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.