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Nigeria investigating armed Islamic sect, seeks backers
Whoa! Competence and good sense rear their pretty heads!
Nigerian security agencies on Monday looked into the origins of a student groupâs deadly armed campaign to create an Islamic state in Africaâs most populous nation - paying special attention to sources of the studentsâ weapons and any local or foreign backing.
| Find out who paid for the guns and the ammuntion and you're halfway to finding who's behind the whole thing. When you're interrogating and where they got the weapons, don't accept the first-line anwers. These will include "We found them," "I don't know," "They're my Dad's," and "Somebody gave 'em to us but I don't know his name"... |
The known death toll in last weekâs five-day uprising in northeast Nigeria rose to 10, including eight of the militants, Yobe state Gov. Abba Ibrahim said. Authorities had previously said six students and two police officers died in at-times fiery gunbattles between militants and the army and police of Nigeria and neighbouring Niger. Seven militants were now in Nigerian police custody and providing useful information, Ibrahim told reporters in the Yobe state capital, Damaturu.
| "Ouch! Ooch! I'll talk! Put the pliers away, dammit!" |
With the uprising crushed by Saturday, the priority now was finding out how the little-known group came to become a serious security threat, Ibrahim said. "We want to find out who really these people are, where they got the guns and the buses with which they were moving around, who gave them money?" he said.
| That's the big question, isn't it? Without money, you don't have a revolution. All you have is a bunch of guys sitting around smoking cigarettes and sneering... |
The attacks were launched New Yearâs Eve by the movement Al Sunna wal Jamma, an Arabic name meaning "Followers of Mohammedâs Teachings." Made up mainly of Nigerian students at polytechnic schools and high schools, the sect attacked government installations in several Yobe state towns - looting police stations of arms and ammunition, and setting the buildings afire. The group gave its aim as creating a Taleban-style Islamic republic in Nigeria. It was the first armed push for a strict Islamic regime in Nigeriaâs predominantly Muslim north since 12 states in the region - including Yobe - began adopting the Islamic Shariah legal code in 1999.
| It won't be the last, though. Nigeria'd be well-advised to get rid of the shariah abomination, but that's stating the obvious... |
Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-01-07 |
