Boko Haram runs out of food supply
There are indications that the need to
feed the over 200 students of Government Secondary School, Chibok,
abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on April 14 has put pressure on the
Islamic terrorist group to steal food items and loot communities close
to Sambisa Forest in the North East.
Saturday PUNCH investigations
revealed that the violent Islamic sect had in the past week stepped up
the looting of villages, markets and food stores in Borno, Adamawa and
Yobe states for food items including grains and bread.
Residents of these communities told Saturday PUNCH
that the rate at which the insurgents stole their foodstuffs was
unprecedented, noting that the pressure to feed the abducted girls might
have contributed to the desperation of the insurgents to steal and kill
the villagers in the process.
One of the villagers, Bukar Umar, who
resides in Kamuyya village in Borno State, told one of our
correspondents that though it was normal for the insurgents to ask
communities to contribute money towards “God’s work,’’ they were usually
satisfied when communities raised money for them.
He, however, said the insurgents in
recent times had stepped up their activities by invading their
communities and carting away food items.
With the pressure on Nigerian soldiers to
clamp down on the Islamic sect, it was learnt that the insurgents no
longer felt safe to go to markets to buy food items for fear of being
arrested.
Some of the insurgents recently met their
waterloo in Madagali, Adamawa State, where they were given up by a
local food vendor from whom they had planned to buy foodstuffs.
Consequently, members of a vigilance
group pounced on them and killed over 70 of them while seven others were
reportedly handed over to the police.
The vigilantes acted after they were
tipped by the local food vendor that the insurgents were coming to get
food before going for a major operation in a neighbouring village.
A Madagali resident, who did not want his
name mentioned, had said, “The vigilance group mobilised, laid ambush
and waited patiently for the insurgents.
“As soon as the insurgents, numbering
over 100, showed up in the village to pick up their favourite meals, the
vigilantes attacked them, killing most of them in a hail of bullets.”
Security personnel, during the week, also
repelled attacks by the terrorists on Kubla, a border town between
Adamawa and Borno states.
A security source said, “The heavily
armed terrorists arrived in Kubla and started burning houses and
stealing foodstuff, until a contingent of the military was mobilised to
confront them.
“The soldiers engaged the militants in a fierce exchange of gunfire to repel them,” the source said.
The source, who did not disclose his name
because he was not authorised to provide details of the attacks, added
that the insurgent had set to extend their stealing spree to Taraba
State.
Residents of Limankara, Kamuyya,
Kirenowa, Kimba and Makor communities in Borno State said the insurgents
usually carte away food items and livestock after killing people in
their areas in recent attacks.
In Limankara, a Borno border village with
Adamawa State, the insurgents who killed many persons and carted away
property worth several millions of Naira were said to have particularly
gone for the available food items in the village.
In Kamuyya village, a resident, Bukar
Umar, said over 20 insurgents, who must have emerged from the bush,
stormed the Kamuyya weekly market when traders were conducting their
businesses and opened fire into the crowd before setting shops and
vehicles on fire.
According to him, the hoodlums were well
armed with sophisticated weapons, and after raiding the area, they went
to the major market and shot sporadically and indiscriminately into the
crowd, killing 20 persons on the spot and burning most of the shops in
the market.
He said the attack lasted for over two
hours last Sunday. “The invaders had a field day wreaking havoc on us.
They snatched several vehicles and loaded them with bags of assorted
foodstuff, before fleeing the area.”
In Kirenowa town, where 20 persons were
killed last week Thursday by the insurgents, they were said to have
ransacked the town for food items, which they subsequently packed away
in stolen vehicles.
The insurgents on Sunday intercepted a
vehicle loaded with bread, killed the four occupants and drove the
vehicles towards Sambisa Forest. The vehicle, which was on its way to
Polka from Gwoza, was attacked at Waraba village.
Some of those who spoke to our
correspondents appealed to both the state and the Federal Government to
immediately come to their rescue by giving them food and rebuilding
their burnt houses.
One of them, Modu Kaka, said: “It has
been difficult for our people to feed because our food items have been
carted away and we are left with little to share among ourselves.
“To even get another supply is a problem,
if you get that, you are only inviting them to come back and that makes
it necessary for security personnel to be deployed here.”
The village District Head of Limankara,
Alhaji AbdulKareem Wahab, claimed that 1,750 bags of assorted grains
were loaded in seven stolen vehicles that were taken away by the
insurgents during the week.
He said, “The invaders had a field day
wreaking havoc on us. They snatched several vehicles and loaded them
with bags of assorted foodstuffs, before fleeing our area.”
Also in Kirenowa town, residents said
scores of armed insurgents invaded the area around 12noon, shooting
everyone at sight and setting houses, shops and vehicles on fire.
A resident of the area, Mallam Goni
Bukar, said, “The militants, armed with sophisticated weapons, raided
the area and proceeded to the major market and began sporadic shootings
into the direction of crowd, killing 20 people on the spot and burning
most houses and shops in the town.
“They snatched several vehicles and
loaded them with bags of assorted foodstuffs and fled. They destroyed
everything we have, carted away our food and burnt down the remaining
ones.”
It was also gathered that after wreaking
havoc in Marte, the hoodlums invaded nearby Kimba and Makor villages,
where five people were killed in each of the villages.
Bukar added, “After the carnage in our
area, the militants proceeded to the two neighbouring villages and
killed 10 persons, even as they set ablaze several houses and vehicles.
They equally carted away their food items.”
In a recent attack on Shawa, a
neighbouring Chibok community, the terrorists stole food, after killing
no fewer than 10 people. In another attack on Alagarno village, Borno
State, the gunmen also stole food and razed their victims’ homes.
One of the residents who spoke with
journalists, Mallam Umaru Saina, said, “They destroyed everything we had
and burnt down our remaining food after stealing what they needed. What
is most painful is that they did not spare our kids. They killed
children and women.”
Apagu Maidaga also said Alagarno
residents hid in the bush and watched while the extremists set ablaze
their homes of thatch-roofed mud huts.
The British newspaper, The Mail,
had last Sunday reported that Nigerian journalist, Ahmad Salkida, who
is trusted by both the Federal Government and the Boko Haram leader as a
mediator, visited the camp where the abducted schoolgirls were being
kept.
Sakilda was quoted as claiming to have seen the abducted schoolgirls being “well fed and adequately sheltered.”
Saturday PUNCH gathered during
the week that the insurgents resorted to stealing following the shortage
of food to feed themselves and their hostages.
It was also learnt that the thirst for
more loot prompted the terrorists to invade Kamuyya village in Biu Local
Government Area of Borno State last Sunday.
The recent activities of the sect have
left the communities attacked further impoverished and many found it
difficult to feed as their food items have been carted away.
It was also learnt that the violent sect
had begun to pile up food items in preparation for a long drawn battle
with the military, especially as the United States, United Kingdom,
France, Israel and other foreign collaborators are assisting the Federal
Government to ensure the safe return of the abducted Chibok
schoolgirls.
With the allied forces believed to be on
the ground to help the Nigerian military rescue the girls, it was learnt
that the insurgents did not want to be caught unawares by running out
of strategic resources, especially food.
Saturday PUNCH further learnt
that this development also contributed to the latest strategy of carting
away food from communities, and the rustling up of the residents’
cattle in the last one week.
In recent publications, some residents of
the communities close to Sambisa Forest told journalists in Maiduguri
that the insurgents had visited their towns recently asking for money to
execute “God’s work.”
The villagers were only able to raise
N70, 000. The insurgents left with the money but with a message that
they would come back for the balance.
They threatened to come back for the balance at a stipulated time or they would kill the villagers.
One of the villagers, Bukar Umar, said the villagers took the threat with levity. They thought it was “madness gone too far.”
He said, “Actually when they issued the
threat, we took it lightly as we were all relaxed and nobody bothered to
make any extra effort to raise the amount they requested. May be that
was what caused this bloody attack because we were unable to meet their
demand.”
Speaking on the growing raid of the
insurgents for food, a military source said, “The military is aware of
this and knows that the insurgents are doing this for a strategy but it
is inevitable that we have to confront them if the schoolgirls and other
girls and women they have abducted are not released.”
He said, “They should continue to pile up
food items as much as they can but wars and battles have different
complexities and when we get to that stage we will definitely know which
strategy to deploy.’’
Unconfirmed reports had indicated that
certain helicopters used to drop food items and other needs in the
Sambisa stronghold of the Boko Haram group.
Security experts said the growing focus
on the Sambisa forest must have disrupted the routine of the
helicopters, thus putting pressure on the group’s supply chain and
fueling more attacks on villagers in the North-East.
