Guardian

THE Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Restore Order in Borno State has urged residents of Maiduguri and other communities to emulate residents of Kaduna State on how to assist JTF and the police in fighting the Boko Haram insurgency that has claimed many lives and property in the state.

Residents of Kano State and Birnin Gwari and Rigasa in Kaduna State, have been resisting attacks and killings by the Boko Haram terrorists, unlike the residents of Borno State who have no “single passive or active resistance” to the incessant attacks and killings in Maiduguri metropolis.

The calls for resistance to terrorists’ attacks and killings and cooperation with the JTF, were made yesterday in a statement by JTF spokesman, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa and made available to The Guardian in Maiduguri.

Musa in the statement said that the JTF was very disturbed by the incessant brutal and barbaric killings of people in some states of the northeastern parts of Nigeria, particularly Borno State.

He said that what was more worrisome was the inhuman way terrorists perpetrate their dastardly acts, ranging from outright shootings, macheting and slaughtering of their victims.

The statement reads in part: “In July 2012, nine construction workers working at Shehu of Borno’s Central Mosque were massacred, so also two Indians were shot dead in their factory by Boko Haram terrorists.

“Similarly, three security guards in Gombaru ward, a respected elder statesman, retired Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Shuwa and a business mogul, Alhaji A. A Girgir were separately shot dead at different locations in Maiduguri metropolis. Five people were also killed in Musari community last Friday.

“Unlike in Kano State, Birnin Gwari and Rigasa areas of Kaduna State, all these obnoxious and sacrilegious acts elicited not a single passive or active resistance from the locals who, in the absence of security agencies, were there when the inhuman acts were committed.”

Sagir said that in an effort to contain crime and criminality, some communities in Nigeria have since devised neighbourhood surveillance and alarm system and other resistance measures to assist themselves and security agencies in combating insecurity in their respective areas.

The statement however noted that this aspect was totally lacking in Borno State, particularly in the Maiduguri metropolis and its immediate environs, adding: “Over 10 wards, including Gwange, Abaganaram, Lawal Bukar, Budum and Kaleri wards have been identified by JTF as black spot areas of the metropolis.”

JTF also reiterated the need for residents and other local communities to rise to the challenge by preempting terrorists acts of this nature by way of giving timely and accurate information to security agencies and where possible, to actively react to this “madness” since soldiers could not be everywhere at the same time.

Members of the public are, according to the statement, reminded to pass any credible information to the JTF through the following telephone numbers-0806 417 4066, 0708 546 4012 and 0815 442 9346.