Naval fighters trapped in Baga Fish Dam
Army, Navy commanders flee to Monguno
Thousands flee to Maiduguri
Despite
denials by the Nigerian military, Boko Haram fighters seized Baga,
Doron-Baga, Kross Kawwa, Bunduran, Kekeno and Kukawa towns of Borno
State after three days of fierce battles from Wednesday to Friday last
week, Daily Trust learnt from impeccable military and political sources
in Maiduguri yesterday.
All six towns are major
population centres in Kukawa local government area of northern Borno.
There are currently no Nigerian or Multinational forces in the areas,
Daily Trust learnt from multiple sources last night.
The
insurgents, driving in a convoy of more than ten fighter vehicles, used
the main road from Kros Kawwa to launch coordinated attacks on
Wednesday last week, December 26. They overrun the Multinational
forces’ headquarters, a naval fighting base and a Marine Police base in
some of the attacked areas, the sources said.
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The
insurgents first attacked a base of the multinational forces located in
Mile Four (an area outside Baga town) at about 4pm and the military
responded. Fighting took place till midnight after which the insurgents
took control of the military base while our soldiers retreated.
Commander of the multinational force, whose name was given as Brigadier
General Hassan, was said to have escaped at night to a police base in
Baga town alongside some of his men. The following day, Thursday, the
Nigerian military deployed fighter jets between 6 to 7am, bombing the
multinational forces base hoping to prevent Boko Haram from carting away
weapons in case they didn’t do that the previous night. The
insurgents, said multiple sources, then attacked Mile Three, where the
Navy had a fighting base, close to the military. The Navy was said to
have put up stiff resistance but eventually lost control on Thursday. A
commander of the base whose name was given as Air Commodore Degel
escaped to Monguno.
On Friday, the insurgents moved to another
naval base located about three kilometers north of Baga in an area
popularly called Fish Dam on shores of the Lake Chad, through which
imports and exports take place between Nigerians and Chadians. The naval
fighters weresafeguarding Nigerian waterways which the insurgents
occasionally attempted to usein order to attack communities. The
insurgents took over the base after a fight, it was learned. About 40
naval fighters escaped on a ship and local boats through portions of
Lake Chad to a village called Kaiga in the Republic of Chad, where they
were received by Chadian authorities.
The navy fighters, sources
said, tried to escape with weapons into the lake even though the
insurgents may have had their hands on some. The insurgents entered Baga
town and attacked a marine police station on Thursday. They however
spared residents, saying they were after military and civilian JTF
fighters. The insurgents gave civilians the choice to stay or to freely
leave the town. Majority of residents numbering about 2,000 trekked
sixty kilometres to Monguno using bush paths. Commander of the
Multinational forces and members of the civilian JTF were said to have
joined the residents, whose knowledge of the terrain helped the party to
reach Monguno.
Daily Trust learnt that only a trailer driver was
killed by the insurgents when he was seen carrying soldiers who jumped
into the truck in an attempt to escape. It was not clear what happened
to the soldiers.
Sources added that the insurgents were also in
Doron-Baga where hundreds of residents fled through the lake on local
boats. The residents are said to be taking refuge in a border village
under the control of Chadian authorities. On Friday, the insurgents made
attempts to takeover the army’s 8th Brigade in Monguno town but the
military repelled them. The insurgents however overran an army base in
Kekeno (a town in Kukawa local government area), our sources said. The
sources said the insurgents are currently in control of the six major
towns in Kukawa making them in full control of the local government area
with water ways accessing Chad. It was gathered that weak old men and
women are currently trapped in the six towns even though majority have
freely left.
Daily Trust reporters in Maiduguri said yesterday
that of the tensof thousands of the residents of the fishing and farming
communities that fled out of Doro and Baga, thousands still missing in
the bush between Baga and Maiduguri. Thousands who made it to Maiduguri
by both trekking and motor commuting have gathered adjacent to the
popular Baga Road Market, Maiduguri, over the last couple of days,
sleeping in the open, partly waiting for the possible arrival of their
missing relations.
A Borno State Civilian JTF leader in Borno
State told Daily Trust yesterday, “As I am talking to you now, you
cannot find 300 residents in Baga and Doro and other communities put
together.” He added, “Soldiers themselves fled from the Kukawa LGA
communities (including Baga and Doro) to Monguno on Friday, but a
military reinforcement was quickly mobilised there between Saturday and
Sunday. While thousands have found their way to Maiduguri from Baga and
Doro and surrounding communities, my members have reliably reported to
me that no fewer than two thousand fled to Yobe State through through
Damasak and Gaidam.
“The Divisional Police State at Baga is empty
as the DPO and his men there fled because an insurgent happened to be
arrested by the police and his fellow insurgents had vowed to get him
out at whatever cost.This is the much I can tell you. Security there is
very fragile and, if there are people there at all, they may not be up
to 500 as at today (Sunday),” he said.
Since Saturday, the
usually vehicle-packed space adjacent to Baga Road Market, Maiduguri has
been heavily crowded by the fleers. Some of them recounted their ordeal
to Daily Trust.”As I am speaking to you now, thousands of our
returnees, including my father and mother and many of my family members
and friends, are still missing in the bush between Lake Chad and
Maiduguri,” Muhammad Bukar from Kangarwa near Baga said.
“The
insurgents invaded our town on Wednesday,” Garba Adam of Doron Baga
said. “When they came, they told us not to fear, that the town had now
become part of Daula [Islamic State], and that whoever wished to stay as
a resident of the Daula could do so and whoever wished to leave could
also do so.So on Thursday, we left the town.Residents fled in different
directions.”
Borno State Government, which was celebrating the
rebuilding of communities and return of IDPs to the seized towns in
Kukawa, has now been forced to establish new camps for displaced
persons. The State Emergency Management Agency and humanitarian workers
are engaged in settling displaced persons in camps with medical and food
supplies. Displaced persons had earlier been resettled in 14 of the 20
local government areas once controled by Boko Haram. Over 30,000 homes,
hospitals, water installations, schools and palaces of traditional
rulers were rebuild before displaced persons returned.
The UN and
other international development agencies were initially against the
return of displaced persons until the Nigerian military gave assurances.
Apart from Kukawa, 13 other local government areas where displaced
persons returned are under the military even though there are reports of
fears in areas like Bama, Ngala and Mobbar LGAs which were hitherto
occupied as well.
Shettima hosts emergency security confab today
Due
to the deteriorating security situation in northern Borno, Governor
Kashim Shettima of Borno State will today host an emergency
extraordinary security meeting in Maiduguri to be attended by heads of
security establishments, leadership of the Civilian JTF and hunters,
traditional rulers and Borno elders. The state’s three Senators, 10
House of Reps and 28 state assembly members, selected chairmen and
commissioners from local government areas affected by recent attacks,
leadership of the University of Maiduguri and selected tertiary
institutions, chairmen of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Nigeria Bar
Association, Nigerian Union of Journalists, National Council of Women
Societies and Nigeria Legion in Borno State are also expected to attend.
The
governor’s spokesman Isa Gusau, who announced this in a statement
issued on Friday, said the meeting will hold at 4pm during which
participants will review the situation in view of recent developments,
make suggestions and come up with a resolution that will be delivered to
President Buhari by a delegation.
The state government and other
institutions concerned by aspects of the resolutions will take
necessary and immediate actions to implement them, the statement said.
Gusau
recalled in the statement that Governor Kashim Shettima has on
different occasions, including in recent weeks, met with President
Muhammadu Buhari and other security stakeholders over matters of
security in Borno State and the President has regularly proved his
empathy, commitment and determination to end the Boko Haram crisis in
order to create enabling environment for the aggressive rebuilding of
destroyed communities, rehabilitation and resettlement of victims which
the Borno government has been doing since 2015.
Source:- Dailytrustng
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