National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azazi (rtd)
By Ike Abonyi , Michael Olugbode and John Shiklam
In a joint operation involving the military and officials of the Department of State Security (DSS), the spokes-man of Boko Haram, Abu Qaqa, was arrested at about 4 O'clock Wednesday morning at Kaduna, Kaduna State.
THISDAY checks revealed that Qaqa, who has been evading arrest and has been changing names, finally fell when the operatives intensified their operation and trailed him from Maiduguri to Kaduna.
At Kaduna, he was traced to his house and was found hiding under his bed. However, the DSS has not issued an official statement on the arrest because the agency is still carrying out a thorough identity check.
But several military sources told THISDAY last night that Qaqa has been arrested and taken to custody.
But Boko Haram has not debunked the news of the arrest of its spokesman, which has littered every news medium.
A source within the intelligence circle said: “He was arrested in Kaduna around 4 am on Wednesday. He was trailed from Maiduguri to Kaduna.
“He has been evading arrest by changing names. The arrest was effected by a team of DSS and the military. He has been brought to Abuja for questioning,” he said.
It was also gathered that the arrest of Qaqa was made possible with the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite facility.
The GPS is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather situations on a given subject.
Also, the Arewa Consul-tative Forum (ACF) has said it is prepared to broker talks between the Federal Govern-ment and the sect to end the crisis.
A top official of the DSS in Maiduguri told journalists on the telephone that “we have finally picked him (Abu Qaqa) up and he is currently in our custody. You can report that as a confirmed development”.
It was also gathered from a security source that Qaqa, who has been speaking on behalf of the group that identified themselves as Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad, but known to many Nigerians as Boko Haram, is an Igala, a tribe in Kogi State.
Qaqa, according to the security source, was responsible for the issuance of all threats that came out from the hidden enclave of the sect, including the ones that preceded the bombings of the Police Force headquarters building, the UN building, both in Abuja, the recent attack on Kano, and last weekend’s threat of a possible attack on Sokoto.
The security source also said that Qaqa had not only been the spokesman of the group, but had equally coordinated several attacks and bombings that took place in most parts of the North.
Meanwhile, ACF, in issuing the pre-conditions, asked the Federal Government to commit itself openly and unambiguously in guaranteeing the security of leaders of Boko Haram if they eventually come out for dialogue.
The forum also said it was ready to offer itself to broker peace with the fundamentalist group in order to bring an end to the orgy of bombings, killings and destruction of property being perpetrated by members of the sect.
Responding to questions at a press conference on the state of the nation in Kaduna, Chairman of the forum, Alhaji Aliko Mohammed, said since the Federal Government had indicated its willingness to dialogue with the sect, the government “should give them some guarantee” so that they could come out for dialogue.
Besides, Mohammed said contrary to widely held views, the Boko Haram is more of the enemy of Northern Muslims than the rest of Nigerians, maintaining that over 90 per cent of the about 2,000 people said to have been killed by the sect were Muslims.
He also defended the recent ultimatum by the sect asking Southerners to leave the North, arguing that it was the South-south that first issued a three-day ultimatum to Northerners to leave the South.
“Actually we have said that there is no religion that approves killing of people neither Muslims nor Christians and I really think that the question of Boko Haram giving notices to Southerners to leave the North; I think the media was not fair.
“It (the ultimatum) was started from the South-south who said Northerners should leave and gave them three days’ notice and looking at the number of the people in the South-south and in the North, then some others can say why not the other way round as well.
“We are not speaking for Boko Haram actually, we were the first to go to Maiduguri; we went to Maiduguri and saw the Governor of Borno State and appealed to Boko Haram to come out and dialogue with the government. Now that the Federal Government has said that they want to dialogue, they should give them (Boko Haram) some guarantees so that they could come out and dialogue.
“Actually, we have offered ourselves, if need be we may be able to broker that sort of peace; we want people to know that there are more Northern Muslims killed out of this 2,000 that we are talking about. More than 90 per cent of them are Northerners that have been killed by Boko Haram. So Boko Haram is really more of our enemies than the rest of Nigeria,” the ACF chairman said.
Also contributing, the Vice-Chairman of the Forum, Senator Joseph Waku, declared that Southerners who were leaving the North were free to do so.
“If Nigerians, living anywhere in this country and on their own, they decided that they are going to leave without the clear instructions in the North, we have not given any instruction to anybody, group or organisation to ask any Nigerian that is leaving within the confines of the North to leave and go anywhere. So it is part of the problem that the Federal Government is also facing.
“So we are calling on the Federal Government to come out with a clear statement inviting those people who are accusing Northerners that they are driving out other Nigerians from a part of their country to another part. But if Southerners decided to leave on their own constitutional freedom of movement, freedom of association, they are free,” Waku said.
Earlier in the state of the nation statement read by Mohammed, the Forum regretted the recent mayhem unleashed on Kano by Boko Haram, noting that the attacks by the sect had reached a level that threatened national security with a potential anarchy.
The statement reads in part: “Having reviewed the horrendous attacks on Kano and the spate of attacks on many parts of the North which, at the last count, have claimed the lives of over 2,000 people, Muslims, Chris-tians, Northerners, Southerners – everyone - and an unquantifiable amount of property across the North, the meeting came to the conclusion that unless addressed quickly and decisively, the threat posed by these attacks have reached such a level that threatens national peace and order and has the potential to cause the collapse of peace, security and public order in the North in particular and the nation in general.
“In this regard, the ACF makes the following recommendations: Government should continue to persevere, uncover the true identity of these people, to be able to determine their demands or grievances and address those that may be genuine and in accordance with our laws.
“ACF calls upon all people of good conscience who may have access to members of Boko Haram to urge them to take advantage of secure channels of communication to be provided by the Federal Government towards achieving a resolution of the current bloody impasse.
“Similarly, ACF calls upon and enjoins the leaders and members of Boko Haram to realise that no religious doctrine permits the killing of innocent lives. It is important to point out to them that they are inflicting terror, death and destruction upon people not in any way responsible for whatever injustice they believe have been done to them.
“While it is true that the actions of Boko Haram are condemnable, it is also necessary to call upon the Federal Government and all our political leaders as well as all those in positions of authority, to recall the UN Resolution 1963 of 2010 which urges governments around the world to address underlying causes of civil unrest and social conflicts rather than resort to hard military power which rarely solve them.”