Boko Haram Becomes Desperate Due To Hunger, Resort To Robbery

Following the dislodgement of Boko Haram camps
in some parts of Borno State by troops which had
forced many of the terrorists to scavenge for food
from villagers, the terrorists have resorted to
armed robbery thereby robbing innocent civilians
and killing three passengers after collecting
unspecified amount of cash and food items from
their victims along Bama- Banki road.
This is even as intelligence information available to
the newly established Headquarters of 7 Division,
Nigerian Army, Maiduguri indicated that the terrorists
have written threat letters to Dikwa Market/Traders
demanding N1 million to enable them purchase food
items and other logistical requirement or be ready to
face deadly attacks.
These were contained in a press statement emailed to
Journalists yesterday by the Acting Spokesman of the
7 Div, Nigerian Army, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa
in Maiduguri, the state capital.
Sagir in the statement said, “ at about 11:35 hours on
13th September, 2013, some troops of Banki Forward
Operating Base (BFOB) on a mission of 202 Battalion
Bama, on their way back to Banki, a border town with
Cameroun Republic encountered some Boko Haram
terrorists along Bama-Banki road carrying out armed
robbery activities on innocent traders and travelers.
The terrorists had killed 3 passengers and collected
unspecified amount of cash and food items during
the robbery.
“Consequently, several terrorists also lost their lives
during the chanced encounter with the troops.
Similarly, intelligence available to the 7 Division
indicated that in desperation to survive, the Boko
Haram terrorists have written a letter to Dikwa
Market/Traders demanding N1 million to enable them
purchase food items and other logistical requirements
or be ready to face their wrath”. Sagir stated in the
statement.
Meanwhile, the sect’s insurgency has been identified
as the factor responsible for the recent rise in the
cases of poliomyelitis in Borno State.
The state, with 14 cases, the highest in the country,
according to the Borno State Commissioner for
Health, Dr. Salma Anas-Kolo was impeded in the fight
against polio as a result of insecurity in many parts of
the state which made it hard for health workers to
immunize children in the state.
Anas-Kolo disclosed yesterday at a sensitization
programme for traditional leaders in the state that
Borno has 14 cases of polio out of the nation’s 37
and the global 44 cases.
She said that the sensitization programme became
imperative in order to meet the 2014 World Health
Organisation (WHO) target of freeing the globe of
polio.
The commissioner, who explained that Maiduguri was
picked for the kick off of the sensitization programme
because it recorded the highest cases of six in the
state with the neighbouring council having four cases,
said it was not all a sad story as the incidences could
have been higher but for the dedication of health
workers that withstood the insecurity and went to
some areas to get children immunized.
The Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai Al-
Amin Elkanemi, who hosted the sensitization
programme at his palace, called on his subjects to
allow their children from 0-5 years to take
immunization vaccine against the five killer diseases.
Source: Vanguard