Military chiefs set to move command centre to Maiduguri

Boko Haram bombs 30 in fresh Borno attack
Insurgents, in new video, taunt four-nation coalition

The military has stepped up preparations to move its command centre to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to fight Boko Haram. Military chiefs, after about four-hour meeting yesterday with President Muhammadu Buhari, attended by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Solomon Arase, told reporters that they were set to comply with a presidential order, issued by the president in his inaugural address, to take the fight to the insurgents. The insurgents have intensified attacks on Borno and the neighbouring Yobe states since Buhari came to power last Friday.

In the latest attack on Maiduguri yesterday, Boko Haram killed 30 people when it bombed a market in the town. Besides, the militia group has resumed its propaganda through the video, as it taunted the military in a new one released yesterday. It rejected claims from the military that it has been routed by a four-nation offensive in a video released online, which does not show the group’s self acclaimed leader, Abubakar Shekau. The nation’s security chiefs and the IG, at the meeting in Abuja, briefed Buhari on the security situation in the country, particularly the crisis in the North-East. Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, said they would proceed straight to Borno in line with the president’s directive to set up the centre.

“We are the ones to go back and work on it. Soon, it will be carried out; it is a presidential directive, it must be carried out and we must do that as quickly as possible,” he stated. While urging Nigerians to support the armed forces in fighting the war against Boko Haram, he said: “All Nigerians should continue to support the military and provide us with the needed intelligence. “As to the human beings, their movements and suspicious movement should be reported to the police; of course the police will make that available to us.

“You know as we continue to put pressure on them, in the Sambisa area, they will try to run away from there and then create further problems, using improvised explosive devices. Remember that the terrorists are becoming more daring. “Like I told you, we are sustaining the tempo and the successes we have recorded so far, we want to continue to maintain that and if there are any suggested solutions that require amendment or alteration of what we’re doing, why not? Most especially the more they (people) give us the intelligence, the better.”

Usman told reporters that they came to brief Buhari on the security situation in the country. “Since he was inaugurated as our commanderin- chief, this is the first time that we are formally meeting him to give general security briefing of the country, and we have been able to provide insights into the security situation of Nigeria,” he added. The meeting was also attended by the National Security Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd). However, as the president and his defence chiefs were meeting in Abuja, Maiduguri was thrown into another round of mourning as a suspected suicide bomber killed about 30 people, while 24 others were injured when he detonated an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at the Maiduguri Central Abattoir.

A meat seller at the abattoir, Mallam Shuab Mohammed, said the suicide bomber came to the abattoir, pretending to be a medicine vendor. The suspect was said to be playing music eulogising Buhari and had a poster of the president pasted on his medicine basket. He reportedly concealed the IED under the basket and detonated it when he reached a crowded area, killing about 30 persons. He said others injured had been rushed to hospitals for medical attention. A member of the local vigilante group, Civilian JTF, Ibrahim Tanko said rescue workers had evacuated 11 bodies while one of the injured died in the hospital. He said the suicide bomber concealed the bomb in a medicine vendor`s basket and detonated it when he got to a crowded area of the abattoir.

A female suicide bomber also killed herself yesterday at Yamarkumi Military checkpoint in Biu, the headquarters of Biu Local Government Area of the state, as the IED detonated before he could get to her target. The insurgents in the early hours of yesterday also attempted to attack Maiduguri, but were successfully repelled by troops. Confirming the incident, the International Community of Red Cross communication, Mallam Umar Sadiq, said 13 people were killed while 24 others injured had been rushed to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and State Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri for treatment.

The insurgents, according to a report by AFP, arrived in the Moronti area of the city by river, but were unable to advance further because of wide ditches and embankments dug by soldiers around the city limits. They then began shelling Ajillari Cross, about three kilometres away at about 12:45 am.

“We were bombarded by RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) by Boko Haram from Moronti,” Isa Mala, who lives in Ajillari Cross, told newsmen. “We all left our homes for fear of being hit inside. Kyari Bulunkutu, who lives near Mala, gave the same account and added: “At about two in the morning, it was all over, but I haven’t been able to see whether there was any damage or casualties.” However, Boko Haram, in the new video, rejected claims from the military that it has been routed by the international offensive.

The unidentified speaker, his face obscured by a headscarf, instead called Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which have been battling the insurgents, “the lying coalition partners”. “Most of our territory is still under our control,” said the speaker in the 10-minute message, which was posted on the videosharing site YouTube. The video bears the logo “Islamic State in West Africa” and follows the Nigerian militants’ pledge of allegiance in an audio message in March to the IS group, that has overrun large parts of Syria and Iraq.

The message is the first video released by Boko Haram since February, when Shekau was shown in high definition footage and vowed to disrupt Nigeria’s elections. He has featured prominently in most of the group’s videos over the last three years and his absence in the latest message will likely stir further debate on his whereabouts or possible death. Nigeria’s military has previously claimed to have killed Shekau, only for him then to pop up on another video.

The authorities have explained such appearances away by saying that the role of “Shekau” was filled by various lookalike insurgents. Meanwhile, Buhari is scheduled today to visit Niger and Chad in furtherance of his desire to subdue the sect.

The Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said Buhari would travel to Chad and Niger for talks on the Boko Haram menace. This will be the president’s first official visit outside the country since assuming office. According to Shehu, the two-day trip will focus on “matters of security,” because Nigeria needs the cooperation of its neighbours to succeed in its campaign against the terrorist sect whose activities have so far claimed about 15,000 lives since 2009.