Appreciating the civilian JTF, by Peregrino Brimah

Just 16 years old and in secondary school, Babagana (not his actual name) looks furtively at his watch. He has been on this look out for the past eight hours. A report to the command and control center of the civilian Joint Task Force in Maidugiri, Borno State alerted the organization to an impending operation being planned by Boko Haram in the neighborhood. Babagana is on a reconnaissance mission. His briefs are simple, find his way as fast and discretely as he can to command, once he sees a suspicious vehicle driving into town, and give them the description of the car, its course and its occupants. If he notices Sule-terror, returning to town, do the same. Yesterday he was part of a “stop and search,” team that caught eight Boko Haram terrorist suspects in a car with ammunition rounds and several AK 47’s.
The activities of these bands of courageous youth have been gaining prominence after the Nigerian military successfully decimated the operational capabilities of Boko Haram. Youths like Babagana are perhaps the biggest testimony to the fact that Boko Haram doesn’t represent the aspiration of Borno youths. With numerous citizen arrests recorded, these untrained volunteers have become quintessential components of the security apparatus in many of the neighborhoods of Maidugiri and its environs. Motivated principally by a sense of patriotism and protection of community from the Boko Haram’s maniacal destructibility, youths armed with nothing more than flash lights and clubs have been able to confront an enemy trained in urban warfare and guerrilla tactics. In metered behavior, the civilian jtf capture and hand over culprits, without taking justice into their own hands—by killing them—as is common in Nigeria.
In recent history, it is hard to find a competing example of such sacrifice and bravery. Civilians with sticks and stones, organizing, waiting for the bullets of terrorists to get exhausted and then catching them with just hands. They are not working for an earthly reward. Assuredly, their reward is in heaven. But should we not seize this opportun