•Ex-police boss Tsav lamentsFrom TIMOTHY OLA, Maiduguri and NWAOKORIE NNEKA, Abuja
Wednesday, November 09 , 2011
Wednesday, November 09 , 2011
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Following deadly attacks by Boko Haram last weekend in Potiskum and Damaturu in Yobe State, which claimed more than 100 lives, the residents are fleeing in droves. Even the patrol by the military and policemen could not stop the exodus from the North-eastern state yesterday.
But a former Police Commissioner, Abubakar Tsav, said that Nigerians should not expect a respite with the alleged non-cooperation among the security agencies.
He spoke to Daily Sun from Saudi Arabia where he is on pilgrimage.
In Yobe State yesterday, hundreds of residents besieged the major motor parks in Damaturu and Potiskum with their families and property to escape.
One of them, Samuel Musa told Daily Sun on phone that many residents resolved to leave because they feared the Islamist sect members could strike again despite the show of force by soldiers and mobile policemen.
“As I am speaking with you now, I’m at the Damaturu Mass Transit Park with my family and many other people who are leaving the town. You know I have lived here for about 20 years but I can’t afford to stay here longer than today.
The bombing last Friday is enough warning because the incident was terrible and we don’t know the next target,” he said.
According to him, there were about 50 people at the Central Motor Park located at the heart of the state capital who were waiting for Jos, Kano and Abuja bound cars to connect other parts of the country, adding that the people were unmindful of the high transport fare.
Many of the Igbo traders were yet to open their shops and businesses yesterday following the killing of some of their kinsmen during the attacks. Chinedu, a spare part dealer, was reportedly shot in his shop minutes after the anti-terrorism squad office was bombed.
No fewer than 100 people died in the last weekend attacks in Damaturu and Potiskum, though the police put the casualty figure at 53. Most of the streets of Damaturu have remained deserted since last weekend until yesterday afternoon when a few residents and vehicles were seen on the roads.
Meanwhile, the police have assured the residents of their determination to restore security of lives and property even as the state government restated its earlier promise to assist victims of the attacks, including some of the churches that were burnt or destroyed.
The Deputy Governor, Abubakar Aliyu, said yesterday that government would assess the damage so as to assist the victims and institutions even as he said the state government was on top of the situation.
“The position of government has not changed as contained in the statement it issued shortly after the incident. The government is handling the situation and will assist the affected persons and places as promised,” Musa Alaraba, Chief Press secretary to the Deputy Governor told Daily Sun yesterday.
In assessing the situation yesterday, Alhaji Tsav believed that the recent security challenges across the country regarding the attacks by Boko Haram has not been helped by the fact that the various security agencies in the country were not well coordinated for the task at hand.
Speaking to the Daily Sun from Saudi Arabia, he explained that it appears that the different security organizations are working at cross –purpose, adding that in an effort to take credits, they end up muddling the entire job.
He maintained that quite too often, the security agencies want to be the one making the arrests, to prosecute the suspects and at the same time, as well as gather the intelligence report, thereby messing up the whole process and the clinical finishing necessary for this kind of operation.
He advised that as a way out, each of the security units should concentrate on its area of comparative advantage, saying that the police should leave the area of intelligence gathering to the State Security Service while the Service should leave the area of prosecution to the police who are better trained to handle that aspect of the law.
According to him, the whole security challenges poised by the Islamist sect could be better managed and if possible halted through proper intelligence gathering and management rather than forceful response and attacks, advocating that with the use of intelligence, the leadership of the sect would be picked and prosecuted according to the law of the land.
The former Police Commissioner condoled with the families, who lost their loved ones in the weekend attacks.
Meanwhile, The National Council of Women’s Societies (NCWS) has deplored last weekend’s killings in Yobe and Borno states, urging the government to fish out perpetrators of the act.
The group in a statement described as barbaric and unacceptable the killing of innocent Nigerians by some people.
The NCWS national President Mrs. Nkechi Mba lamented that women were being turned into “widows prematuredly, losing their children, loved ones and valuable property due to the violent activities of some unpatriotic Nigerians and their collaborators.”
Mrs Mba pleaded with the youths, husbands and fathers to check their children and wards and stop them from being used by unscrupulous and selfish politicians who hide under the guise of a religion, which preaches universal brotherhood, love and peace as the Nigerian women are the victims at the receiving end.
She appealed to Boko Haram to have a rethink, saying the “country belongs to all of us, and divided we fall, but united we stand, hence no peace, no development, stressing that enough is enough.”
But a former Police Commissioner, Abubakar Tsav, said that Nigerians should not expect a respite with the alleged non-cooperation among the security agencies.
He spoke to Daily Sun from Saudi Arabia where he is on pilgrimage.
In Yobe State yesterday, hundreds of residents besieged the major motor parks in Damaturu and Potiskum with their families and property to escape.
One of them, Samuel Musa told Daily Sun on phone that many residents resolved to leave because they feared the Islamist sect members could strike again despite the show of force by soldiers and mobile policemen.
“As I am speaking with you now, I’m at the Damaturu Mass Transit Park with my family and many other people who are leaving the town. You know I have lived here for about 20 years but I can’t afford to stay here longer than today.
The bombing last Friday is enough warning because the incident was terrible and we don’t know the next target,” he said.
According to him, there were about 50 people at the Central Motor Park located at the heart of the state capital who were waiting for Jos, Kano and Abuja bound cars to connect other parts of the country, adding that the people were unmindful of the high transport fare.
Many of the Igbo traders were yet to open their shops and businesses yesterday following the killing of some of their kinsmen during the attacks. Chinedu, a spare part dealer, was reportedly shot in his shop minutes after the anti-terrorism squad office was bombed.
No fewer than 100 people died in the last weekend attacks in Damaturu and Potiskum, though the police put the casualty figure at 53. Most of the streets of Damaturu have remained deserted since last weekend until yesterday afternoon when a few residents and vehicles were seen on the roads.
Meanwhile, the police have assured the residents of their determination to restore security of lives and property even as the state government restated its earlier promise to assist victims of the attacks, including some of the churches that were burnt or destroyed.
The Deputy Governor, Abubakar Aliyu, said yesterday that government would assess the damage so as to assist the victims and institutions even as he said the state government was on top of the situation.
“The position of government has not changed as contained in the statement it issued shortly after the incident. The government is handling the situation and will assist the affected persons and places as promised,” Musa Alaraba, Chief Press secretary to the Deputy Governor told Daily Sun yesterday.
In assessing the situation yesterday, Alhaji Tsav believed that the recent security challenges across the country regarding the attacks by Boko Haram has not been helped by the fact that the various security agencies in the country were not well coordinated for the task at hand.
Speaking to the Daily Sun from Saudi Arabia, he explained that it appears that the different security organizations are working at cross –purpose, adding that in an effort to take credits, they end up muddling the entire job.
He maintained that quite too often, the security agencies want to be the one making the arrests, to prosecute the suspects and at the same time, as well as gather the intelligence report, thereby messing up the whole process and the clinical finishing necessary for this kind of operation.
He advised that as a way out, each of the security units should concentrate on its area of comparative advantage, saying that the police should leave the area of intelligence gathering to the State Security Service while the Service should leave the area of prosecution to the police who are better trained to handle that aspect of the law.
According to him, the whole security challenges poised by the Islamist sect could be better managed and if possible halted through proper intelligence gathering and management rather than forceful response and attacks, advocating that with the use of intelligence, the leadership of the sect would be picked and prosecuted according to the law of the land.
The former Police Commissioner condoled with the families, who lost their loved ones in the weekend attacks.
Meanwhile, The National Council of Women’s Societies (NCWS) has deplored last weekend’s killings in Yobe and Borno states, urging the government to fish out perpetrators of the act.
The group in a statement described as barbaric and unacceptable the killing of innocent Nigerians by some people.
The NCWS national President Mrs. Nkechi Mba lamented that women were being turned into “widows prematuredly, losing their children, loved ones and valuable property due to the violent activities of some unpatriotic Nigerians and their collaborators.”
Mrs Mba pleaded with the youths, husbands and fathers to check their children and wards and stop them from being used by unscrupulous and selfish politicians who hide under the guise of a religion, which preaches universal brotherhood, love and peace as the Nigerian women are the victims at the receiving end.
She appealed to Boko Haram to have a rethink, saying the “country belongs to all of us, and divided we fall, but united we stand, hence no peace, no development, stressing that enough is enough.”
SOURCE: The Sun Newspaper, 9 November 2011. http://sunnewsonline.com/
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