Nigeria’s security situation worsened in the new year as armed Boko Haram insurgents, posing as military personnel, stormed Gatamarwa and Tsiha, close to Shikarkir towns in Borno State’s Chibok Local Government Area, killing 11 Residents and kidnapping one woman.
Sources say that the Boko Haram assailants also rustled cattle and food. This attack comes after gunmen kidnapped a Local Government Chairman in Nasarawa State, North-central Nigeria, demanding a N50 Million ransom for his liberty.
The Nasarawa State police command however disclosed on Tuesday night that the Local Government Chairman has regained his freedom.
It should be recalled that Boko Haram attacked a Borno community two weeks ago, killed two persons, looted some houses and set them ablaze
At the height of the Yuletide, suspected terrorists also blasted a few 33KVA lines/towers that connect Yobe and Borno states from the national grid, which is situated between the Auno-Maiduguri and Gujba axis. On Christmas Day, at about five o’clock in the evening, they overran the town of Gatamarwa.
Over the past two years, insurgents attacks have extended beyond their stronghold in northeast Borno State, the epicentre of Nigeria’s 14-year-long insurgents conflict.
They have shifted focus towards farmers, loggers, herders, and fishermen, accusing them of collaborating with the military and militia forces.
In 2020, Boko Haram brutally killed 76 farmers in Zabarmari, setting a new standard of violence. While attacks in the northeast have reduced since the conflict’s peak, militants continue to strike rural areas, military bases, and convoys, contributing to a crisis that has claimed 40,000 lives and displaced two million people since 2009, according to the UN.
