Aliyu Musa
A few days ago soldiers attached to the 144 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Asa in Abia State announced intercepting hundreds of Boko Haram insurgents allegedly on their way to cause havoc in the southeast of the country. The suspects, numbering 486 out of which eight were women, were said to be travelling in a convoy of 33 buses when their suspicious movement attracted the vigilant eyes of the soldiers.
Given the security situation in the country and disturbing bomb scares in several parts it is natural for any unusual movement of people to attract suspicion. So, while we blame the military for acting promptly we need to take that into consideration too. However, the big issue is whether the situation has been properly handled since then and those not indicted allowed to go. I doubt it.
Since the news of the arrest hit the headlines of news media tension between the north and south has increased. Thanks to the preposterous conclusion that the suspects were Boko Haram fighters, ahead of full investigations. And as it often follows such stereotypical stigmatisation many that previously held the belief that every northerner or Muslim is, at the very least, a Boko Haram sympathiser may now point at this big ‘interception’ as a confirmation of their suspicion.
This is regardless of the fact that the sect has done more harm to the region and people, directly, by means of the mindless violence it unleashes, and indirectly, through the often vindictive response of security forces including the military on the one hand and the civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) on the other.
And, that is why those of us that insist on fair treatment for the suspects believe it was very premature for anyone to claim, with definitely finality, that the suspects were Boko Haram members. Even when people supporting the assertion that some of the suspects made self indicting confessions or had no clue where they were headed when apprehended point at such ridiculous claims to support the theory it still does beg the question.
In civilised societies legal processes are needed to prove complicity and/or guilt. On the contrary, and as this case already suggests, in the attempts to prove guilt by all means, suspects are subjected to trial by ordeal, and in some cases, especially where the possibility of obtaining a conviction becomes increasingly doubtful, suspects are subjected to extrajudicial executions.
Since the insurgence began in 2009 this has sadly been the case with regards to the treatment of suspects, whether the allegations against them are based on fact or fallacy. And because no one holds anyone accountable for such excesses the practice has become commonplace.
For example a clip, about four minutes long, with very disturbing pictures of what looks like extrajudicial executions recently went viral in the social media. In it men dressed in the Nigerian military fatigues were seen slaughtering dozens of men they had captured in the goriest manner ever. It was shocking that each of the men, at the shout of ‘next!’, walked towards a mass grave and laid down to be slaughtered without any resistance, after which they were shoved into a mass grave. But even more shocking was the relish with which the slaughterers put their victims to death.
After watching the clip the first time it took me days to get over the shock. But as a student of conflict studies I summoned the courage to watch it over and over again with the hope of finding something unusual. And although the Nigerian military were quick to dismiss the clip as the handiwork of people bent on tarnishing their image a proper and more serious study of the clip could reveal the identity of the men and who they were working for.
But no one has taken it seriously or finds it necessary to investigate this and other series of crimes against humanity by security officials and their lackey, the CJTF, in the fight against the insurgents. So, from the executions in 2009, which the insurgents vowed to avenge when they resurfaced in 2010, to happenings now, it is certain we have learnt no lessons, whatsoever.
And with our collective memory of the unforgivable excesses of the military, or people purporting to be them, it is not totally out of place for people to be apprehensive of what could become of 486 suspects. Already, by declaring that a Boko Haram kingpin was arrested from the lot, their fate is almost certainly sealed.
In the meantime, the tension and polarity would continue. Most northerners would continue to claim the suspects were harmless traders travelling to the southeast, within Nigeria’s territorial boundary, to do legitimate business but were arrested simply because they were northerners stigmatised with the tag of Boko Haram.
And most southerners would celebrate the arrest, in line with the claim of the military and police, as a victory against Boko Haram. And because the suspects were apprehended travelling in a convoy of vehicles, although no weapons were found on them, they were guilty until proven otherwise. Not the other way round. Simple.
This is no doubt Nigeria’s toughest period in its entire history. The division is too striking to be missed even by the most naïve. However, how we get out of this will depend on how we manage our sentiments regardless of the divide our sympathy lies with. For, it is only after successfully managing that we might be able to forge a united force against the menace that is undeniably inimical to our collective existence, which the insurgence clearly represents.
So justice must be seen to be done, not selectively, but in all cases.
