Perhaps, following the spate of four deadly
attacks that left scores dead and several
others injured or displaced in Borno and
Yobe states by members of the Boko Haram
sect, and poised to flush out the insurgents,
President Muhammadu Buhari will today
take briefs from Service Chiefs on the issue.
This is to enable him know the extent of
challenges inherited on the issue from
the immediate past government of ex-
President Goodluck Jonathan.
Ahead of today’s meeting, President
Buhari, yesterday met with the
immediate past National Security
Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. The meeting
lasted almost four hours.
Today’s meeting, it was gathered, is a
continuation of the meeting with Dasuki.
All the security chiefs and Director
General of the Department of State
Security (DSS) are expected to attend the
parley.
Senior Special Assistant to the President
on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu
disclosed this to newsmen at the Defence
House yesterday, at the end of the
meeting between President Buhari and
Dasuki. He also noted that the President
would visit Chad and Niger tomorrow as
part of efforts to develop a better
approach to tackling the menace.
President Buhari had in his inaugural
speech announced his resolve to tackle
the insurgency headlong as he described
the group as devilish.
He also disclosed his readiness to order
the relocation of the military command
structure to Maiduguri, capital of Borno
State capital so that the security chiefs
can have a feel of what the challenges
are and be able to proffer a quicker
solution to the menace.
“The president has Niger and Chad
ahead of him. This will be his first trip
outside the country on obvious matters
of security,” Shehus said, adding that the
trip is expected to be for one day.
On Saturday evening, the Islamists
raided Fika and Galda towns, both in
Yobe State, burning a police station and
public buildings including a law court, a
local administration building and a
primary school. They also torched public
buildings, besides looting food and fuel
stores, according to residents and a
police officer.
“Boko Haram gunmen came in two pick-
up trucks and on several motorcycles
around 9:00 pm (2000 GMT) and kept
firing shots haphazardly and firing RPGs
on the police station where they forced
the policemen to flee and residents to
run indoors,” Fika resident, Abubakar
Maigoro said.
The Islamists also torched a cluster of
government-built homes for civil
servants and 13 vehicles parked outside
people’s houses, Maigoro said.
“They burnt all the telecom masts in the
town and we have to go to hill tops in
the bush where we can get phone signals
to make calls,” resident Ibrahim Sagir
said.
No information on casualties is available
because communications are down.
Troops who mobilised from Potiskum, 50
kilometres (30 miles) away, to combat
the Islamists were outgunned and forced
to withdraw after intense fighting,
Maigoro and Sagir said.
Boko Haram radicals also attacked
Galda, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from
Fika, at around 8 pm (1900 GMT).
“The gunmen stormed our town firing
everywhere to scare people away before
breaking into shops and carting away
food and jerry cans of petrol,” resident
Muhammad Garba said.
A police officer in Potiskum confirmed
the accounts.
“Fika and Galda came under attack from
Boko Haram last night. They burnt
several public buildings in Fika and
looted shops in Galda,”he said, asking
not to be named because he was not
authorised to speak to the media.
“Soldiers deployed from here but they
were overpowered by the gunmen,” he
said.
“We are yet to receive any report on
casualties. Communication with the area
has been disrupted as a result of the
burning of telecom masts in the attacks.”
President Buhari, on Sunday, condemned
the Saturday attacks on Maiduguri, the
Borno State capital in which no fewer
than 11 persons were killed in strong
terms.
The raids followed attacks on Borno
towns between Friday and Saturday
afternoon, when a suicide bomber killed
26 in an attack on Mosque during
afternoon prayers.
The Islamist gunmen who attacked the
Yobe towns, according to eyewitnesses,
came in pick-up trucks and on
motorcycles late Saturday, firing wildly
and forcing residents indoors.
In a statement signed by his media
officer, Garba Shehu, the President
extended his condolences to the families
of the victims, affirming that his
administration would not tolerate
wanton and willful destruction of life by
criminal elements that are bent on
foisting anarchy in the country.
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