PRESIDENT IDRIS DERBY: A FRIEND OF BOKO HARAM AND MAITATSINE TERROR GROUP

President Idris Deby has been accused of links with Boko Haram’s leadership and has been blamed for a sham cease-fire that led to major deadly loses for Nigeria at the hands of the terrorists. President Idris Derby must apologize to Nigerians because he knew how Boko Haram came to Nigeria. Nigerians should blame him for insecurity in North-East Nigeria. He is part of the problem of Boko Haram and he cannot be the solution.
Idris Derby as commander-in-chief of the army supported members of maitatsine terror group that ran away from Nigeria to Chad. Under President Shagari, General Buhari was the General Officer Commanding, 3rd Armoured Brigade, Jos, Plateau State and played significant roles in containing the Maitatsine sect. General Buhari was court-martial for pursuing members of maitatsine into Chad during President Shagari administration. Former President Jonathan travelled to Chad several times to discuss how to end Boko Haram with President Idris Derby and he ignored it. When Chibok school girls were kidnapped President Derby failed to assist to rescue them. President Buhari travelled to meet President Derby on how to end Boko Haram which Derby ignored. President Derby has displayed that he is a friend of Boko Haram and Maitatsine. What happened recently in Lake Chad region was a fight against Chadian rebels that President Derby and his son pretended to be fighting Boko Haram. In 2018 President Derby was assisted by France to fight the Chadian rebels close to Libyan border.
Boko Haram terrorists under fire from Nigerian troops, run to take shelter in neighbouring African countries like Niger, Chad and Cameroun which they found less dangerous. This has at several times frustrated the efforts of the Nigerian troops due to the diplomatic issues involved. There was a time the insurgents came under intense fire from the Nigerian side that they had to blow up the bridge linking the communities on the border to make it impossible for Nigerian troops to cross over and continue the onslaught.
For the second time in two months of 2014, former President Goodluck Jonathan met with President Idris Deby of Chad on how to tackle the Boko Haram menace. The talks came barely few days after a political associate of Chadian President was arrested along Chadian-Sudan border, allegedly with 19 SAM2 missiles meant for Boko Haram Former President Goodluck Jonathan along with the alleged Boko Haram sponsor, former Borno Governor, Senator Ali-Modu Sheriff met the Chadian president, Idris Derby in Ndjamena. A photograph released by Presidency showed Sheriff seated for a key security meeting with the president, alongside Idris Derby in November 2014. An earlier statement by the presidency said the talks were aimed at strengthening agreements reached with Nigeria’s neighbours regarding joint border patrols, intelligence sharing and the prevention of the illicit movement of terrorists, arms and ammunition across shared borders.
In May 2015, Chadian President Idriss Derby met President-elect Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja. Both held a closed door meeting at the Defence House in Abuja. Idriss Deby arrived Defence House and Issues relating to the insurgency in the Northeast and Chad’s cooperation were discussed by the two leaders.
A year after Habré became President of Chad in 1982, Déby was made commander-in-chief of the army and he supported leaders and disciples of Maitatsine in Nigeria. He distinguished himself in 1984 by destroying pro-Libyan forces in Eastern Chad. In 1985, Habré sent him to Paris to follow a course at the École de Guerre; on his return in 1986, he was made chief military advisor to the Presidency. In 1987, he confronted Libyan forces on the field, with the help of France in the so-called “Toyota War”, adopting tactics that inflicted heavy losses on enemy forces. During the war, he also led a raid on Maaten al-Sarra Air Base in Kufrah, which located in Libyan territory.
The Chadian President has fought and won many battles against rebels opposed to his rule for most of his thirty years in power. Infact, more than ten years ago he left the comforts of the presidential palace and the Chadian capital for two weeks to direct the fight against some rebel forces in northern chad. Few weeks ago, the Son of Chadian President Idriss Deby by name Zakaria Idriss Debby Into who lead his soldiers to killed over 1,000 Chadian rebels and boko haram terorist in the bank of lake chad and thousands of weapons recovered from the terrorist, Zakaria Debby Itno is an ambassador of Chad to United Arab Emirates, he is a colonel and joined his father to fight Chadian rebels in the name of Boko Haram. He is also fighting boko haram. The proximity of Chad to Nigeria and shared affinity with many communities in Nigeria, many Chadian citizens and rebels who had nothing to do had joined the ranks of the Boko Haram and found a safe haven to operate during the previous administration. President Derby is fighting for the survival of his administration and not Boko Haram.
The Maitatsine was a terrorist religious extremist group that operated in Nigeria in the late 1960s,1970s and 80s before it was annihilated (or brought into virtual extinction and oblivion) in the 1980s. Its terrorist ideologists was much similar to Boko Haram now. As at 1989, just 25 out of the 1,000 ( 224 were foreigners from neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger rep, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso etc ) incarcerated disciples of Maitatsine were still alive after just four years in prison. The military head of state, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari responded with a deafening ferocity. He literally moved in his forces to wipe off the sect from existence with the same ruthlessness that he pursued Chadian forces under President Shagari. Under President Shagari, Buhari was the General Officer Commanding , 3rd Armoured Brigade, Jos, Plateau State and played significant roles in containg the Maitatsine sect. Buhari flew to Yola and oversaw the military wipe out the sect (his popular vice, Idiagbon was out of the country).
Following his death, Maitatsine’s enclave was demolished and all his illegal buildings levelled. Today, if you get to the area, you see an entirely different scenery, his own house was converted to a magistrate court with other buildings where he housed his thousands of militant adherents converted to police barracks and shops. Although one can barely recollect that that is the scene of the one of the most violent confrontations in Nigeria’s history, residents who witnessed it and are still alive will point to bullet holes in their houses and narrate their heart-wrenching stories.
Once in Libya, Déby gave the Libyans detailed information about CIA operations in Chad. Gaddafi offered Déby military aid to seize power in Chad in exchange with Libyan prisoners of war. Déby moved to Sudan and formed the Patriotic Salvation Movement, an insurgent group, supported by Libya and Sudan, which started operations against Habré in October 1989. He unleashed a decisive attack on 10 November 1990, and on 2 December Déby’s troops marched unopposed into the capital, N’Djaména. Idriss Déby assumed Chad’s presidency in 1990, and has been re-elected with a majority of votes every five years.