News

August 6, 2015

How troops foiled Boko Haram takeover of Yobe town

Troops

Nigerian army soldeirs patrol along a road in Chibok, northeastern Nigeria, on March 5, 2015. Nigeria’s government said that work had begun to rebuild a school in the northeastern town of Chibok from where Boko Haram gunmen kidnapped more than 200 girls last year. Finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala laid the foundation stone at the Government Secondary School on Thursday on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan, a statement from her office said. AFP PHOTO

By Anthony Ogbonna

Troops of the Nigerian army and Boko Haram insurgents, Thursday, engaged in a gun battle over a town in Yobe state. The insurgents who entered Gadaka town on Wednesday night forced the residents to leave or face being killed.

However, the swift intervention of the army and the torrential rains that flooded the town on Wednesday night made it impossible for the insurgents to takeover the town.

According to the Acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, during another search operation in Jakana village, the troops of 7 Division Garrison recovered 15 cows, 174 goats and a donkey from rustlers.

“Similarly, troops at Jehu near Jakana, arrested one Mai Mustapha,  a suspected fuel supplier to Boko Haram terrorists  and Madu who coordinates buying of food items from neighbouring villages for the terrorists.