(http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Nigerian-Army.jpg) (http://peoplesdailyng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Nigerian-Army.jpg)By Lawrence Olaoye, Abuja; Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri and Muhammad Ibrahim, Kaduna
Military troops deployed to Borno state yesterday began operation as they swoop on suspected insurgents' camps in the Sambisa Game Reserve believed to be the training grounds for the militants.
This is coming as residents of the state capital, Maiduguri, were plunged into telecommunication blackout as networks of all telecommunication operators were shut down since 10am.
Again, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has cautioned the military against the temptation of deploying heavy handed tactics or measures that will cause increased civilian casualties and bloodshed under the cover of emergency rule.
Although it was not clear what caused the telecommunications breakdown, sources said the firms were directed to shut down their services, apparently to make it impossible for the insurgents to communicate with one another throughout the period the military operations will last.
Our correspondent gathered that Sambisa Game Reserve, which cuts across Damboa, Bama and Gwoza local government areas of the state, serve as the major hide-out of the insurgents conducting combat training.
Sources said the forest is suspected to be harbouring over 80 percent of all the militants in the state because of its position as their major operational base. Details of the operation was not immediately available as spokesman of the Joint Military Task Force, (JTF) could not be reached at press time.
The troops, who reportedly raided the forest in the early hours, according to a source in the military, did not face any resistance as the some of the militants were said to have retreated to another of their camps considered safer. Over 50 assorted vehicles, which were allegedly snatched by the insurgents at gun points, were reportedly recovered in the abandoned camp.
Over 500 policemen attached to the Counter-Terrorism Squad (CTS), were deployed to the state yesterday.
ACF cautions against civilian casualty
Reacting to the declaration of emergency in Adamawa, Bornio and Yobe states yesterday, the ACF counseled the soldiers deployed to involve the local populace in their operational plans in order to minimize collateral civilian suffering.
The Forum in communiqué issued after an emergency meeting held in Kaduna and signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Fati Ibrahim, warned that the it will send a team that will observe and monitor the prosecution of the military campaign under the new state of emergency.
"ACF takes notice of the proclamation of the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states by the Federal Government on the grounds that attacks and killings by insurgents and other terrorist groups require more massive military response.
"The meeting was concerned that the President appears to invest more faith in a military solution even where evidence from our experiences so far bears no such optimism. It is the hope of the ACF therefore that the Federal Government does not consider the increased military deployments as a superior option or alternative to the slower and more tedious path of dialogue, negotiation and conciliation.
"Given the dismal history of peace-making campaigns by the military all over the world, dispatching battalion after battalion to the field in the hope of combating insurgents or terrorists sounds naïve. The ACF calls on the military to avoid the temptation of deploying heavy handed tactics or adopt measures that will cause increased civilian casualties and bloodshed under the cover of emergency rule.
"They are well advised to involve the local populace in their operational plans in order to minimize collateral civilian suffering. Even so, under the circumstances, ACF will raise a team that will observe and monitor the prosecution of the military campaign under the new state of emergency. The team will collect information and evidence from the field and determine if at all times, the military campaign is conforming with the published terms of engagement and other human right conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory," the communiqué reads.
NASS intervention saved govs job — Spokesman
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives yesterday disclosed that it was the intervention of the National Assembly (NASS) that saved the jobs of the three state governors of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
Briefing newsmen on what transpired between the Presidency and the Legislature before President Goodluck Jonathan's pronouncement on state of emergency in the three states, Deputy Chairman, House committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep Victor Oghene, said the declaration of state of emergency was not exclusively done by the President but with the input of the leadership of the National Assembly (NASS)
Oghene disclosed that it was the idea of the leadership of the NASS that the whole democratic structures in the states affected by the emergency rule be not collapsed. Thus, it was the intervention of the NASS leadership that preserved the jobs of governors Murtala Nyako, Ibrahim Gaidam and Kashim Shettima of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe respectively.
According to him, the NASS leadership impressed it upon the President that it would send a negative signal if the affected governors and other democratic structures in the state are sent packing.
Oghene maintained that the spate of insecurity in the country has been worrisome to the House thus necessitating the summon it issued for the President to appear before it in June last year.
He added that the invitation extended to Service Chiefs by the Senate also confirmed the fact that the security situation in the affected states was unacceptable.
He also stressed that the cooperation between the Legislature and the Executive that culminated in the declaration of the state of emergency in the trouble North East states should be encouraged to blossom so that the three organs of government would be working harmoniously towards the development of the country.
Responding to question as to whether the President has not breached the constitution by not officially writing to the NASS informing it about the emergency close to the constitutional 48hrs allowed by the constitution, Oghene clarified that Jonathan, by virtue of the provision of the constitution is bound by the provision only after the pronouncement would have been gazetted.
According to him, the President has not broken any law by not writing the National Assembly informing it of the proclamation as at now because the proclamation has yet to be gazetted.
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