As controversy over who killed Major General Mohammed Shuwa retired rages, the Nigerian military, Tuesday, dismissed insinuation that since the Boko Haram sect had denied killing the war veteran Major General Mohammed Shuwa (rtd), it was the Joint Task Force (JTF) that was responsible.
Unknown gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram last Friday shot and killed Gen. Shuwa and his guests at his home in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, JTF spokesman, the attackers entered the house of the late general as he was hosting guests before the Friday prayers and opened fire on him and his guests.
Some days after the incident, the new Boko Haram spokesman identified as Mohammed Ibn AbdulazIz denied involvement in the killing.
But speaking through the Army Spokesman, Brigadier-General Bolaji Koleosho, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika debunked the insinuation and wondered how the JTF whose primary responsibility was to restore peace in Maiduguri would turned round to kill the highly respected military general.
“All we are interested is in restoring peace to Maiduguri and this is why our officers lay down their lives to do and how would you accuse them of turning back to be killing the same people they are protecting their lives? It bells the cat and it just doesn’t add up. What reason could the JTF had against Major General Shuwa? We debunk it and we condemn it. It is unfair on the military to be accusing of killing our own General Shuwa.”
Earlier, Major General Bitrus Kwaji, the Army Chief of Civil-Military Relations, who also spoke for General Ihejirika had faulted the report of the Amnesty International which indicted the JTF of violation of human rights in the way it performs its operation in Maiduguri.
He accused the organization of failure to hear the military side before going ahead with its report. He was surprised that the organization which claimed to have visited Borno state, Kano, Bauchi and the Federal Capital Territory would not deem it fit to balance its report by contacting the security agencies in the course of the investigation.
According to Ihejirika, “the JTF acts under the term of reference given to them and if they had done otherwise, the Amnesty International should have brought their observation to the attention of the security agencies before the publication. And if any individual or group of the Nigerian Army is found wanting, that individual or group would have sanctioned accordingly.”
He said “there is no truth whatsoever in what Amnesty International reported, their report was in favour of Boko Haram sect, it was one sided. You cannot have a report like this without interviewing the security forces and you come out and say that the Nigerian security forces have violated the human rights of Boko Haram members or that the security forces are involved in human rights abuses. Whatever the JTF does is within the ambit of the law.”
The Chief of the Army Staff also debunked a report that accused the Army of killing one Sunday Ehindero, a businessman who was shot dead in Lagos during the heat of the fuel subsidy protest. According to him, the Police and the military investigations had exonerated the involvement of the military. “The man had been shot before the arrival of the Operation Mensa and it was our officers that handed over his body to a police officer around.” He appealed to the media to always seek clarification before publishing any story concerning the military.
