…move to secure Leah Shuaibu, other Chibok girls’ release from Boko Haram
Former chief security officer to the late head of state, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd) and a team of some retired and serving military officers actually secured the release of the kidnapped District Head of Daura, Alhaji Musa Umar from his abductors on Tuesday morning in Kano, investigations have revealed.
Our correspondent gathered from a reliable source that Al-Mustapha, who has been working with his team, including a palace chief of Daura, who was communicating with the retired major and his team on efforts before, during and after the location of the abducted district head, Alhaji Ya’u Ciroman Baka Daura; a civilian member of Al-Mustapha’s team, Saidu Epogi; the head of the prayer warriors rescued in the first operation, Ustazu Suleiman; and Dr. Abdulbaky, who was communicating with the team during the rescue of the clerics as well as some serving military officers, intervened in the efforts to rescue Umar, who is the traditional ruler of Daura, the hometown of President Muhammadu Buhari, about five weeks ago. The district head was abducted on May 1, 2019 at about 8pm while he was preparing to observe his evening prayers.
Sources disclosed that Al-Mustapha led his men to rescue the district head from his abductors, who had kept him at a location in a forest between Kano and Kaduna states.
It was learnt that after Al-Mustapha and his team rescued the district head, they informed the palace in Daura, but told them to inform the police to pick up the captive under a tree at a particular spot in Kano State.
Our correspondent gathered that Al-Mustapha and his team, who were hiding nearby until the family members of the district head and security agents arrived at the spot, did that in order not to reveal the identity of the members of the rescue team, especially those of them still serving in the military.
A civilian member of the Al-Mustapha rescue team, Saidu Epogi, confirmed the rescue of the district head from his abductors by the group led by the former chief security officer to the late head of state.
According to him, after the team had mounted surveillance and carried out some reconnaissance in the forests stretching between Kaduna and Kano, it succeeded in locating and rescuing the district head from his abductors.
Epogi, however, declined to give details of the rescue operation by Al-Mustapha and his men, saying that could compromise similar rescue operations they were already working on.
Epogi explained that Al-Mustapha and his team decided to inform the family of the abducted district head to inform the police to pick him up in Kano in order to conceal the identity of the members of the rescue team.
“After rescuing the district head, we could have brought him back straight to the palace in Daura, but because we don’t want people to identify our team members, especially those still in service, we decided to take the district head to Kano, where we instructed them to pick him up along with police,” he said.
He added that Al-Mustapha and his team took it upon themselves to rescue the Daura district head in an effort to assist the Buhari government “because the President has been performing well.”
Meanwhile, Al-Mustapha and his team may have begun moves to secure the release of Leah Sharibu and the remaining Chibok school girls from the captivity of the Boko Haram insurgents.
Further investigations by our correspondent revealed that Al-Mustapha has rallied members of his team and had already been making some overtures to the insurgents concerning Leah Shuaibu and the other Chibok girls still being held by the Boko Haram.
Recall that while Boko Haram fighters stormed the Government Secondary School Chibok in Borno State five years ago to abduct over 200 female students of the school, the insurgents also invaded another school in Dapchi, Yobe State, about two years ago, taking away Leah Shuaibu and over a hundred of her mates.
But while the whereabouts of about a hundred of the Chibok school girls cannot yet be ascertained, the insurgents released all the other girls abducted from Dapchi but withheld Shuaibu for failing to renounce her Christian faith.
The current efforts by Al-Mustapha, we learnt, followed a recent call by the umbrella body of some pro-Buhari groups, Buhari Integrity Support Group (BIG) and Standing Up for Integrity (SUFI) on the President to consider bringing on board his administration Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd) and other retired military officers in order to boost his government’s current fight against insurgency and insecurity in some parts of the country.
A source, which pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that Al-Mustapha and his colleagues were already making some “headway” in getting Shuaibu and the other Chibok girls, abducted about five years ago, to be set free by Boko Haram soon.
The source, however, declined to reveal the identity of the others with whom Al-Mustapha had been working to secure the release of the abducted girls.
The BIG and SUFI had noted during their meeting in Abuja last Thursday that making the likes of Al-Mustapha and other retired and serving military officers part of the country’s security architecture in the next dispensation would enable the Buhari administration to come up with new ideas aimed at addressing the various security challenges and even assist the government in securing the release of Shuaibu and the remaining Chibok school girls from the hold of Boko Haram.
The National Coordinator of the BIG, Mr. Sampson Anyebe, who spoke on behalf of the other members of the groups at a news conference in Abuja, had argued that Nigeria did not lack capable persons and experts who had what would be required to stop the country’s descent into anarchy and chaos.
Anyebe had also noted that the country and the government only needed to give such capable Nigerians the opportunity to offer their services and expertise to the nation in the best way and capacity they could.
The pro-Buhari groups had further expressed confidence that Al-Mustapha and other retired military officers had the relevant experience and the capability to assist the country in effectively tackling the current insecurity and bringing the unfortunate development to an end.
The groups had also claimed that Al-Mustapha was instrumental to the release of the Islamic clerics and prayer warriors, who were abducted recently, but released few days later without the payment of any ransom.
When contacted by our correspondent, the BIG national coordinator, confirmed that Al-Mustapha had begun efforts to rescue the girls from the Boko Haram.
The BIG national coordinator said, “Yes, since we made that call we’ve discovered that Al-Mustapha himself had been making serious efforts, in collaboration with some other people, to secure the girls’ release.
“I’m sure that the family and relations of Leah Shuaibu and the other Chibok school girls will soon have all the cause to laugh and rejoice.”
Efforts to speak with Al-Mustapha on the matter, however, proved abortive.
He neither picked calls made to his phone nor reply text messages sent to him.
Family members of the abducted girls and a group, Bring Back Our Girls, have continued to appeal to the Federal Government to stretch a hand of fellowship to those who can secure the missing girls’ release.
The current move by Al-Mustapha, is believed, would gladden the hearts of the abducted girls’ family and also make the BBOG happy.
