Alhaji Shehu Musa Aljan does not belong to any security agency but he has shocked and surprised citizens of Plateau state with his unconventional means of arresting those criminals giving them sleepless nights and handing them over to Special Task Force on Jos crisis (STF).
The Kaduna State born man who grew up in Bauchi state reveals his name, Aljan, in Hausa, means spirit.
Aljan tells The Sun in this interview that by merely looking at a criminal, he could identify and disarm him and considering the current insecurity facing the country, this is his own way of helping to save the country from criminals.
Read his story below:
On if how long he has been doing the job: For long, I have been going into the hinterlands to track down those causing trouble for the country, yet nobody has ever paid me a kobo for the job. Even the military has not been doing the job I am doing for the country. I go on my own to bring armed robbers to them. I do not go with any of their men to effect arrest. I go with men under me to places that the security forces cannot
penetrate and bring them out for law to take its course. We know how we smoke them out of their hideouts.
On his operation in Plateau State: The head of the Special Task Force on Jos crisis (STF) in Plateau is hard working, a nice person. We work hand in hand. When I go out on our operations in the night, he keeps awake till we are through with the operation. I have no relationship with the government of Plateau State. I am not into politics. But the state government is not offended by what I am doing here because it wants peace.
Since I started working in Plateau, I have arrested about 28 people with their ammunition and stolen cattle. They confessed that they are not working alone but are being hired by people to commit all these atrocities. It is not only the Fulani doing all these destructions. They are of different tribes working together in teams. There are Fulani, Berom and (Yargan) Taroh, all working together to do the attacks. They have people they report to. After carrying out successful operations, they have their agents and sponsors who receive and sell all the loot.
It not true that some of those arrested are not thieves but innocent cattle owners going about with their cows in the bush. From their shoes, caps or anything on them, we can detect them. I do not need to be told who the assailants are before I know them.
By mere seeing them I know who they are. If the Nigerian government wants peace, let it enter into alliance with those of us using traditional methods to detect criminals. Our groups exist in different parts of the country. By so doing, all these attacks would be minimized. Money is being wasted unnecessarily in funding soldiers and those of us that have our own traditional ways of solving these problems are dying of hunger. I can boldly say that what I have done in two months, the security men have not done in the last 12 years. There is someone they have been looking for in the past six years, I was the one that went and arrested him. I arrested him in Riyom. I have arrested many, close to 30. I first arrested 16. Then I brought five. And recently, I arrested six with their ammunition.
I was not employed by the Plateau State government to do this work. I have never sat with Governor Jang. I do not know him and he does not know me. But with what we have done, all the arrests we have made of different tribes, everyone is appreciating us.
People can see the arrest I am making, so no one can say I am not working. If there is any need for me, government can call me if they want. I am a Nigerian and ready to serve anytime. It is God that would reward me. If not for the love of the people, I will not be doing this job. I learnt the job from our boss, the late Lawal in Mambilla in Taraba State. For months, we will be in the bush with our boss getting trained.
Aljan who says he's not persecuting any religion says all he does and he is after is arresting criminals as he had arrested about 17 armed robbers with their ammunitions in Kaduna state.
On why the police arrested him.
I was arrested by the Plateau State Police Command and kept for about seven days. But it happened because of the insincerity of the police. They betrayed me. The Inspector General of Police, M.D. Abubakar is someone that wants a honest job. But there are some few people under him who are using his name to commit many atrocities.
Then some policemen came and met me and said the IG had asked that I should be arrested. I asked what my offence was, they said they did not know. So, I followed them. I was kept with the criminals I arrested in a cell. But later, one senior officer said they should not put me together with the criminals. I was then moved to where police officers were being detained. That was where I spent seven days. They came to ask me to write a statement and I said I would not write any statement until I saw the IG. I said there would be no peace if the criminals were released and I was kept in detention. But I only allowed myself to be arrested. If they are up to 1000 and I do not want them to arrest me, they cannot.
While I was there, I was able to get a phone number with which I contacted my people, and they came with lawyers. That was how I left the cell. Up till today I have not seen the commissioner again.
Since then, when I come back from my expeditions, I liaise with STF or the State Security Service (SSS). I have handed over 20 criminals and suspects to them. I have caught people with cattle, with guns, those going to attack villages, and handed them all to STF. The IG will not say I should be arrested because he knows what I am doing on the Plateau. But I have touched the clique of some policemen and they wanted me punished. You know all these people have their own agents. There are some car thieves that confessed to me that they pay returns to some people.
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