Four female suicide bombers were yesterday shot and killed by the Civilian JTF near Maiduguri in Borno State. The incident came on a day the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, pledged the readiness of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), to clear the remnants of Boko Haram from the North-East.
Abubakar said the fighters had been surrendering to the military in large numbers; an indication that their end was in sight. However, it was gathered that the four female suicide bombers met their waterloo at Jimini village in Jere Local Government Area on the outskirts of Maiduguri. It was learnt that when some CJTF on guard sight ed four teens roaming and upon asking them to raise their hands, they refused and kept heading towards the vigilantes who shot them dead.
A member of CJTF, who spoke to an online news portal, Saharareporters, said the teenagers wrapped improvised explosive devices around their bellies in an attempt to wreak havoc on Maiduguri. A Civilian JTF source said: “Four suicide bombers were sighted coming from the nearby bush about 5:15am but their plot to wreak havoc on the residents of Maiduguri was averted by our gallant Civilian JTF members stationed on the outskirts of Maiduguri.
They were all shot dead.” On the move to wipe out the sects, Abubakar said the NAF had over the years been involved in operations both locally and internationally to meet the defence and security imperatives of the nation. The NAF boss spoke at a news conference in Abuja, as part of the activities lined up to mark the 52nd Anniversary Celebration of the NAF. He said: “The NAF is engaged in various security operations across the country in order to bring about peaceful co-existence among the citizens.
“Looking at where we are coming from, I think we have done substantially well. In those days in 2014, you had convoy of vehicles moving round villages and killing Nigerians but it is no longer so. “I believe that very soon, God’s willing, we shall come to the end of this problem. We are at the tail end of this operation.
“So, we came up with the idea of ‘safe corridor’. If you want to come out, come out and then we profile you, keep you under watch before taking the next step. So, many of them are surrendering in large numbers. We have seen that they are surrendering because they know that there is no escape.
“These operations are ‘Operation Lafia Dole’ in the North-East, ‘Safe Heaven’ in the North-Central, ‘Pulo Shield’ in the South South, ‘Awatse’ in the South-West, and ‘Sharan Daji’ in the North-West.” In Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, came a report that the state police command has arrested 27 persons for alleged kidnapping and armed robbery in different parts of the state.
The state Police Commissioner, Mr. Yakubu Usman, while parading the suspects before journalists in Lokoja, said one of them led his gang to kidnap a Chinese lady, Lilly Yunpin, and collected N3 million as ransom. He said the ring leader ran out of luck when he was arrested in the process of kidnapping another person, but said six other members of the gang were still at large.
The commissioner said another suspect, who led others to kidnap and killed their victim, was arrested in one hotel at Idah on March 2. Usman said the 25-yearold suspect and his gang members killed their victim after collecting N2.5 million as ransom. He said the gang went back to kill the father of the victim, Alhaji Mohammed Yusuff, in retaliation of the arrest of one of its members by the police.
According to him, a gang of three suspected kidnappers on March 13 kidnapped Mr. Lawrence Madaki at Ayangba after which they collected N3m as ransom. He said the five suspects had confessed to the crime The police commissioner said his men were also able to rescue four other victims, including a seven-year-old boy, while four robbery suspects were killed on March 2 along Ayangba-Itobe Road. Usman said two vehicles, AK-47 guns, five locally-made pistols, live cartridges and other dangerous weapons were recovered from the suspects.
He said all of them would be charged to court soon. In another development, gunmen yesterday killed a policeman who was returning from duty at the Enugu- Abakaliki Expressway and made away with his rifle. A Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps (NCDSC) officer, who was on duty in a filling station in the area, was also reportedly shot in the leg. Sources said the hoodlums operated on motorcycles and killed the policeman at the Mobil Filling Station of the express road. The situation affected vehicular movements across the capital city as heavily armed policemen cordoned the roads especially the Abakaliki end of the federal highway. They thoroughly searched vehicles and motorcycles which they impounded and stuffed them into big operational vans.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Peace Ibekwe- Abdallah, confirmed the incident, noting that investigation into the matter had commenced. “The command is preparing a release on the matter and will make it available to the press soon,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami, on Wednesday, explained why convicted members of the Boko Haram sect could not be executed. According to Malami, the laws under which the insurgents were tried, does not prescribe death sentence.
Speaking at the launch of amnesty’s report on Global Death Sentences and Executions 2015, in Abuja, Malami, who was represented by Mr. Sylvester Imahanobe, promised to work with Amnesty International to stop execution of convicted criminals in the country, if the international human rights body proposed a bill to that effect.
