Arrest of 486 Boko Haram suspects vindicates Orji’s security network

I give credit to Governor Theodore Orji for the midnight interception and arrest of the 486 suspected Boko Haram insurgents in Aba. I give credit to the security apparatus instituted and maintained by the governor which has ensured that Abia State remains an oasis of sanity. As I had written earlier, the good security and the peaceful atmosphere in Abia were not legislated into existence but a product of pragmatic and proactive governance.

The insurgents had maneuvered all security check-points and scaled over many states and it was just a matter of minutes for them to reach their Port Harcourt destination but for the effectiveness of Ochendo’s security apparatus and the vigilance of his men. Security is one of the intangible legacies which Ochendo has bequeathed to the people of Abia and today, the massive arrest is another vindication of his work.

If Nigeria and indeed the Nigerian armed forces are sincere about the fight against insurgents and terrorists who have continued to terrorize the country, the massive interception and arrest in Abia State is clearly a good lead. It is a great opportunity that the Army cannot afford to misuse. There is no serious intelligence apparatus that will not make a great breakthrough from the lead that is provided by the massive arrest. The world is obviously watching to see how Nigeria handles the opportunity of the midnight interception which is a great credit to the Abia’s security network.

The posers for the Army are legion and a thorough investigation will obviously yield some good results: who assembled the over 500 men and 9 women who hail from different states of the North? Who arranged the 36 Hummer buses in which they were traveling? Where did the journey begin? From where did they take off? Did they take off in groups from different locations and then assembled at a point to begin the journey in a motorcade? What is the identity of each suspected insurgent, village, local council and family? Are family members aware of the journey to Port Harcourt?

The second line of posers might be more revealing. Who is the head or leader of each unit of the buses? What is his antecedents, family background, etc? How did the journey from the far North to Port Harcourt go? Were there stopovers? Where and how? Did anybody come to address them at the stop-over locations? Why was the journey taken in the dead of the night? How were they able to escape the many security check-points on the long journey until they met a brick-wall with the Abia State security apparatus? Was there any assistance from members of the security forces? Were there compromises among the security units that allowed them easy passage from the far North to the East, unnoticed and uninterrupted until the audacious interception of the Army in Aba?

The third line of the posers will be the thrust of the investigation. Why Port Harcourt? What is the mission in Port Harcourt? Who would have received such large number of men in Port Harcourt? Where would they have been quartered?  Who would have fed them? Were the security forces and the Police in Rivers State   informed about the movement of such large number of youths into the city at the same time when there was no event or occasion warranting their visitation? What was their mission or business in Port Harcourt? Was the government of Rivers State aware of their movement? Was the government anticipating them? Why hasn’t the government of Rivers State made a statement so far about the arrest, lauding the Army in Abia and alerting about the dangers such large number of immigrants would have posed to the state?  Was their movement into Port Harcourt political?

The fourth line of posers would emanate from matters arising from the commentaries so far. If the over 500 men and women (remember that 2 buses escaped from the Army) traveling in an organized and guided journey and in a motorcade of 36 buses are traders (as Daily Trust Newspapers reported on Wednesday, June 18, and quoting one Alhaji Mantu, who claimed to be the chairman of Huasa Marketing Association in PH), why is a Boko Haram kingpin in their midst? Is the wanted Boko Haram kingpin who is on the wanted list of security agencies also a trader heading to Port Harcourt? Why have some of them confessed that they did not even know where they were going and what their mission was? How come that some of them did not even have up to N1000 in their pockets? If the mission is genuine, why did the two buses run away? If the Port Harcourt Alhaji has received the men from the two escapee buses, why can’t he turn them over to the Army for thorough investigation and to show evidence that they are really traders?

There is a major poser for the Alhaji. In which market could he have accommodated the over 500 men?  How could over 500 men from different states travel at the same time in a motorcade as traders to an unknown destination to do an unknown business? Why could he have housed them? It is only religious groups and political groups that travel in this manner but only for an occasion or a camp meeting. Thus, the Port Harcourt Alhaji should better look for a sensible defence for the suspect Boko Haram insurgents now in the custody of the Army.  The truth is that the   Army cannot afford to treat this incident with kid gloves if it is genuinely persuaded in the fight against terrorism in the country.

Indeed, the problem of terrorism in the country is one peculiar problem that concerns everyone and this is why there must be a collective support to the effort of the Armed Forces in combating this national menace.  The Army cannot afford to be in a hurry in its investigation of the Abia massive arrest. There is more than meets the eye in this organised, midnight journey of over 500 men. There must be thorough and detailed profiling of the suspected culprits, including bio-metrics. The finger of suspicion must point at all directions and the Army must take pains to follow all the posers raised in this piece to their logical conclusion. There is no doubt that if well handled, the Aba massive arrest will provide a good lead that will help the country in the fight against terrorism.

Again, kudos to Ochendo’s security apparatus, and kudos to his men for their vigilance.

Adindu is the President-general of the Abia Renaissance Movement (ARM)