Tension in Borno over Al-Jazeera Boko Haram video
Monday, February 15, 2010 at 10:35AM 
Borno is tension-soaked after Al-Jazeera released a video showing persons in police uniforms ordering the killings of unarmed civilians in the Boko Haram sectarian crisis.
Over 1,000 people were believed to have died and properties destroyed.
The footage obtained by Al-Jazeera shows that many of the deaths occurred once the fighting was over in Borno, Yobe, Kano and Bauchi states in July and August 2009.
Al-Jazeera, a renowned international cable network based in Qatar, released the video about the August 2009 mayhem early last week. The video clippings also revealed how persons suspected to be policemen were discussing how not to shoot one of the victims in the head so they could take away his hat.
Claims by Al-Jazeera that elements of the police and army staged a follow-up operation in which house-to-house searches were conducted and individuals were apparently selected at random and taken to a police station have caused stir in Borno, forcing security agencies to beef up security across the state and warning people against violence.
Borno government and the state police command declined comment, but many have accused the Al-Jazeera of deliberately spreading mischief and wanting to incite violence in the country.
While the video clips of the shooting of arrested persons by the police rented the Al-Jazeera airwaves during the week, many in Borno state continued to react in mixed feelings as memories of the ill-fated Boko Haram massacre in opposition to westernisation flooded back to torment victims and their relatives.
Though the situation in Maiduguri, the state capital, has remained calm as the police have since been on security surveillance, many residents fear the video could stir the hornet's nest.
The fear is worsened by the January ethno-religious crisis in Jos, the Plateau State capital, where hundreds were killed.
Most people contacted from within the government circle declined comments on the Al-Jazeera video clips, but hinted at the possibility of Borno Government investigating the cable network "to ascertain why they chose to broadcast the video clips of crisis eight months after the people of the state have gotten over their traumas. This is a mischief that is unbecoming of a reputable media outfit like Al-Jazeera."
The state deputy governor was quoted in the Al-Jazeera broadcast as defending the alleged actions of the police and the military during the religious strife.
According to him, the military and the police who are being paid with tax payers' money can only protect the citizens and not shooting them.
That emerged as family of the late Baba Fugu Muhammed, the father-in -law of the fallen Boko Haram leader, Muhammed Yusuf, sued President Umaru Yar'Adua, Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Michael Aondoakaa, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ogbonna Onovo, for allegedly ordering the summary killing of their aged father during the massacre eight months ago. Baba Fugu was said to have been killed by the police on suspicion that he was a chief financier of his son-in-law's atrocity.
"They killed our innocent father on unfounded suspicion that he sponsored the sect," eldest son of the slain father-in-law, Alhaji Babakura Fugu, told Sunday Independent.
"That is why we are approaching the court as defender of the weak. They not only killed my father, they also destroyed our expansive family house, rendering our mothers homeless. This is cruel, and we won't let it go unchallenged," Babakura added.
Babakura said his father had earlier on told authorities of Yusuf's unbecoming behaviour and later voluntarily reported to the police station after he was accused of bankrolling the sect. "But rather than act on the information my father gave them, they ended up killing him," he stated.
In the suit filed before a Borno State High Court 3, he and his siblings accused Yar'Adua, the Attorney-General, Police Chief and State Governor of complicity in the extra-judicial killing of their father and destruction of their properties.
Presiding judge in the case, Justice Mohammed Mustapha, has granted them exparte motion to serve all the accused the notice of summon.
Anayo Adide, counsel to the litigant, said the President is sued for issuing the order that led to the alleged extra-judicial killing of people in the state, while the state government is joined in the suit for ordering the destruction of the Fugu family compound.
"The IGP is considered a major culprit for allowing police to shoot their father alongside many others in what was extra-judicial murder that is punishable under our law. The Federal and State Attorneys General were joined in the suit for allowing the breach of constitutional rights of the people during the Boko Haram scuffle," he added.
Related stories: Video and transcript of Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf interrogated before his execution
Video report on the widows of Boko Haram militants
Residents worry about their future in Jos
Reader Comments (3)
MISTAKEN NOTION
I titled my contribution ‘mistaken notion’ because many of people do not even understand the type of Islam that is practiced in northern Nigeria. Let me pose and shout a question: WHY IS RELIGIOUS CONFLICT ABSENT IN OTHER PARTS OF WEST AFRICA EXCEPT NORTHERN NIGERIA? Have you posed and asked yourselves that question? Let me update you. The same proportion of divide between Muslims and Christians in northern Nigeria is found in Senegal, Ghana, Cameroun, and Benin Republic. Why are the Muslims in those areas not as active in conflicts as that of northern Nigeria? The simple answer is the type of Islamic faith that is practiced in northern Nigeria is different from the others practiced in West Africa.
I live in Europe and my friend a Nigerian Ibo fellow, dated a Fula woman from Senegal. Her name is Khady. Khady was ready to marry my friend. In fact, she was ready to be his second or third wife if he already had a wife in Nigeria. Do not think that she was desperate because she was doing a PhD and a European by nationality and on full scholarship. Her only fear was that her fellow Muslims in Nigeria will kill her once they found out that she is a Muslim and Fula of the linguistic stock parent of the northern Nigerian Fulani. Why would a Muslim Fula in Senegal be ready to marry a Nigerian Christian but a Fulani girl in Nigeria cannot even dream of the same thing? LISTEN: THE DIFFERNCE IS THAT THE BRAND OF ISLAM PRACTICED IN NOTHERN NIGERIA IS DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER PRACTICED IN WEST AFRICA.
The Islam practiced in northern Nigeria is called WAHABISM. Wahabism was founded by Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhaab (1115-1206 AH/ 1730-1793 CE) in the Arabian Peninsula and is well accepted among the Mecca people. It was the starting-point of government, which took it upon itself to apply the Islamic sharee’ah in “totality” and to seek the guidance of the “Qur’aan” and “Sunnah” in all its dealings. Before the arrival of petroleum, the Mecca people wandered in the desert taking care of animals. They were not respected in the Islamic world. In spite of the fact that Muslims go to Mecca and respected the birthplace of Prophet Mohammed, they did not respect Wahabism because of its doctrines. The most respected part of Wahabism doctrines, which other Muslims hate, is the use of violence to propagate or purify Islam. The Wahabists attacked many Islamic states in the name of trying to purity Islam, as such all other sects or countries of the Muslims world hate them even today.
Now when Nigeria worn its independence in 1960, the Sardauna of Sokoto Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sheik Abubakar Gumi thought of ways to stop the advent of Christianity from the south. They were afraid that Christianity was going to overcome Islam in the North, so decided to look for a radical form of Islam that they will use to stop the advent of Christianity. The best and the most radical was Wahabism. The two went to Saudi Arabia and invited Wahabism and planted its roots and teachings in Nigeria. They planted the headquarters of Wahabism in Jos, the frontiers of Christianity and Islam. They named it Jama’t Izalat al Bid’a Wa Iqamat as Sunna (Society of Removal of Innovation and Re-establishment of the Sunna), abbreviated as JIBWIS and known simply as Izala, was founded in 1978 by Sheikh Ismaila Idris in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Both in intention and reality, the JIBWIS is an anti-Sufi-movement that was established to fight against the so called bid’a, innovation, practiced by the Sufi brotherhoods, especially the Qadiriyya and the Tijaniyya. Practices like naming ceremonies, celebrating the Maulid (the birthday of the Prophet), visiting tombs of Saints, etc. are considered to be as non-Islamic by the Izala.
Although the launching of the Izala society took place at the end of the 1970s, the history of the movement started several years before. Sheikh Abubakar Gumi (1922-1992) was one of the main figures of Islam in Nigeria of the 20th century. He obtained a Diploma in Arabic Studies from the Sudan and was appointed as Pilgrim officer in Saudi Arabia. After he returned to Nigeria he was appointed as a Grand Qadi of the North. The critical attitude displayed by Gumi towards Sufism in Radio Kaduna, his writings (both in Hausa and Arabic) against the Qadiriyya and the Tijaniyya are crucial elements in the later establishment of the Izala-society. Sheikh Gumi preached against Bid’a and Sufism without having any institution behind him. Today the Izala is one of the largest Islamic societies not only in Northern Nigeria, but also in the South and even in the neighbouring countries (Chad, Niger, and Cameroon). It is very active in Da‘wa and especially in education. The Izala has many institutions all over the country and is influential at the local, state, and even federal levels. Even though the Izala-organization split into factions in the mid 1980s, it still retain its main goals in Northern Nigeria, that is stopping the growth of other religions and sects that do not belong to Izala.
Izala is Wahabism and its headquarters is in Jos. Even though the Izala are in Chad, Niger, and Cameroon, they do not make trouble there because they are not as many as northern Nigeria. Now you can see the reason why Jos is going through the crisis today. That is the reason why the petrodollar is used to perpetuate the conflicts of Jos. That also explains the reason why the conflict of Jos attracts Izala people from all over Chad, Niger, and Cameroon . Other fundamental reasons for the crisis are economic political and the others that people have mentions. Many do not understand however, the dimension I explained above. That is the reason why I am bringing it up.
I must believe that you are ignorant of what you are try to build! please go and have a justice of islamic knowledge. let me ask you, do you think is lawful in Islam for muslim lady to marry a non-muslim fellow or do you have any backing proves to acersions? what do you know about Gumi?
you are such an idiot you don't know anything about islam