Boko Haram orgy of violence and killing continues as members of the sect in a convoy of 11 Toyota Hilux vehicles and motorcycles laden with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol bombs, attacked Buni/Yadi, headquarters of Gujba Council of Yobe State, in the early hours of yesterday, killing nine people. They also torched several houses and shops.
A detachment of soldiers with Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) and a fighter jet of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) were also sighted by surviving residents who fled to Damaturu for safety.
Hamidu Isa, a pickup van driver, who plies the 54-kilometre Damaturu-Buni/Yadi road, also told The Guardian on phone that the insurgents burst into the town and set ablaze houses and shops, after killing nine residents who attempted to protect their houses from being torched.
“It was God that saved my life with my rickety pickup van because the gunmen stormed the town when I was departing to Damaturu to transport and deliver firewood and charcoal. They used explosives and petrol bombs in burning some of our houses here in Buni/Yadi.
“These gunmen have been attacking us severally with the torching of our property for the last two years. And yesterday, they also burst into the town with explosives and killed our people,” lamented Isa. The Yobe State Police Command confirmed the incident yesterday.
In another related development, Cameroonian immigration authorities have deported about 450 Nigerians living illegally in the country.
Those affected were picked up from Kousseri, a border town between Cameroon and Chad where they had initially been sent packing by the authorities in that country. They were handed to government officials in Mubi, Adamawa State, North-Eastern Nigeria, according to Africa Review, a Kenyan digital news platform.
A Cameroonian official, Mr. Albert Mekondané Obounou, said those affected, “are foreign nationals without valid documents.” A security source, who asked not to be named, revealed that the move was also part of an agreement reached by countries leading the fight against the insurgents in the sub-region.
“We decided to send home all foreigners without valid papers. Other countries of the sub-region involved in the fight against Boko Haram had advocated this solution to truly fight against the terrorists who infiltrate people,” the source said.
Nationals of other countries affected in the latest crackdown include Chad, Mali. Cameroon said it was only the beginning of a hunt on undocumented foreigners in the country.
