How Boko Haram Members Are Trooping Into Taraba – Gov. Ishaku

Taraba State Governor, Darius Dickson Ishaku, has again raised the alarm that fleeing members of the Boko Haram members are infiltrating the state.

He said this on Monday when Commander of the 23 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Yolanda, General Bello Abdullahi Mohammed, paid him a visit.

He stated that the insurgents that fled Sambisa forest were now occupying the Bali forest.

Ishaku noted that this had increased robbery, kidnapping, rape and other crimes.

The governor called the attention of the military to the increasing state of insecurity at the Gashaka Gumpti National Park.

He said criminals had infiltrated the Park, thereby making it unsafe for tourists.

He commended the military for its role in helping to restore peace to communities affected by communal crises and appealed that the issue of killer herdsmen be checked.

“The situation now is such that herdsmen carry sophisticated weapons instead of sticks which they were known to carry and they now often overwhelm security agencies sent to confront them”, he said.

“In the past, herdsmen and farmers enjoyed a cordial and symbiotic relationship.

“Farmers wanted herdsmen to leave their cattle on their farms long enough to eat up grass and remnants of harvested crops and in the process fertilize the farms by excreting their wastes there.

“Even when the cattle ate the farmers’ crops, the matter was always amicably resolved with the herdsman paying a token compensation. These never resulted in any fight or crisis”, he said.

General Mohammed assured the Governor of that his officers are men will continue to work for peace in the state.

He said, “Our men are always ready and willing respond any time they are called to help restore peace”.

By Wale Odunsi

I Was Sent on A Suicide Mission for Refusing to Marry Boko Haram Members – 14-year-old Girl

A 14-year-old female said Boko Haram leaders chose her to detonate an Improvised Explosive Device in Maiduguri because she refused to get married to their members in Sambisa Forest.

The suspect was among three suspects arrested by the military, when they allegedly came for a suicide mission at a military facility at Jakana in Maiduguri.

The suspect told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri yesterday that she was sent on the mission to detonate the device because she refused marriage proposals from three Boko Haram terrorists.

The suspect said she was abducted with her father, Usman, by Boko Haram insurgents in Gwoza, Borno State in 2013.

She said she and her father were running to Mandara Mountain for safety when they were abducted.

The suspect said she and her father wanted to travel to Madagali in Adamawa State, where he normally sold cows before Boko Haram insurgents attacked Gwoza.

“I have spent three years in the hands of Boko Haram. Three different Boko Haram (terrorists) had proposed to marry me and I refused. Two among them were commanders.

“When I refused for the third time, one of the commanders became furious and threatened to kill me and my father. I told him I would rather die than marry a Boko Haram.

“So, after one week, they said since I have refused to get married, I should be taken to Maiduguri for a suicide mission. So, three of them   held my hands and they injected me.

“Then, I never knew what was happening again.

“I was taken to a herbalist, who, after I regained consciousness, told me that I had been with him for 30 days.

“He told me he was preparing me for a mission. So he gave me some water to drink. I don’t know what it tasted like but I drank it. So, he said they would come and pick me today.

“At about 7p.m. three Boko Haram members came with a male and a female. They were also recruited for the mission like me.

“We spent one and a half days on the road to Maiduguri. It was when we got to Maiduguri that they strapped the bombs on our bodies. At that moment I knew that I was going to die, so I started crying.

“I was watching when the first bomber, a female, detonated her explosive close to a military checkpoint which killed no one but herself. The second, a male, was killed by the military before he could detonate his.

“At that time something told me to remove my own IED and surrender which I did.  I was surrounded by soldiers and policemen and I fainted.

“When I woke, I discovered that one of the policemen at the checkpoint was a brother of my mother’s. I think that was the reason I survived,’’ the suspect said.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, said the suspects were being de-radicalised at the military detention facility. 

(Daily Trust)