According to Zagazola Makama, a counter insurgency publication focused on the Lake Chad region, the terrorists fired at the security operatives on the convoy of the governor on Saturday along the Jakana-Mainok expressway.

Earlier on Saturday, Buni was in Maiduguri, capital of Borno, where he joined other dignitaries to attend the 24th combined convocation ceremony of the University of Maiduguri.

Zagazola Makama  said the governor left for Abuja after the event through the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) base in Maiduguri while the convoy returned to Damaturu, Yobe state capital, and was ambushed by the Boko Haram fighters.

The publication quoted military sources as saying the governor’s security details with MRAP, a gun truck and another vehicle conveying the police operatives and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) was shot at by the insurgents.

The sources said the security details responded with “heavy fire”,  forcing the terrorists to retreat.

“However, two soldiers, a driver and four policemen were wounded. Terrorists casualties were unconfirmed,” Zagazola Makama said.

Zagazola Makama said the security operatives returned safely to Yobe while the wounded personnel have taken to the hospital for treatment.

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He made the revelations in his statewide broadcast to commemorate this year’s Democracy Day (June 12, 2021) and his second anniversary in office, stating that “of all Nigeria’s 36 states, none is faced with the level of Borno’s security and by extension, social and economic challenges.

According to him: “From day one, we were faced with an acute humanitarian crisis, particularly in northern and some parts of the central senatorial zones. As such, we made it a policy that as governor, I assume the role of chief humanitarian officer for different reasons. “On one hand, it was our duty to deliver help to our fellow citizens that were either internally displaced or taking refuge in neighbouring countries.

“On the other hand, there was the risk that insurgents could, after making IDPs socially and economically vulnerable, also explore that vulnerability by offering food and cash incentives to recruit fighters who could even serve as their spies in communities. From records, we have experienced instances when insurgents offered as low as between 5,000 and 10,000 Naira to recruit some spies and smugglers of weapons.

“We therefore needed to take steps ahead by making sure we regularly visit IDPs in all parts of Borno, including remote locations, to efficiently and sufficiently deliver food, cash support, and clothing. We needed to ensure that our good citizens had the support they needed, and they were not exposed to potential attractions for the incentives of insurgents.

“Borno has thousands of volunteers who are being paid monthly allowances, provided with kits and vehicles to complement the military in the fight against Boko Haram,” he said, adding that his government “continually supports IDPs and vulnerable citizens with cash to strengthen their resilience to Boko Haram manipulations.”

He said: “It has been two years since we took the oath of office, following the overwhelming mandate you, the good people of Borno State, entrusted to us during the 2019 democratic transition.

In these two years, we have together, witnessed continued turbulence even though in the midst of shared hope, shared optimism, shared faith, shared resilience and communal determination to ceaselessly devote ourselves to freeing our Borno from 12 years of vicious insurgency.

“As part of that commitment, we, from our first day in office, made security our number one priority. My first activity as Governor of Borno State was to interface with the head of the military involved in the fight against insurgents.

“In our first week in office, we interfaced with thousands of our volunteers from the civilian JTF, hunters and vigilantes, and we increased their monthly allowances, in addition to allocating to them more patrol vehicles and other logistics needed to enhance their operational roles of complementing armed forces in fighting Boko Haram.

“In our combined approach, we took aggressive steps of recruiting thousands of hunters from different parts of northern Nigeria, mobilised and deployed them to accelerate our support for the military.

“We made it a policy that in all our 27 local government areas, volunteers were strengthened with additional recruitment, surveillance vehicles and other gadgets.

The governor told his people that the steps he has taken so far, including encouraging and monitoring of doctors, traditional rulers and civil servants to ensure they remain in the rural communities, have yielded positive results. “Our approach has steadily yielded dividends as we can see from gradual pick up of increased commitment in hospitals, schools, other government institutions and in our local government areas,” he said.

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A military intelligence source told PRNigeria that troops eliminated two terrorists’ Commanders Alai Bor and Maleum Modu and other Boko Haram fighters at different locations in Borno State.

The source said: “Nigerian troops with the support of MNJTF eliminated Alai Bor, a leader of Boko Haram in Buwari village in Bama while attempting to cross Gwoza-Pulka Highways with six other terrorists in his entourage.

“The other terrorists’ commander, Maleum Modu and three Boko Haram fighters were gunned down by the Nigerian troops while the terrorists were conducting surveillance around Mafa axis.

“Items recovered from them included motorcycles and weapons.”

Meanwhile, in another development, there is a confusion in Shura (consultation) Council of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), over the appointment of one Abu Dawud as its new leader.

This is coming after some militant forces in what appeared as a ‘coup d’etat’ overthrew Amir Abbah-Gana at Tumbum Kayowa.

Abbah Gana, PRNigeria learnt, was ousted following a mass protest against the lopsided appointment of one Aliyu Chakkar as the new “Governor of the Lake Chad”. Chakkar replaced one Goni Maina, a former Commander.

It was further gathered that bloody gunfire between militants forces supporting the factional “Governors”, led to the death of dozens of insurgents.

Before the appointment of Abu Dawud, one Amir Goni Mustapha was appointed as Acting Leader, and Chief Imam of the ISWAP sect for three weeks, while awaiting the decision of the Shura Council.

The reason for the dissolution, according to the Shura Council, include, but not limited to the loss of territories as a result of the offensives launched by the Nigerian Army; Air Force; Chadian Army, Nigerienne forces and the regional Multi-national Joint Task Force (MNJTF) troops, under Abbah-Gana’s watch.

PRNigeria also learnt that series of air raids and merciless operations by ground troops of the Nigerian military, under “Operation TURA TAKAIBANGO, a subsidiary operation in the North East, have eliminated many Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in the Lake Chad region, even as other dozen terrorists and their families have fled the region.

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Speaking at a security conference in Germany, Sheikh Mohamud said that “Without a stable Somalia, the whole region of the Horn of Africa will remain unstable and by and large, the African continent. There are proofs and evidence that (for) some time Boko Haram has been trained in Somalia and they went back to Nigeria.

“The terrorists are so linked together, they are associated and so organised, (that) we the world we need to be so organised,” he said.

It was not clear from his comments whether he believed al Shabaab was still training Boko Haram fighters, who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

Somalia’s al Shabaab, which has links to al Qaeda and wants to overthrow the Somali government and impose a harsh version of Islamic law, claimed responsibility for a blast this month that punched a hole in the fuselage of a plane.

Somalia, plagued by political in-fighting, corruption and attacks by al Shabaab insurgents, has recently made limited progress towards creating a functioning political system.

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The others listed on the charge sheet exclusively obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday are Col. O.C. Ajunwa, Lt. Col. A. Haruna, Lt. Col. G.A. Suru and Maj. A.A. Malgwi.

The accused are to be arraigned before a General Court Martial sitting at the Abacha Barracks, Abuja on three counts of cowardly behaviour, failure to perform military duties and miscellaneous offences relating to loss of armament.

Their arraignment was earlier scheduled for Monday.

The officers allegedly committed the offences at the headquarters of the MNJTF in Baga, Borno State, when the location was overrun by the Boko Haram terrorists .

The command centre of the task force was last week relocated to Ndjamena, Chad.

Only Ransome-Kuti’s name appeared in all the three charges signed by Maj. B.T. Ndiomu on March 25, 2015.

While all the five accused persons will face the first count of cowardly behaviour, the second count of failure to perform military duties was directed against Ransome-Kuti, Ajunwa and Suru.

Ransome-Kuti is the only one that will face the third count of loss of Army’s property that included three multipurpose light-armoured towing vehicles (MTLB in Russian), three rocket-propelled grenade launchers, two pan herd and three Sagie.

The other lost items are one VBL armoured vehicle, eight General Purpose Machine Guns, eight Browning Machine Guns, two trucks, 12 Toyota Hilux vans and a large quantity of ammunition.

Ransome-Kuti was said to have contravened Section 68 (1) (a) of the Armed Forces Act Cap 20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

The other officers were accused in the first count of exhibiting “cowardly behaviour by abandoning duty post at the MNJTF headquarters when the Boko Haram terrorists attacked.”

This alleged behaviour was said to have contravened section 47(1)(a) of the Armed Forces Act and punishable under 47(3) of the same law.

In the second count, Ransome-Kuti, Ajunwa and Suru were said to have contravened section 62(b) of the Armed Forces Act “by failing to coordinate troops and assets of HQ MNJTF to repel the Boko Haram terrorists attack of the HQ MNJTF” on January 3, 2015.

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The insurgents, according to eye witness accounts, drove in Hilux vans and had an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) as back-up. For four hours, they killed and maimed villagers. Many houses were razed.

In the process, about hundreds were injured while about 1,000 houses and a mosque were burnt down.

The insurgents also took hostage 20 young girls from a local school, a teacher said. The military also confirmed that the attack took place and that it was assessing the number of casualties.

Survivors recounted yesterday the nightmare as Governor Kashim Shettima visited.

“It is barbaric and unfortunate,” the governor said.

In the ruins of the mosque yesterday lay bodies ready for burial. They included those of three children who did not look more than 10 years old.

“Why us? Why us?” a woman wailed, trying to understand why militants set on creating an Islamic state in the country would attack a town of mainly Muslim farmers.

Numerous villages in the area have been attacked and hundreds have been killed in recent months, despite a nine-month-long military state of emergency to halt the uprising in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.

The Boko Haram insurgency has made thousands homeless while more have fled to other parts of Nigeria and to neighbouring states.

Farmers described Tuesday night’s attack to the governor. They told the governor that about 400 attackers in military camouflage drove in from all directions in apparently stolen army trucks led by an armoured Personnel Carrier (APC). They called people out then opened fire, the survivors said.

The few soldiers and police stationed in the town, outnumbered and outgunned, fled, they said.

The extremists arrived at 6 p.m. and went from house to house, using homemade bombs to set them ablaze. Shettima said about 70 per cent of the town was destroyed.

The attackers only fled around 10 p.m. when a military aircraft strafed them into flight, survivors said.

Angry residents asked the governor why it took hours for the military to respond.

Konduga, an agrarian centre of about 10,000 farmers, is 35 kilometres and 30 minutes’ drive from Maiduguri, the state capital, which is the headquarters of the newly created military 7th Division which also has an air force base.

Shettima told reporters who accompanied him on the trip that the extremists, “are better armed and better motivated” than the military. He said the soldiers were doing their best but were not as well-equipped.

Shettima told residents he would remain with them until promised food, clothing and other emergency supplies arrived later yesterday.

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