Boko Haram: Sheriff, Zanna Open New Leads For Jonathan, Security Agents To Unravel Sect

The ongoing blame game between the former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the senator representing Borno Central in the National Assembly, Senator Ahmad Zanna over who should bear the responsibility for the Boko Haram(BH) insurgency in Borno State has opened a new vista of opportunity for the security agents and President Goodluck Jonathan to find an end to the insurgency in the North of the country.

The opening up of the top political leaders in Borno State is considered a big break in the effort to rein in the BH insurgency, but I must admit that it is a misplaced hope to imagine that the insurgency can came to an end without dialogue. I have argued elsewhere that a permanent solution to any insurgency, BH inclusive, is dialogue because after the exchange of fires the two sides(government and insurgents) will eventually sit down at the table especially when it becomes apparent to government and insurgents that they are fighting unwinnable war. That said, let us examine the new lead that could help the president and his security officials to unravel the sponsors of the insurgency. But before we do that let us examine some of the issues raised by the protagonists.

The revelation by the Military Joint Task Force (JTF) in Borno State that they have arrested a high profile BH leader, Shuaibu Bama in the house of a serving senator set up the ripples that lead to an exchange of hot bile by the two top politicians in Borno State.

First to react was Zanna who embarked on media campaign to exonerate himself from the allegation of harbouring BH leader. Even before visiting the men of the State Security Service(SSS), he  insisted on his side of the story: that the suspect was arrested at Sheriff’s house, not his.

First he started by blaming Sheriff for his travails, saying the former governor had not forgiven him since he defeated him in the last senatorial election.

He was reported to have told reporters that: “My historic defeat of the former governor of Borno State in the person of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff has never gone down well with many persons and individuals in this country.

“Therefore, this is a latest campaign by the JTF in Borno State to deploy falsehood against me, even though they arrested Shuaibu Bama in Sheriff’s house.

“That they choose to tell the world that they arrested him in my house, is part of the campaign to rope me in by declaring me a Boko Haram member, financier, sympathiser, harbourer or even an activist so as to declare my seat vacant.

“This is being perpetrated to pave the way for Ali Modu Sheriff to by hook or crook come to the Senate, no matter what”.

Zanna has also accused the JTF of being in the pocket of the former governor and that the paraphernalia of security they usually provide for him anytime he was in the state can even rival that provided for the president. In other words he is accusing Sheriff of hijacking a federal institution set up to halt the mindless killings in Borno State and elsewhere.

Zanna also blamed the BH insurgency on the inability of leaders to separate politics from security.

But Sheriff, in a rebuttal, refuted Zanna’s claim that Bama was arrested in his (ex-governor’s) house.

The former governor, in a statement by his Special Assistant, Umar Duhu, described Zanna’s attempt to link him with his problem as laughable and mischievous.

He urged security agencies to fully investigate Zanna's links with Boko Haram and allegations of gunrunning.

“On this note, we want to call on the relevant security authorities to fully investigate the incident and Senator Zanna’s possible links with Boko Haram, and also his hajj-by-road activities for which he was suspected to have used as a façade for the importation of arms and window for the training of terrorists,” he said.

He said it was common knowledge in the state that Zanna deceived youths by saying that he would take them on pilgrimage by road only to send some of them for terrorist training.

“Some of the so-called pilgrims by road have been traced to terrorists’ camps in Afghanistan and Syria, and not Saudi Arabia, their preferred destination.

“It is very much on record that 27 of such pilgrims are still missing up till date,” he said.

Sheriff wondered what Zanna's nephew would be doing in the house of a man he said was his political rival.

He further said that contrary to Zanna's claims in the media that he had parted ways with the suspect, "we can authoritatively confirm that his nephew, Bama, was still his associate up to the time of his arrest.”

Furthermore at the SSS headquarters in Abuja, Zanna reportedly revealed how he gave his aides N1.5 million to buy Sallah rams for the insurgents and their threat to attack him unless he gave them N10 million.

Now the revelations by Sheriff and Zanna present an opportunity for the security agents to investigate the duo thoroughly.

First, the President must investigate the allegation by Zanna that Men of the JTF are in the pocket of Sheriff and are therefore doing his bidding while on federal government mission. If that is true then it does not speak well of the government and need to be addressed urgently. In my opinion there is need for constant change of JTF members so that they do not overstay in a given assignment, because over stay in a given station breeds corruption. Besides, Sheriff’s name has become a reoccurring decimal anytime BH is discussed that he should have been investigated and if possible prosecuted before now. Government should find out how Sheriff get to know that hajj-by-road was used for gun running and training of terrorists abroad; when he knew it and if there was record of him reporting this privileged information to the appropriate authority?

Now Sheriff is singing like a canary bird because Zanna, a serving senator has pointedly accused him of harbouring the fugitive Bama. All of a sudden he has become so patriotic that he is now telling us that Zanna had been involved in gun running and training terrorists in Afghanistan, and Syria etc. The question to ask: when did Sheriff get this information and did he make any effort to inform the security agents? Given the lacuna in his revelations on Zanna it is my candid opinion that he needs to be invited by security agents to explain all that he knows about BH and their sponsors.

As for Zanna, he has to respond to the allegation that his hajj-by-road campaign was a smokescreen to engage in gun running  and spreading of international terrorism. The allegation that he sent young men for training abroad could mean that he has alleged links with Al-Queda. This a weighty allegation that the senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must come clean not only in the eyes of the law but in the eyes of his fellow Nigerians who  bear the brunt of the BH activities in human and material costs. The government should also investigate the allegation by Zanna that JTF is involved in extra-judicial killings. In this day and age when we are still seething about the  genocide perpetrated against the Igbos during the civil war, we cannot tolerate another shedding of innocent blood in the fight against BH. This brings to mind the legal maxim by the twelfth-century legal theorist Maimonides that: "It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death." In other words, it is better and more satisfactory for a thousand guilty BHs to be acquitted  than to put a single innocent person to death.

A recent committee set up by the Borno State government submitted that properties of innocent Nigerians worth over N180million was allegedly destroyed by the JTF with several people killed in alleged revenge attack by JTF over the killing of their officers by alleged BH members. This issue need to be investigated as even wars against insurgency must follow rule of engagement.

Another opportunity that must be seized by the president was the alleged offer by Zanna to lead a federal government delegation in a dialogue with the BH. Given the allegation that the embattled Senator gave N1.5m Sallah rams gift to BH, it means that he knows them or those who know them, therefore he can play the role of a mediator in government’s negotiation with the group. Also, given the tight rope he is right now, he can be of help to the government in bringing an end to the insurgency through dialogue. Lasting solution to insurgency in the North like in the Niger Delta can only come from dialogue. For some time now the issue of dialogue appears to have been relegated to the background while brutal force had been unleashed against BH. But the pyrrhic victory supposedly gotten through brutal force becomes apparent when the asymmetrical nature of BH lead them to attack unexpected targets with huge casualties that exposes how vulnerable most innocent Nigerians have become to the insurgents.