the Senate President and the Speaker; Senator Ahmed Lawan and Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila will work together for the unity and progress of our party. By next week, we will give you people the details of the outcome of this peace meeting, but so far so good all things being equal,”Okorocha said.
Oshiomhole echoed similar sentiment “When you have some little disagreement among friends, the only way to solve them is to talk and we have started the process. The fact that the two sides are present, the foundation for peace is there.
“If people refuse to see eye to eye or refuse to sit together, then you can’t even discuss and the fact that they all turned up and we listened to all the sides and we have a couple of suggestions, we have agreed to continue with the conversation and we are meeting again  tomorrow (Saturday) night  here again. So, I believe we are making some progress. Not that everything is signed, sealed and delivered that is why Okorocha said we are continuing the process.”
Bottom line
In the reckoning of many ordinary Nigerians, the brouhaha in  the APC does not concern them. What they earnestly yearn for is change. Clogging the wheel of developmental progress in the overall good of the country might spell doom for the government of Buhari. Just as Oyegun and the governors have promised, Nigerians expect the crisis in the National Assembly to be resolved before its resumption date of  July 21.

Nigerian-born scientist wins award for his cancer-seeing glasses

Ben Ezeamalu    

   

A Nigerian born scientist, Samuel Achilefu, has won the prestigious St. Louis Award for 2014 for creating cancer-visualizing glasses.
Dr. Achilefu, a professor of radiology and biomedical engineering, and his team developed the imaging technology in cancer diagnosis into a wearable night vision-like goggles so surgeons could see the cancer cells while operating.
“They basically have to operate in the dark,” Bloomberg Businessweek quoted Dr. Achilefu, 52, as saying.
“I thought, what if we create something that let’s you see things that aren’t available to the ordinary human eye.”
Dr. Achilefu won a scholarship from the French government to study at the University of Nancy, according to St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a regional newspaper in St. Louis, U.S., and is the 87th person to receive the annual award since it was established in 1931.
Married with two young children, Dr. Achilefu moved to St. Louis after he was hired by Mallinckrodt to start a new research department.
“Our efforts start with two words: ‘What if?'” Dr. Achilefu said during his acceptance speech.
“These words may sound simple, but they embody the belief that each person has the potential to make a difference, if only he or she can take the time to understand the problem.”
According to Bloomberg, the researchers’ technology requires two steps: First, surgeons inject a tiny quantity of an infrared fluorescent marker into the patient’s bloodstream. The peptides contained in the marker enables it to locate cancer cells and buries itself inside.
After the tracer flows through a patient’s body and clears from non-cancerous tissue – which lasts about four hours – the operation would begin. Wearing the goggle, the doctor can inspect tumours under an infra red light that reacts with the dye, causing cancer cells to glow from within.
This month, the goggles have been used on humans for the first time by surgeons at the Washington University School of Medicine.
Four patients suffering from breast cancer and over two dozen patients with melanoma or liver cancer have been operated on using the goggles since they were developed.
“The goggles function fantastically,” says Ryan Fields, a surgical oncologist who is collaborating with Dr. Achilefu to improve on the technology.
“They allow us to see the cells in real time, which is critical. Because the marker has not yet been FDA-approved, doctors are currently using a different, somewhat inferior marker that also reacts with infrared light.”
Julie Margenthaler, a breast cancer surgeon, says tens of thousands of women who had had breast cancer lumpectomies go back for second operations every year because of the inability to see the microscopic extent of the tumours.
“Imagine what it would mean if these glasses eliminated the need for follow-up surgery and the associated pain, inconvenience and anxiety.”
Dr. Achilefu and his team began work in 2012 after they received $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Before then, they had been working on a lean budget provided by the Department of Defence’s Breast Cancer Research Program.
After it was developed, the team spent years testing the technology on mice, rats, and rabbits to confirm the efficacy of the goggles.
“Nobody would believe us until we showed that the goggles work,” Dr. Achilefu says.
The Food and Drug Administration are still reviewing the goggles and a related dye Dr. Achilefu and his co-researchers developed, according to Washington University in St. Louis, a St. Louis based journal.
Dr. Achilefu says he intends to keep Washington University as the primary centre for clinical trials to evaluate the technology in patients.
“Making a difference in society should be the goal of everybody,” Dr. Achilefu

INVESTIGATION: How children from rich Nigerian families help finance Boko Haram

     

Premium Times    

   

On Saturday, 4 October, 2013, Bauchi, capital of Bauchi State, was experiencing an unusually cold weather. At the Old GRA, a suburb of the city, Ismaila Gambo, a 21-year-old with a neatly trimmed beard got up at dawn and headed to a nearby mosque for his morning prayers. He wore a grey sweatshirt atop a pair of jeans and boots.
Ismaila’s dressing suggested that he was off to some high-energy work. But he was actually headed for Maiduguri, capital of Borno State where he believed he was to carry out a self-appointed divine assignment.
Upstairs, in a bedroom in the Gambos’ home, a duplex, his 17–year-old sister, Khadija, said her own prayers. She was dressed in a long gown and wore a headscarf as she waited for her brother to return.
Khadija wore a niqabi, a veil worn by a Muslim woman so that only the eyes are visible. Soon, if all went according to plan, Khadija would be married to a jihadi, a fighter for the cause of Islam. What would her husband be like? She hoped he would be handsome and bearded like Ismaila, her brother.
When the men returned from the mosque just before 6 a.m., Khadija waited until she heard her father go back to bed. Then, before her parents woke up, she stuffed some pillows under the covers to make it seem like she was the one in bed and mentally reviewed her checklist: – clothes for five days, boots, warm socks, a toothbrush, a hairbrush, her niqabi, hijab, and Qur’an.
She grabbed her suitcase, walked downstairs, slipped through the door with her brother and they sped off in one of their father’s many cars.
For the Gambo children, they were embarking on a journey to fulfill destiny. Both had been radicalised by the extremist ideology of Boko Haram and were making a trip to be part of the movement they believed in. But fate had other plans for them.
The two Gambo siblings – this website agreed to change their names for security reasons – had been plotting their journey for over a year. They had been in touch via the telephone and internet with others who had become convinced that the Boko Haram ideology represents the way to salvation.
Ismaila is an Engineering graduate of the Abubakar Tafawa Belewa University, Bauchi. His sister, was a second year French undergraduate of the University of Jos, before they embarked on their journey.
But Ismaila and his sister did not fulfill the mission to join the insurgents. They were caught because he mixed up the phone number of his contact — a lecturer at the University of Maiduguri– which was given to him by a Boko Haram member. The contact was to have provided them with accommodation in GRA, Maiduguri.
“I made a mistake with the numbers they (Boko Haram) had given me in Bauchi, and by twist of fate it was another University of Maiduguri lecturer’s number.”
“The lecturer played along, and while we were waiting, the house was raided,” Ismaila recalled, without regret.
He and his sister are among many that wanted to join Boko Haram or successfully joined, but were caught and are now cooling their heels at a detention camp in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State and the heart of the insurgency.
The icirnigeria.org was given a brief, exclusive access to the detention facility in Maiduguri, one of the many such places where the children of mostly rich and powerful people who have supported, sponsored or were working for Boko Haram are being kept.
The story of these “rich kids” provides a glimpse into how some of the terrorist activities of the Boko Haram group have been financed. Apparently, part of the insurgency group’s past success can be attributed to the contributions these children made to their “cause”.
Ismaila told the icirnigeria.org that there were many of them who were successfully recruited from very influential homes to work for Boko Haram. Many of them consider claims that the insurgency was poverty-driven laughable.
Adegboyega Sam, an army major and one of the officers at the camp, said when Ismaila and his sister were arrested, they had almost an equivalent of N3 million in various currencies, several banks’ ATM cards, four smartphones and three laptops.
“There are many of them here, children of influential Nigerians, some we have been keeping for more than three to four years. We only await instructions from above; ours is to follow orders,” he said.
Confusion
In spite of several hours of interrogation, investigators who have handled the case of these young Nigerians are still a bit confused about how they got conscripted to work for Boko Haram. There are still too many questions unanswered. Why did they leave everything dear to them – family, privileged upbringing and life – without looking back to become terrorists?
The services that Ismaila intended to offer Boko Haram are unclear, even to him. According to a rough transcript of his confessional statement, he told security operatives that he wanted to play a “public-service role” — delivering food, or, perhaps, providing intelligence for the sect; maybe “a combat role”, he said.
Ismaila said he had never held a gun, let alone fire one. As he claimed, his desire was to help Muslims. He wanted to die fighting a holy war.
When asked if he was willing to be used on a suicide mission, Ismaila said: “Yes, if it pleases the Almighty Allah.”
“I did not just run with my sister. An Islamic State had been established, and it is thus obligatory for every able-bodied male and female to fight to keep it. I wanted the comfort of a new khalifah (caliphate),” he said.
Investigations show that there are many like Ismaila who have come to believe in the Boko Haram ideology and have provided support in terms of intelligence, logistic support, food, transportation and so on. Others have directly provided funds to oil the wheel of the deadly insurgency campaign waged by Boko Haram against the Nigerian state and its people.
Musa Awal
Another inmate of the detention facility, Musa Awal, 18, was restless as he spoke to our reporter.
“This nation is openly against Islam and Muslims, especially since Jonathan became President and the evil of this country makes me sick,” he said angrily.
Musa is the third son of a wealthy family from Borno State. His family came into wealth during the regime of the late General Sani Abacha. He told our reporter boldly that not only is education harmful, but “living in this land is haram [sinful]”.
But when reminded that he had attended some of the best schools in Nigeria, he kept mute, looking bemused.
When Musa was caught, he begged that his parents should not be called. He told interrogators that if he confessed, his parents would be killed.
According to a security source, this suggests that he must have worked with a group of people – the possibility of a cell could not be overruled.
Another source at the Directorate of Behavioural Analysis which is part of the office of the National Security Office, NSA, revealed that they had been tracking finance and supplies to Boko Haram for long and it was no surprise that many influential families had set up some sort of fund which they released in the shape of “protection monies” to Boko Haram.
“Some of them watch helplessly as their kids become radicalized and when we nab them, some even prefer that their wards are left in detention out of fear,” said the source.
The source disclosed that one way that Boko Haram finances its operations is through collection of protection money which it obtains from willing sources or through blackmail and coercion of residents of territories it controls.
For example, rich people like Ismaila and Musa, who sympathise with Boko Haram fighters, funnel monies to the insurgents ostensibly for protection but in reality as financial support to prosecute their activities.
The source said that is why, curiously, in spite of the numerous attacks on Maiduguri, places like the old and new GRA where wealthy and influential people stay, have never been targeted.
“Go to both the new GRA and the old one, none of them has been attacked all these years that the insurgency has lasted,” he stated.
The Parents
When our reporter visited Musa’s parents, it was obvious that they were regular people, although wealthy.
His mom expressed shock that he had become radicalised and joined a terrorist group. She said that the only time her son was violent was when he was aged about eight. That was when he got angry and broke the television. She also said they ensured that their kids never had unsupervised internet access and encouraged them to watch cartoons.
“We wanted to preserve their innocence, but maybe with all the affluence we failed,” she said with a sigh.
The story is no different from the Gambos whose children first attended religious schools before heading to the upscale Hillcrest School in Jos, Plateau State, after which they spent a year in a preparatory college in the United Kingdom. After that, back home in Bauchi, a private Islamic teacher came home to give them Islamic knowledge in what they considered a conducive environment.
But the story of radicalised rich kids like Ismaila and Musa cannot be strange or new to those who know about Farouk Abdulmutallab, who at 23, attempted to bomb a US-bound plane on a Christmas Day in 2009.
The youngest of the 16 children of Umaru Mutallab, a wealthy businessman and banker from Kastsina State, Farouk, now popularly known as the “underwear bomber”, hid explosives in his underwear which failed to detonate on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan.
Among other charges, he was arraigned for the attempted murder of 289 people and was in February 2012, sentenced to four life terms and a 50 year jail term.
There is also the story of Ibrahim Uwais, the son of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, who allegedly left with his two wives and children to join the ISIS.
The 41-year-old devout Muslim, who was perceived to have hated Boko Haram, its ideology and killing of innocent people, left his father, Muhammed Uwais, and other family members shocked.
Kunle Nwosu, a psychologist with the NSA office’s Counter-Terrorism Department, works on a de-radicalization programme started recently for “rich misdirected boys”, as he called them.
He said in many cases, most of their parents are nice, regular people and the kids seem well adjusted. They are obedient, well-mannered, got good grades in school and are volunteers in mosques. Religion plays a central role in their lives and they make efforts to pray five times daily.
“To be honest with you, you can’t imagine their kids being Boko Haram,” Nwosu stated.
Aliyu Ibrahim, an Islamic scholar in one of Maiduguri’s many Islamiyya (Islamic schools), explained why many kids from wealthy homes are Boko Haram supporters. “We have a lot of experience with these influential children. Many of these kids are Boko Haram fans. Something just goes wrong. It probably begins from drugs, stealing, waywardness and then sympathy for Boko Haram,” he said.
Big Problem
“If you read many of their statements, there is a similarity to them as if they’d been copied from a script. For example you keep seeing the phrase “I simply cannot sit here and let my brothers and sisters get killed by infidels; I am ready to die and so forth,” noted Mr. Nwosu.
Mr. Nwosu observed that most of the boys and girls in the facility were arrested before the coming of the Islamic State, IS, which has launched a terrorist campaign in the Arab world. He believes that many such youths who are open to extremist indoctrination might have since joined ISIS and that Nigeria may already have a large army of radicalized youths that could make the country a huge tinderbox.
But if nothing can be immediately done about Nigerian youths that might be flocking to join ISIS, certainly, back home, the state can take action against those who have been detained for links to Boko Haram. Or so it seems.
Some wondered why such potentially dangerous youths would be kept in detention for years, some as many as four years, without being brought to trial. But it is not as cut and dry as it appears, it seems. Even our security source at the camp balked when asked why the detainees had not been charged. He did not provide an answer.
However, another security source, who is also a lawyer, who does not want to be named, said there is no legal obstacle preventing the military or security agencies from charging them to court, reasoning that there are a plethora of charges that can be brought against them.
“Basically you have something like knowingly attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization in the form of personnel — namely, himself, monies and so on,” he observed.
Even then, he added that ”a wide range of activities is criminalized under the Terror Act, including supplying weapons, money, personnel or training to providing things like humanitarian relief, conflict-resolution training and other expert advice or assistance”.
It is not known precisely how federal authorities arrived at its targets and under what laws some of these semi-juvenile detention facilities are run. In all, it was discovered that there are four facilities – one in Borno and Plateau states and two in Abuja – all catering to some 1,000 individuals aged between 15 and 30.
The National Security Adviser’s Office would not speak officially. The Department for State Security too said it was not aware of the existence of these facilities.
Similarly, the military appeared unwilling or unable to offer any information. The publication of this report was held up for several weeks in order to get the defence spokesman, Chris Olukolade, a Major General, to speak on the detention camps but it was difficult getting him until last week.
When confronted with our findings last week, Mr. Olukolade stated that he was not aware of any detention camp where young Boko Haram financiers or supporters were being held,
He however, promised to find out and react appropriately later. Until the time of going to press, Mr. Olukolade did not provide any information on the matter.
The icirnigeria.org, however, learnt that investigation of many young people at various stages of radicalization was ongoing. Also, agents were gathering intelligence and setting traps for unsuspecting targets like Ismaila.

This report was first published by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. We have their permission to republish.