There are strong indications that the Federal Government has intensified the search for the collaborators of the Boko Haram Islamic sect in the ranks of the security agencies.
A highly-placed security source said on
Friday that the outcome of the investigations carried out by the
military and police culminated in intensified surveillance on the
activities of security personnel, who might have sympathy for the
Islamic sect.
It was learnt that security operatives
had also intensified the search for the leader of the sect, Sheik
Abubakar Shekau, who is believed to still be hiding in the country.
It was also learnt that the dismissed police commissioner, Mr. Zakari Biu, would be prosecuted for the escape of a Boko Haram suspect, Kabiru Sokoto.
A security source said that security operatives had arrested most
of the top operatives of the sect and were on the heels of the sect’s
leader.
The source, who put the achievement of the security operatives combating the Boko Haram sect at 97 per cent, said the group and the terror it represented would be a thing of the past very soon.
Investigations
showed that security operatives directly involved in the campaign
against the sect’s activities were closing in on other security
personnel and civilians believed to be supporting the operations of the
Islamic group.
The source said, “The findings of the
panel that recommended the dismissal of Biu showed that there was a need
to deal with the collaborators of Boko Haram in unexpected quarters in the society.”
The Police Service Commission had on Wednesday dismissed Biu over the escape of Sokoto,
who was allegedly involved in the Chrismas Day bombing of St. Theresa’s
Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, where 44 people died.
Until his dismissal from the force for
gross negligence and lack of effective supervision by the PSC led by Mr.
Parry Osayande, Biu was the commissioner of police in charge of the
CID, Zone 7, Abuja.
The source said that the FG would go all
out for security personnel found to have carried out their statutory
responsibilities in ways suggestive of aiding the Boko Haram.
He added that the dismissal of Biu was a
demonstration of the government’s determination to rid the security
agencies of officers who aided the militant sect.
The source stated, “You will recall that the escape of Sokoto led to the removal of the former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim. I can assure you that more heads will roll.
“The first victim of Sokoto’s escape from police custody was the then IG. If the controversial escape of Sokoto could consume a man of such a high status, it means that the FG is not sparing anybody.”
Before the decision of the PSC to
dismiss Biu, security sources said that it was impossible for the former
CP to escape serious sanctions because of the evidence against him.
Although the commission was silent on
whether Biu would face a trial or not over the escape of the suspect, a
security source said that the dismissed CP would be made to face
prosecution.
It was, however, learnt that
investigators from the Defence Intelligence Agency and the Directorate
of Military Intelligence might have recommended light punishments for
the lower-ranking policemen detained and tried alongside Biu in
connection with the Sokoto saga.
It was learnt that the investigators
were lenient on the rank-and-file on the premise that they lacked the
powers to take decisions on their own in the force.
The source said, “He is being prepared
for trial, but the lower cadre of police officers, who may have been
affected in the release of Sokoto, were acting under an instruction.
“They may not have got any money; they
can’t query the decision because theirs is to carry out instructions or
commands. The law doesn’t punish blindly; there may be some policemen
who may have been spared.”
He stressed that the police was not the only institution whose operatives had displayed bias for the Boko Haram sect.
It was learnt that the Boko Haram
group, which has claimed responsibility for bomb explosions in the
cities of the North and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and its
environs, had its loyalists and supporters in other sensitive security
outfits.
According to the source, the FG is
taking serious steps to beam its searchlight on the Nigerian Army, the
State Security Service, the National Intelligence Agency, and even the
Joint Task Force on Security in the North-East involved in the physical
prosecution of the campaign against the Boko Haram.
It was learnt that with the successful
arrest of many top operatives of the sect and the vital information
extracted from them, several supporters of the sect in the civil
populace and even the security agencies were hurriedly retracing their
steps.
The source said, “I think if you follow
closely, the FG is closing in on all of them; the government is combing
everywhere in the search for such elements giving covert support to the
activities of this group.
“But it is a known fact that it is not
only in the police that you find such people. They are scattered in all
the security agencies.
“You have them in all the security
agencies, including the Nigerian Army, the SSS, the NIA, and others but I
can tell you that they are all running for cover.
“I can assure you that the FG is making
an appreciable progress in tackling this threat to national security.
And very soon, the Boko Haram situation will be over.
“The government is still very much in
the business of protecting the people through hi-tech equipment; the
security operatives are still committed to the security of lives and
property, when there is security there is stability and development
comes with stability.”
He attributed the successes recorded by the security operatives in the search for Boko Haram
members to the concerted efforts of all the segments of the Nigerian
society, such as the security agencies and religious leaders.
“The government is not going to sleep about the Boko Haram
issue. Of course steps are being taken to intensify security efforts.
There has been relative calm because of the combined efforts of
Nigerians, not just the security agencies, but also the religious
leaders and others because everybody now believes that this is not a
religious thing as claimed by the sect at the beginning,” the source
added.
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