Boko Haram: Nigeria House Of Rep Ask The Federal Gov. To Deploy The New Chief of Army Staff to Borno State!

Bothered by the recent activities of Boko Haram especially the killings in the past one week, the House of Representatives yesterday passed a motion urging the President to deploy his new Chief of Army Staffs, (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tobia Minnimah to Borno State. This, the lawmakers believed, would boost the war against Boko Haram insurgency in the North even as the Controller-General of Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), Mr Zakari Ohinoyi Ibrahim, said yesterday in Calabar, Cross River State that 50 warders were killed by the Islamist sect to date. The group unleashed terror in Adamawa State on Monday, killing 11 people in a two-hour operation in Galga, Gaanda district in Gombi Local Government Area.

In recommending Gen. Minnimah’s relocation to Borno, the chamber also recommended a temporary movement of the Army headquarters to the state even as it advised the Federal Government to liaise with the governments of Chad, Niger Republic and Cameroon to discuss ways on how to tackle Boko Haram in border areas. No fewer than 146 residents of Izge community in Borno State were killed last Saturday by the insurgents. The lawmakers said the Borno situation especially the rising killing of residents, called for stern and extraordinary steps by the Army and other security operatives.

They argued that the relocation would enable the COAS to not only have a first-hand touch with the reality on ground, but also the opportunity to devise ways of properly tackling the matter. The resolution followed a motion moved by Hon. Peter Biye Guntha (APC, Borno) calling on the military to provide additional personnel to strategic areas in some parts of the villages affected so that security could be strengthened in the areas.

While commiserating with the people and government of Borno State over the killings, the House urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently provide relief materials to the affected victims. Guntha, in his motion, lamented that apart from the people and the soldiers killed in Izge village, several others lost their lives in Gavva West and East Local Government, while 150 houses were burnt. He said in Zalidva village, Sabon Gari, 14 people were killed, while 30 houses were destroyed previously.

Further recounting the losses of previous attacks, Guntha said: “In Ngoshe town, 46 people were killed, while 30 houses were razed; seven people were killed in Hambaged and about 140 cattle were taken away. “In Chinene village, seven people were killed and also in Krawa town, 20 people were slaughtered and 20 shops razed. Emir of Gwoza’s house at Jaje village was burnt with property and foodstuffs worth millions of Naira destroyed. Several houses in Juba village and places of worship were razed with property worth millions of Naira destroyed,” he said. According to him, 10 people were also killed in Wala ‘A’ and three people in Wala ‘B’, adding that many cattle were stolen during attacks on the two villages. “In Ndufa village, six deaths were recorded and 120 cattle stolen, while in Pulka town, one person was killed and eight people were abducted. In Ngoshe Sama village, 18 people were killed and 80 houses were razed, and 150 cattle taken away. A total of about 120 places of worship were destroyed by the gunmen from December, 2013 to February 15, 2014, including churches and mosques,” he added. Contributing to the motion, Hon. Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno), said the insurgents appeared more equipped than the securitymen handling the crisis.

Just last Monday, gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram killed 11 residents of Galga village in Adamawa State. Confirming the attack, the state police command’s spokesman, Mohammed Ibrahim, a Deputy Superintendent, could not, however, be definite on the death toll. He said details of the incidents could be obtained from the 23 Armoured Brigade, Nigerian Army, Yola. Efforts to get more information were futile at press time. However, residents who didn’t want to be named for fear of their safety, said Gaauda District had been under Boko Haram siege for a while. They said the attacks had always been reported to security agencies and expressed the need to stop the menace.

The residents said the district is located in a mountainous terrain, but the insurgents have at several times trooped into the Gaanda District attacking innocent persons in the area, and sometimes demanded for money and failure to comply, attracted the killings. In Monday’s attack, an eyewitness revealed that the insurgents came into the village at about 8:30pm, drove into Galga, went into the houses, and sporadically shot at people in the localities for over two hours. They said the police came to the village yesterday morning and released the 11 corpses to their families after identification.

According to sources, shortly after the raid, they drove out of Galga and escaped through the same entry route. The residents have remained helpless because the insurgents used sophisticated weapons against the dane guns that the natives used to protect themselves.