President Muhammadu Buhari has promised Nigerians displaced by insurgency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, that the government is doing everything possible to ensure they return home soonest. President Buhari gave the assurance yesterday at the Makhio Internally Displaced Camp (IDP) in Yola, Adamawa State, which he visited.
“My government is doing everything possible to rebuild your homes, schools, hospitals and roads to enable you to go back to your homes. Boko Haram will soon be a thing of the past. “I know that most of you are farmers and your farm land have been destroyed but let me assure you that you will soon go back and continue in your farming,” the president said.
Buhari commended the Adamawa State Government for the support it had given the displaced persons, assuring the governor that the Federal Government would soon come to the aid of the state. Earlier, Governor Bindow Jibrilla had told the president that the state was burdened by the number of displaced persons, saying, “as I speak now about 10,000 IDPs from Central Africa Republic are expected in Adamawa in three days’ time.”
The Director General of the National Emergency management Agency (NEMA), Sani Sidi, while welcoming the president said, “In Adamawa State, we have so far received 15,754 internally displaced and we are expecting about 10,000 more”. In another development, no fewer than seven Boko Haram insurgents were killed while several arms and ammunition were also recovered by the troops of the Nigerian Army, when the insurgents attempted to attack military formation in Gwoza town, Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.
But the Coordinator of Operation Lafiya Dole Media Centre, Col Tukur Gusau, told journalists at the centre, that: “Boko Haram terrorists despite their obvious losses have made a desperate but costly attempt to attack the Nigerian Army’s blocking position early this morning in Gwoza.
The encounter which started about 5am yesterday lasted for almost two hours. He said: “Although details are still being collated, suffice to state that seven terrorists were gunned down and the following weapons recovered; One Toyota Hilux vehicle, 11 AK-47 rifles, one Shilka gun, one Rocket Propelled Grenade Tube, six hand grenades.
Others include several rounds of Shilka gun and machine gun ammunition.” Gusau further said the troops were on hot pursuit of fleeing terrorists into Sambisa forest with a view to eliminating all of them while the Nigerian Air Force is bombarding their locations. “The desperate attack yesterday was a failed attempt to project an image of strength.
It is part of the last struggles of a dying evil,” the media coordinator said. In a related development, the troops of 7 Division Garrison and 112 Task Force Battalion on Thursday while on patrol recovered weapons in Busheshe village in Mafa axis.
The troops also recovered weapons which includes, two Hillux vans, two anti-aircraft guns, three 81 millimetre bombs, 101 type of 60 millimetre bombs, 20 ammunition boxes, 21 rocket propelled guns, large quantity of 7.62 millimetre special ammunition and cache of different calibre of ammunition.
In the meantime, the Minister of Defence, Mr. M. Dan Ali, yesterday assumed duties at the ministry, with a pledge to give priority to the welfare of soldiers. Specifically, the minister said soldiers deployed for the counter-insurgency operation in the North East, would spend a maximum of one year.
This is coming against the backdrop of complaints that many soldiers spend a long period of time on the frontline, thereby leading to pockets of agitations. “The Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic Nigeria in person of President Buhari has clearly, and he has openly shown that he is ready to fight insurgency in Nigeria.
“The military is all about leadership…Whether you like it or not, the President is a military man and he has shown leadership. We, the followers must show leadership. And what is leadership if I may ask? Leadership is all about integrity, honesty and transparency.
“Troops’ welfare, no shaking, they are there for us, we are there for them, like the President said, we are for no one we are for everyone. Troops rotation; let’s not take it as a joke, if the Chief of Army Staff is deployed in the front without seeing your family, how would you feel? “So, also the soldier you are sending there.
Please, for God sake, let’s make it maximum, one year. I will ensure that it is my cardinal principle that no soldier… unless, it is not possible, the maximum is one year,” he said. On the Army’s earlier position regarding the certificate of President Buhari, prior to the general elections, Ali asked:
“Where is your integrity when your own Chief of Army Staff stood up and say his Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces has no WAEC certificate?” Meanwhile, the Senegalese authorities said a number of suspects were picked up in and around Dakar, in the past two weeks as part of the government’s drive to crack down on some suspected collaborators of the sect.
Two women were arrested in Guidiawaye, a suburb of Dakar, on suspicion of links to the group. Officials said the women popped up on the radar of security agencies and were afterwards placed under surveillance after authorities intercepted their communication with a suspected Boko Haram fighter in Nigeria, who was confirmed to be the husband of one suspect and brother to the other.
