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COVER <img class="img" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/boko-haram-702x336.jpg" /> Ahmad
 Salkida, a former journalist with the Daily Trust, was with the Boko 
Haram sect from inception and had a close relationship with the sect’s 
founder, Mohammed Yusuf. Accused of being a Boko Haram accomplice, 
Salkida was detained and almost got killed in the clash between the Boko
 Haram and security agencies in 2009 during which the sect leader was 
captured and later killed in police custody. This article written in 
2009 by Salkida, who is now believed to be on exile, gave an insight 
into the evolution of the Boko Haram group. He also made reference to 
Abubakar Shekau who later emerged the sect’s leader after Yusuf. I
 have closely followed the activities of the Boko Haram sect. In fact, I
 was invited by the late Mohammed Yusuf at that period to establish and 
head an Al-mizzan styled newspaper for him. However, in the course of 
our deliberations, I tabled the following issues that set us apart: I 
wanted to be partner in the project. I wanted editorial freedom to edit 
out anything I may find inciting the public in the publication and I 
wanted to introduce a regular column that totally disagrees with his 
ideology. I think my conditions, at a time when I hadn’t any 
gainful employment, shocked the prospective investor who thought any 
budding journalist would rush at the opportunity to become an 
editor-in-chief especially of a promising paper, on account of the large
 followership and the group’s loyalty to their Imam. However, my 
relationship with the late Mohammed Yusuf continued as he visited me 
when I lost my eight-month-old son who died of malaria. Perhaps, he saw 
me partially as one of his students and partially as a dissenter due to 
my independent disposition. But to be fair to him, I admire his depth of
 knowledge, oratorical prowess and apparent willingness to emulate 
Prophet Muhammad (SAW). In early 2002, Yusuf was seen by many as a
 likely heir to the renowned the late Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam in 
Maiduguri on account of his brilliance and closeness to the late 
renowned scholar. But all that changed shortly when one late Mohammed 
Alli approached the late Yusuf with reasons to boycott democracy, civil
 service and western oriented schools. The late Yusuf then disengaged 
his service with the Yobe State Government. Then, in a 2006 
press release signed by the sect’s Shura (Consultative) Council, they 
stated that Islam permits them to subsist under a modern government like
 Nigeria but has explicitly prohibited them from joining or supporting 
such governments in so far as their systems, structures and institutions
 contain elements contradictory to core Islamic principles and beliefs. The
 Alli argued that the sect must embark on Hijra (migration), but Yusuf 
declined and Alli proceeded to Kanamma in Yobe with his faction, and 
one thing led to another. The group launched an insurgent attack on the
 police that resulted in the loss of many lives and property in Kanamma 
and later in Gwoza in Borno State. The insurgents, a renegade group that
 called itself ‘Taliban’, led by Alli, fiercely disagreed with the late 
Yusuf and many of the escapees later returned to Yusuf. Unlike 
Alli, Yusuf went on undeterred, though he was prevented from preaching 
in several mosques and was denied TV/radio appearances in the state. But
 he set up a preaching outlet in the front of his house at the railway 
quarters and at Angwan Doki, Millionaires’ Quarters among others. The 
demand for his tapes increased by the day all over the North and the 
proceeds therefrom increased tremendously. He then asked his landlord 
and in-law, the late Baba Fugu Mohammed to allow him to build a mosque,
 which he named Ibn Taimiyya Masjid. It was in Ibn Taimiyya 
Masjid that the late Yusuf, together with his hard-line top lieutenant, 
Abubakar Shekau alias ‘Darul Tauhid,’ began to build an imaginary state
 within a state. Together they set up Laginas (departments). They had a 
cabinet, the Shura, the Hisbah, the brigade of guards, a military wing,
 a large farm, an effective micro finance scheme, and the late Yusuf 
played the role of a judge in settling disputes. Each state had an Amir 
(leader) including Amirs in Chad and Niger that gave accounts of their 
stewardship to Yusuf directly. The sect led by Yusuf took 
advantage of the poor quality of our educational system, the incessant 
strikes, cult activities, widespread malpractice and prostitution that 
is made worse with no offer of jobs after graduation to wheedle many 
youth to abandon school and embrace Yusuf’s new and emerging state that 
promises to offer them a better alternative. The late Yusuf also 
took advantage of the irresponsible leadership at all levels of 
government with unemployment, poverty, corruption and insecurity 
becoming the order of the day. And as he points out such failures, 
citing verses of the Qur’an and the sayings of the Prophet, the youth 
see him as the leader that will indeed deliver them from malevolence to 
the Promised Land. In my write-up of February 28, 2009 in the 
Sunday Trust I wrote about the sect, where I alerted the general public 
about the sect’s total disregard for civil obedience. The report in 
question warned that to disregard the simmering cauldron “smells like 
rebellion…and it will be irresponsible of any authority to wait for the
 occurrence of violence before it acts in the face of impending threat 
to law and order.” In subsequent reports and during my interactions with
 senior security agents, I did not only predict the crisis but hinted on
 the strategy of the sect. But typical of investigative journalism, 
instead of these revelations to catch the attention of the relevant 
agencies, their attention was shifted on how to frame me. Apparently, 
the plan was never to prevent a crisis but to allow it to occur. However,
 in fairness to the government of Borno State that is living witness to
 the unruly behaviour of the sect and its extreme dislike for government
 institutions, the state government like other governments in northern 
Nigeria saw the need to halt this nuisance in their states. They were 
alarmed that the sect that started with a handful of people is hitting 
the 7-digit mark and one day (if not very soon) the likelihood that the 
sect may determine the politics of the land cannot be dismissed. According
 to Isa Yuguda, the Governor of Bauchi state in a recent interview with
 a weekly newspaper, “When the Boko Haram issue came, I sat down and 
scientifically organised a commando raid on their stronghold. We 
identified them over a period of time and made sure the Ulamas came and 
preached against them for two weeks and they in return issued fatwa 
against the Imams that were preaching against them. We had to attach 
policemen to the Imams because the Boko Haram people threatened to 
slaughter them. We planned for them. “We cordoned off their area 
around 3a.m. in the morning and phoned my neighbours in Borno and Yobe 
states about the operation I was going to carry out because their leader
 was there at that time. After exchanging gunshots for sometime, we 
smoked them out of their houses. They were fully armed with grenades, 
machine guns and rocket launchers,” said Yuguda. Having kept 
track of political activities in the state, I knew very well that (the 
then Borno State Governor) Ali Sheriff, unlike Yuguda, could not afford
 to strike first, Borno could take anything from him but not an attack 
on Muslims. However, the government in Borno set up a joint security 
patrol nicknamed, ‘Operation Flush’ to serve as a constant check on the 
sect. As the crisis started in Maiduguri, reporters did the 
obvious; ‘live and tell the story’ and they stayed mostly in the 
Government House (GH) and most of them contacted me directly or 
indirectly to get briefed because I chose to do the ‘unexpected’, which 
is to ‘risk my life to tell the story.’ Indeed, I took undue risk, which
 exposed me to the unimaginable that would form the subject of a book I 
am now writing. On Tuesday 29th July 2009 when I made a stop at 
the Borno State Government House, a staff of the GH, one Yusuf dragged 
me into the office of the Chief Security Officer to the Governor, 
insisting that the governor’s aide wanted to see my face for the first 
time. The aide wanted to know from me why I did not shave my beard and 
lower my trousers below the ankle to avoid the wrath (Alas! bullets) of 
the security agents. I, then, told him that it is wrong for 
security agents to brand innocent people that wear beards as Boko Haram 
and even kill them based on that. In fact, to keep beards, to wear 
turbans and nisfusaak (trousers above the ankle) are part of the 
prophet’s Sirah, which was recommended to every Muslim over 1400 years 
ago, and it is seen as a deeply spiritual task by many Muslims all over 
the world. He, also, asked me whether or not I was abducted by 
the sect members for a while and released. I put the record straight 
that, I only ran into a mob and thereafter I was let off the hook when 
they were convinced that the brown apron I was wearing that carried an 
inscription of Daily Trust had nothing to show that I was a government 
official. Sadly for me, the CSO did not like my guts and the fact
 that I reported the two sides that clearly exposed the Achilles’ heel 
of his boss. He ordered for my arrest, calling my crime ‘counter 
intelligence.’ At the GH I was assaulted by the mobile police (at the 
quarter guard post). There, a Police Constable Sani Abubakar, held my 
beards and pulled me to the ground, he kicked my legs to forcefully 
remove my loafers. I was made to lie down with my face down. 
Instantly I urinated in my pants when two mobile policemen contemplated
 who was going to pull the trigger. I was then driven to the 
police headquarters in the state where I was kept in a cell with 58 
others. After spending 30 hours in the cell and about 48 hours without 
food or water (because, I couldn’t break the fast I was observing upon 
my arrest), I was then allowed to wash up the urine that had dried up on
 my pants and relieved myself of the running stomach that became the 
audible music in our cell as everyone witnessed how cell mates were 
being called out waiting for his turn.and executed. Everyone was 
Surprisingly, none of my colleagues investigated and reported the 
assault against me, even when some of them searched for me in the 
crowded cell as I sat without shoes on the floor. Instead, speculations 
were rife amongst them that indeed I was a Boko Haram member, on account
 of the following baseless talk: That I wear beards and trousers above 
my ankle and yet I came from a Christian background and this, to many of
 them, makes me an extremist. That I was doing fairly well as a 
journalist in the last ten years with a mere primary school certificate 
and that makes me a Boko Haram too. That my fair complexioned spouse was
 a Shuwa Arab and given out to me in marriage by the late Yusuf and 
finally, they said the late Yusuf had contacted some members of the 
media on two occasions through me in the past. Now that I no 
longer carry my youthful goatee and halfway trousers to avoid being 
branded a terrorist meets your requirements. However, I want to state 
here that I am proud of my Christian background as a Muslim because it 
has afforded me a unique sense of tolerance and impartial view for the 
need for dialogue that many born Christians and Muslims lack, leading to
 the kind of mistrusts we see today. My wife is a very proud 
Tarok, from Langtang LGA in Plateau state. I met and married her in 
Abuja in 2002 and never saw Yusuf in her life. Yes, I was perhaps the 
only journalist known to the late Yusuf on account of what I mentioned 
earlier on. But, when has it become illegal to know a public figure who
 later became a criminal? I started a career in journalism as a 
staff reporter with Insider Weekly Magazine, from 2001 to 2002. 
Thereafter, I had a stint with Crystal Magazine as a Special Projects 
Editor and later a founding staff with New Sentinel and freelanced for 
several media. Currently, I work as a reporter with the Media Trust 
Limited. I do not posses any formal educational qualification beyond 
primary school. However, I was self educated through years of extensive
 reading of books.

Boko Haram From The Beginning

COVER Ahmad Salkida, a former journalist with the Daily Trust, was with the Boko Haram sect from inception and had a close relationship wi...

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10 Natural Ways To Keep Your Teeth White

Just picture yourself with strong, beautiful, white teeth to brighten your smile. Many people try in vain to whiten their teeth and maint...