Dirty Diamonds Of Boko Haram Part 1 (15 page)

There were too many checkpoints mounted on
the major roads. The Army, the police, even military police and the
civilian joint task forces, they all had separate roadblocks set
up. Some of the roadblocks were less than a hundred yards apart but
all operated independent of each other, and then there were the
mobile military patrols to contend with.

The Mitsubishi bus was flagged down thirteen
time within the city limits alone. With the JTF and the police, the
genuine Army uniforms of its occupants of the bus and their ranks
were enough to let the bus pass through their checkpoints with
little challenge but with the military units at the major
checkpoints, the case was different. There were usually officers
with the military units who equaled Rufai’s rank of Captain so they
had to go through due process; they had to show their papers and
submit to some degree of questioning.

At the last major checkpoint on the outskirts
of the city the bus was flagged down yet again and, this time,
detained for nearly ten minutes by mean looking military policemen
while their commanding officer went into his command post, a large
metal structure by the roadside that looked like a 20-foot shipping
container with windows and doors cut in, and placed a call to his
superior officer who then placed a call to his own superiors.
Somewhere along the chain of command, hell broke loose and someone
called the post directly to yell into the Captain’s ear that a
newly promoted Captain had no business sticking his smelly nose
into a ‘classified mission’ with the signature of a top General
unless he wanted the smelly nose cut off for him. The Captain
returned from his command post sour faced and gave the order to let
the bus through the checkpoint.

Outside the city, the checkpoints became more
spaced out and it was one or two every few miles. The bus put out
effortless speed along the empty Maiduguri-Bama road as its
occupants tried to make up for lost time. The single lane highway
was good and the halogen headlamps threw out powerful beams of
light that reached far out into the darkness of night ahead like
two stabbing fingers as the bus ate up the mileage greedily. Efosa
had things pretty easy behind the wheels and hardly let the
speedometer needle fall below the one hundred kilometers per hour
mark.

Stretching out on either side of the road and
reaching right to the horizon was the endless flat grasslands of
the Sahel Savannah bathed in the Silverlight of a dying moon. The
entire countryside was a very beautiful and peaceful sight to
behold except for the clusters of refugees here and there. Most of
the small towns and villages that could be seen well enough along
the road and out in the countryside had been overrun by the
refugees in their countless numbers. Some of those refugees were
already getting on the march even that early in the morning, all
were headed in the same direction, northward, away from Bama and
the advancing Boko Haram militants, fleeing towards the safety of
the state capital were the promise of food, security and medical
care awaited them in IDP camps, the government operated camps for
the internally displaced people.

The road distance from Maiduguri to Bama was
exactly forty-two miles and it took the speeding bus under an hour
to cover it despite the brief delays at checkpoints. Five o’clock
saw the bus crossing the heavily guarded bridge over the Yedzaeam
river which was swollen by the early July rains, and then it was in
the outskirts of Bama.

The military presence in the entire area was
very heavy and it all seemed to be in a state of chaos. Military
vehicles and personnel were crawling all over the place and
themselves. A lot of military vehicles were coming out of the town
and several others were headed in, vehicles parked wrongly all
along the side of the road obstructed the free flow of traffic and
ambulances and trucks loaded with wounded soldiers from the town
had their sirens and horns screaming bloody murder even that early
in the morning. It looked like the Army had taken a heavy beating
in the town overnight and was now systemically pulling out. The
sounds of heavy gunfire and shelling could still be heard in the
far distance and clearly visible in the dark sky above the
sprawling town was a red fiery glow the suggested the battle was
raging deep within the town.

The bus was soon forced to pull over to the
side of the road to make way for a light battle tank and a lorry
full of soldiers in a hurry to go into the town but two approaching
ambulance vehicles backed up by another truck stayed put on the
road and refused to bulge. A heated argument between all parties
followed at once but some military policemen soon showed up quickly
to straighten things out.

“Low morals” said Rufai disdainfully from the
rear seat.

Alex glanced back at him with dislike but
said nothing. He could barely make Rufai’s face in the darkness of
the interior of the bus. There were two rows of executive seats in
the back of bus, three seats a row. Rufai sat comfortably next to
Samuel in the first row directly behind the front seats while
Sergeant Garko had the last row all to himself.

“The Army doesn’t look like it’s going to
stay in Bama much longer” observed Samuel worriedly as he looked
around. “We need to get off this road quickly and be on our way so
we can make it back in time to get across the bridge before the
terrorist lay claim to it”

“The turn off is just up ahead” said
Alex.

The wounded were given priority as the holdup
got sorted out and they were on the move again. Alex gave Efosa
directions and they made a left turn off the single lane highway
onto a more peaceful side road. Two more turns and it was dead
quiet and darkness again. They stopped briefly to allow Alex tie up
a white cloth to the windshield wiper and then continued on their
way.

The sprawling town of Bama could have passed
for a city if it had been slightly more developed, it certainly had
the land size and population...or rather it had the population.
Bama used to have a population of over a quarter of a million
peaceful people but now it was like a ghost town, completely
desolate, dark and dead quiet as a graveyard. All the houses were
in darkness and there wasn’t a light or a civilian soul to be seen
anywhere as the bus sped through the back streets on the northern
part of the town.

The bus soon encountered the roadblocks of
the last elements of the Nigerian Army’s flank guard on the
outskirts of the town and had to stop yet again.

There were barriers blocking the road and
twenty yards beyond that were two vehicles, a big Pickup Jeep truck
with a mounted machine-gun and a large 8-wheel armored vehicle,
parked right across the road, blockading it. The armored vehicle
hit the bus with a powerful bean of light as it approached fast
down the road and four heavily armed soldiers in full battle-gear
stepped forward out of the shadows to meet it.

As the bus came to a halt before the
barricades, a Sergeant-Major wearing a steel helmet over a mean
looking face stepped up to the driver’s window and beamed a bright
flashlight directly into Sergeant Efosa’s face while the other
soldiers moved around the bus, looking it and every one over. Only
one other soldier besides the Sergeant-Major had a torchlight and
he seemed more interested in the booth of the bus.

“Where you dey carry Danfo fly go this kind
early morning?” asked the Sergeant-Major in the local pidgin
English that did nothing to undermine the hardness of his voice.
His bloodshot eyes clearly indicated he was critically short of
several days’ worth of sleep.

“He is going exactly where I want him to go,
Sergeant-Major” said Rufai taking charge at once.

The Sergeant-Major jerked his torchlight into
the back seat at once and Samuel turned on the overhead lights in
the bus for him to see well. The beam of light from the armored
vehicle didn’t quite get into the interior of the bus.

The Sergeant-Major snapped sharply to
attention and saluted as he saw the ranks of the two officers
seated there in the back seat.

On the other side of the bus, the corporal
standing off from the front passenger door with his rifle at the
ready, saw the sudden way his Sergeant-Major snapped smartly to
attention and curiosity stepped closer to take another look at the
occupants of the bus. He looked again at the soldier sitting in the
front passenger seat, saw that it was a lieutenant and snapped
sharply to attention too. He saluted smartly.

Alex nodded casually in return and the
corporal relaxed, lowering his gun.

The other armed soldiers circling the bus
stood down at once too. They didn’t need to be signaled after
seeing their top kick jump to attention the way he did.

“Good morning, sir” greeted the
Sergeant-Major and inwardly cursed his luck at meeting a bloody
Captain to spoil the already sour morning for him.

“Morning” said Rufai easily. “I need to get
through your roadblock at once”

“I’m sorry, sir, but you must have to show me
your papers before I can allow you through” replied the
Sergeant-Major apologetically but firmly.

“I’m on a classified mission, Sergeant-Major.
One that is well above your level and I’m already running behind
schedule as it is. I suggest you move you people and vehicles aside
immediately and let me be on my way”

“So sorry, sir, I can’t do that” said the
Sergeant-Major firmly. “We have very clear orders and it comes
directly from Division headquarters. No military personnel may get
through this roadblock without the necessary papers. If you do not
have any papers from Division headquarters, we will have to detain
you”

“They’re trying to check the activities of
spies and deserters” said Alex. “We’ll have to talk directly to his
commanding officer, he should be a lieutenant”

“Get your ranking officer here at once” said
Rufai.

“Yes, sir” the Sergeant-Major stepped back
with a quick salute and yelled towards the armored vehicle.
“
Bazar
! On the double, get the lieutenant here quick.
There’s a Captain fixing to see him”

In a minute another soldier emerged from the
shadows and stepped into the beam of light from the armored vehicle
as he approached the bus.

“Officers, sir, they don’t have papers” said
the Sergeant-Major as he moved aside and gestured his superior at
the window of the bus.

The lieutenant came up and took a look at the
occupants of the bus, checked out their faces carefully, uniforms
and ranks. He was a junior lieutenant of about thirty and he too
looked worn like he hadn’t gotten any sleep in the last few days,
hadn’t even shaved in days. He saluted Rufai.

“Morning, sir”

“Morning, lieutenant. I need to get through
your roadblock at once”

“I’m afraid that will not be possible without
the right papers form Division or Battalion headquarters. Our
standing orders are to arrest and detain anyone attempting to get
through us without adequate documentation”

“My orders supersede any orders you may have
received and I outrank you” Rufai got out the papers from the
pockets of his camouflage uniform, unfolded and held them out.

The lieutenant accepted the papers and the
Sergeant-Major supplied him the light at once. He read through the
papers quickly, once and then again as if he was finding what he
was seeing a bit hard to believe.

“You may make the necessary phone calls to
your superiors if you please” said Rufai.

“I don’t think that would be necessary, sir”
replied the lieutenant and handed back the papers. He nodded at the
Sergeant-Major “Clear the road”

The Sergeant-Major moved off at once to obey
and the lieutenant turned back to the Captain. “My sincere
apologies for the delay, sir. You are free to go”

The Sergeant-Major was backing out orders and
curses at his men in rapid fire successions as he kept waving the
beam of his torch vigorously at the blockading vehicles twenty
yards ahead. The powerful beam of light from the armored vehicle
dimed as its powerful engines started up. It backed slowly out of
the road as did the big Pickup Jeep. An opening wide enough for the
bus to pass was made.

The lieutenant pointed ahead. “Beyond is
hostile territory. We have no units out that way so you people will
be completely on your own”

“I know that, lieutenant” said Rufai. “Thank
you”

“Is there anything you can tell us about the
enemy strength and positions out there?” asked Samuel quickly.

“Not much, I’m afraid” the lieutenant shook
his head. “We have had just two major confrontations in as many
weeks so it’s relatively quiet out here on this front. A large
group of them are dug-in just two hundred yards beyond the
roadblock but so far, they seem to prefer watching and waiting.
They move around in small packs and take shots at us now and then,
that’s about it. Turn off all your light as you go past the
roadblock so none of them keeping watch will be able to see you
clearly or pin point you position well enough to take clean shots
at you. The road from here is not too good but keep to the left
side, and even driving at speed, you will fine. Try to stay
completely dark until you get well clear of the town limits and far
out into the open countryside, you’ll be safer that way. The main
thrust of their attack is coming from the south and south-west
areas, out here to the east it is relatively quiet so you shouldn’t
encounter much trouble wherever it is you are headed. Most of the
people living in the region have fled but quite a number of them,
mostly Muslims, still remain in the villages so you will never
really be able to tell a new Boko Haram recruit from an ordinary
villager until it’s too late. The Boko Haram Army is growing too
fast and they don’t seem to have enough uniforms for everyone so
most of the new recruits are dressed like ordinary villager which
gives them the advantage of hiding in plain sight. It is best you
steer completely clear of all major roads and settlements on your
way” the lieutenant shrugged. “That about all I can tell you.
You’ll see things for yourself as you go on”