Many questions are being asked about the suspected Boko Haram kingpin, ‘Aminu Yaminu, also known as Tarshaku.’ The Nigerian Army announced his capture on Friday without providing information about his background.
The suspect, Daily Trust on Sunday has since found out, is the commander of the Benue State Livestock Guards, a quasi-security outfit established by Governor Samuel Ortom to enforce the state’s anti-grazing law that came into force last November.
His real name is Aliyu Tashaku, an identity he has been known with from his days in Maiduguri, Borno State, when he stayed with the late founder of the Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Yusuf, before the group was proscribed in 2009.
There has been apprehension as to why the Nigerian Army gave his name as ‘Aminu Yaminu, aka Tarshaku’ in the statement it issued on Friday after his arrest, even when it is known to everyone, including security agencies and the state government that he is Aliyu Tashaku.
In a statement on Friday by the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Major Olabisi Ayeni, the military said the arrest was made possible through combined efforts of troops of 707 Special Forces Brigade, Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services in Makurdi.
“Nigerian troops have arrested the key Boko Haram suspect, known as Aminu Yaminu, nicknamed Tashaku, who is believed to have masterminded most of the recent attacks in Benue State,” the statement revealed.
The spokesperson said the suspect had concluded plans with his cohorts in Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Nasarawa states to launch a major attack on innocent citizens in Benue State.
“As earlier reinstated, the Nigerian Army will ensure that enemies of peace in the state are brought to justice. Nigerian Army encourages all law-abiding citizens to go about their lawful businesses without fear.
“They should also oblige the Nigerian Army and other security agencies with timely information that could lead to the arrest of criminal elements in our society,” he added in the statement.
But our reporter recalls that Tashaku, who was arrested in Benue, was a household name in Maiduguri when the Boko Haram, then known as Yusifiyya Movement, was operating like any other religious group with its headquarters, ‘Markas,’ and mosque located at the residence of Mohammed Yusuf, near the Railway Terminus in Maiduguri.
The Markas was a beehive of activities until after the killing of Yusuf in 2009 and the proscription of the group the same year when authorities destroyed it, forcing followers of the group under the new leadership of Abubakar Shekau to go into hiding. The group launched guerrilla attacks the following year.
At the height of the crisis, the Boko Haram spoke about its relationship with Aliyu Tashaku after he granted interview to an international Hausa radio station in which he claimed to have denounced membership of Boko Haram and repented.
In the interview, he said as “a repentant member of the Boko Haram,” he had the capacity to lead a negotiation between the sect and the Federal Government to end the crisis.
But on September 26, 2011, the Boko Haram, in an email statement to journalists, through their spokesman at the time, Abul Qaqa, said they were aware he had been released from detention by the Nigerian secret police, the SSS:
Abul Qaqa said: “And that servant of Allah, Ali Tashanko was at one time part of us due to the fact that he was planted among us by the SSS to kill our pioneer leader, Malam Mohammad Yusuf, but in Allah’s wisdom he came to appreciate the teaching of Malam (Muhammad Yusuf) as he admitted to us then.
“He told us he had repented and expressed his resolve to undertake Jihad alongside us for the sake of Allah. But after trusting him and giving him a huge amount of money to procure for us some consignments, he disappeared. This was long before the 2009 security crackdown against us.
“We never heard from him until recently when we suddenly heard him in the media claiming to be one of the leaders of this movement and making assurance to broker a truce with government.
“But we do not know whether he has resumed his job of working for the SSS. Allah knows best,” the statement added.
What has remained curious to many Nigerians is how Tashaku found his way to the corridors of power in Benue State.
But reports have shown that it was the past administration of Governor Gabriel Suswam that appointed Aliyu Tashaku as head of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) which was established in the state on March 29, 2014 following incessant killings in rural areas occasioned by herders/farmers clashes.
The CJTF and its leadership were “inherited” by Governor Ortom, who later disbanded it. The governor subsequently established a new outfit, the Livestock Guards and appointed Aliyu Tashaku as its leader, a position he held until his arrest on Friday.
