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YOLA —Few hours after the commercial nerve centre and the second biggest town in Adamawa State fell into the hands of Islamic sect, Boko Haram, the insurgents, yesterday, overran Vimtim, the home town of the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh.

The terrorists have thus rubbished the purported ceasefire agreement announced by the Chief of Defence Staff and his earlier vow on January 20 this year that the Boko Haram menace would end last April.

Mubi town was invaded yesterday by the terrorists who stormed the 234 Nigerian Army Battalion, burnt down the police station and the Mubi prison, setting the inmates free. The insurgents also hoisted their flag at the Palace of the Emir of Mubi. When the insurgents invaded the town, the troops and the residents fled while they had a field day looting and burning property.

As at yesterday, Mubi was like a ghost town as the entire residents have deserted it even as some edifices like the Mubi International Cattle Market, the local government secretariat as well as some private buildings were still burning.

Having taken over Mubi, the insurgents marched on to other surrounding villages and towns before storming Vimtim, the home town of the Chief of Defence Staff.

How we escaped from Mubi –Redeemed pastor

A Zonal pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, who escaped from the insurgents in Mubi, told Vanguard that the Boko Haram sect had conquered Mubi and were fully in-charge.

Asked how he escaped, he said he was just getting to Yola, the Adamawa State Capital at press time last night, after a scary run through Mubi bushes and farm roads.

“For over two hours, we ran and crawled through bush tracks and farm roads to get to where I got a bus to Yola. I am just getting to Yola. I thank God.”

Asked what he was doing in Mubi, the pastor said he was transferred to somewhere in Borno where he stayed for several days. According to him, “there was no telecommunication network in the area, I could neither call nor receive calls. The insurgents were terrorizing the area and one of my zonal pastors at the headquarters advised that I should not stay there hence, I had to leave”.

Before he fled Mubi for Yola, he said the security problem had worsened. “However, the men and the youths said they were not going anywhere, that enough is enough. They have been killing the militants. Yesterday, they killed two. But they withdrew the soldiers and mobile policemen and yesterday the insurgents attacked. They have conquered Mubi. That is why most people are afraid.”

Adamawa Govt moves to send trapped residents to IDP camp

Meanwhile, Adamawa State Government has dispatched over hundred buses to comb Mubi and its environs for people who were trapped and stranded in buses and villages for onward transit to the Internally Displaced Persons Camp in the State capital.

Governor Bala James Ngilari gave the order yesterday afternoon, when concerned citizens of Mubi visited him to brief him on current development in the area.

Briefing the Governor, leader of the group, Mr. Joshua Atiku told him to consult with the Federal Government to persuade the Cameroonian authorities to allow fleeing people access into that country.

Atiku disclosed that hundreds of thousands of people escaping into Cameroon were stranded at the borders owing to the fact that the Cameroonian gendarmes have denied them entry.

He added that the situation was causing concern to the people, who have fled their homes due to insecurity only to run into diplomatic problems with their neighbours.

Atiku charged both state and federal governments to as a matter of urgency do everything humanly possible to evacuate people still trapped in Mubi and its environs as the insurgents continue to lay siege to the town.

What Badeh said in January

On January 20 this year when Air Marshal Alex Badeh assumed office, he expressed optimism that there would soon be an end to insurgency in some parts of the country. He said with the support and co-operation of the new service chiefs, the Boko Haram menace would be stamped out in the next three months.

He said it was mandatory for the military to eliminate the menace of Boko Haram before April to avert a constitutional problem in the polity. The CDS said it was possible to bring the insurgency in the North East to an end if the military approached its security responsibilities cohesively.

“We must bring it to a stop before April so that we will not have constitutional problems on our hands. We don’t want to go back to the Senate to start begging and lobbying. If we do our work cohesively, I can tell you, Gen. Minimah, you will finish your work in no time.

“I can say confidently that this war is already won,” he had said.

NEMA expresses shock, fears over humanitarian challenges in Adamawa, Borno

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the North East sub region yesterday, expressed “shocks and fears” over Wednesday’s multiple attacks on Mubi town in Adamawa state, as the number of displaced persons continued to rise with increased humanitarian challenges at various resettlement camps.

The North-East Zonal Information Officer of NEMA, Abdulkadir Ibrahim, who addressed newsmen on Mubi’s multiple attacks and eventual capture by Boko Haram insurgents said: “We are very much alarmed and worried by the latest attacks on Mubi and Uba towns of Adamawa and Borno states; which have sacked many residents from their houses and displaced over 8, 950 refugees from their existing camps in the two affected communities.

“It is disheartening that this is happening when a humanitarian agency like this, was doing everything possible to cushion the devastating effects of the attacks on Madagali, Michika, Gulak and other surrounding communities through intervention by providing relief materials to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at Mubi and Uba which were also attacked by insurgents yesterday (Wednesday).

“Many victims fled into mountainous border areas of Cameroon while others fled to Yola for safety, leaving the existing camps empty”.


Credit: Vanguard Nigeria