The state governor, Babagana Zulum says the president is visiting to “assess the security situation and inaugurate some of the projects” that both the federal and state governments have completed in the state.

Borno is the base of Boko Haram fighters who have been troubling the whole country for over 10 years now and is the state that has suffered most in Nigeria as far as insecurity is concerned.

Governor of the state Babagana Zulum, urged Borno residents to show support and behave orderly during the President’s visit.

Youths booed Buhari in Maiduguri

During his last visit on 12 February, 2020 some youths shouted ‘Ba mayi’ ‘Ba mayi’ meaning ‘we don’t support’ ‘we don’t support’ as Buhari left the Shehu of Borno palace.

According to a press release from the Borno State government, some of the things the president is expected to do during his visit include:

• To assess the security situation in the state
• To launch some projects that governor Zulum initiated
• Launch 4,000 out of the 10,000 houses that government wants to build for displaced people from Boko Haram war
• The Borno government statement hailed Buhari for the 10,000 houses initiative that they say wille go a long way to help displaced people.

The ‘we don’t support’ shout that happened the last time

On 12th of February, 2020 as Buhari was leaving Shehu of Borno palace in the Yan Nono area of Maiduguri metropolis, some people start to shout ‘We don’t support’ in Hausa language as Buhari’s convoy is passing through.

On that occasion the president went to condole the people of Borno after a deadly attack by Boko Haram left many people dead.

That time Shehu Garba the president’s special adviser on media and publicity said those sharing the embarrassing video on social media didn’t do justice to the people of Borno who are very hospitable and kind to the president.

“I was on the trip and most the important thing is that most of the people welcomed and thanked us for things we are doing.” This is what Garba Shehu said during that episode.

For years, insecurity in Borno state, north east Nigeria, wrecked havoc in that part of the country with many citizens suffering in the hands of Boko Haram insurgents. This was why many people voted for Buhari in 2015; and still re-elect him in 2019 with up to 94% of their votes.

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He died on Wednesday evening in a civil war between his faction and ISWAP following the invasion of the terror group’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest area.

CONFIRMED: Abubakar #Shekau, One of the longest surviving Jihadist leaders in the world has died after detonating an explosive device to evade arrest or surrender his leadership.

Detailed report by Humangle says #ISWAP took over the #BokoHaram Sambisa enclave following clashes.

— UNCLE DEJI™️ (@DejiAdesogan) May 20, 2021

ISWAP, which had broken away from the Shekau-led Boko Haram faction in 2016 was allied with the Islamic State (ISIS) accused Shekau of brutality towards other Muslims.

HumAngle reported that Shekau was captured and subdued. During a parley, he was asked to voluntarily relinquish power and order his fighters in other areas to declare bai’a (allegiance) to ISWAP’s authority.

Sources within the insurgency, however, said that Shekau who secretly had a suicide vest on eventually blew himself up alongside everyone present during the negotiations.

Apparently, Shekau died while also killing other high ranking members of ISWAP whose identities are still being investigated by reporters.

Shekau had been the leader of Boko Haram since 2009 following the death of the group’s founder, Mohammed Yusuf. He had been rumoured to have been killed at least four times between July 2009 and Aug. 2015. In Aug. 2016, the Nigerian Air Force claimed he had been “fatally wounded” by military bombardments, but the terror group released a video only a month later showing he was alive and in good health.

What comes next?

The killing of Abubakar Shekau is definitely a blow to terrorism in the Lake-Chad area.

Most Nigerians are celebrating the news on social media. Former senator Shehu Sani tweeted this in response to the reports.

https://twitter.com/ShehuSani/status/1395322669499813893?s=19

ISWAP is led by Abu Musab Al-Barnawi, unlike Shekau his faction does not carry out attacks on the area’s Muslim majority locals, they focus on attacking military targets.

Abu Musab, a son of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf, previously served as the group’s spokesperson.

But he later joined a sub-group of fighters, including top lieutenant Mamman Nur, who broke away due to Shekau’s rigid methods and extreme position on takfir.

The breakaway faction, now known as ISWAP, moved into the Alagarno and Lake Chad Basin, dislodging or taking over Boko Haram assets in the areas and subsequently becoming the dominant terror group in the axis.

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Several sources reported that ISWAP fighters stormed Boko Haram camps with gun trucks killing most of their commanders and forcing others to swear allegiance and switch sides.

DEVELOPING: Just receive update on #ISWAP faceoff with #BokoHaram. I learnt #ISWAP fighters with over 50 Gun-trucks stormed Sambisa forest, dislodged #Bokoharam field commanders & fighters, & also force them to surrender or get killed. Leader Abubakar Shekau whereabout unknown.

— UNCLE DEJI™️ (@DejiAdesogan) May 18, 2021

The attack is reportedly a move by ISWAP leader Abu Mus’ab Al Barnawi to eliminate his rivals and unify the terrorists under his command.

What is the difference between Boko Haram and ISWAP?

After the death of Boko Haram’s founder Muhammad Yusuf in 2009, the terrorists regrouped under the leadership of Abubakr Shekau who has been the face of the organization since.

In 2014, Shekau allied his group with the Islamic State, which renamed Boko Haram Islamic State West Africa as part of its growing caliphate.

In August 2016, the group apparently split, with an IS video announcing that Mr Shekau had been replaced with Abu Musab al-Barnawi, believed to be a son of Boko Haram’s founder Muhammad Yusuf.

Mr Shekau disputed this, insisting he was still in charge.

ISWAP unlike Boko Haram says it does not attack civilian target focusing mainly on fighting the Nigerian military and the regional alliance formed to fight it.

Boko Haram’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad”.

Residents in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, where the group had its headquarters, dubbed it Boko Haram.

Loosely translated from the region’s Hausa language, this means “Western education is forbidden”.

The group has been accused of unimaginable brutality even by other terrorist groups.

In 2014, they kidnapped over 200 schoolgirls from Chibuk, an event that attracted global attention.

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Nigeria has been fighting Boko Haram Islamist militants since 2009 when the group first asked that Nigeria’s circular constitution be replaced with its extreme version of Sharia law.

According to sources at the Maimalari barracks, the soldiers besieged the headquarters of the Theatre Command in Borno State, shooting sporadically into the air on Thursday night following their deployment.

They cited non-payment of allowances and poor equipment as reasons for their rebellion.

Some of the soldiers who spoke under anonymity recall how a whole unit that went for reinforcement when Marte was captured last month, perished under superior firepower of the enemy forces.

Nigeria’s war against Boko Haram has always been hampered by allegations of corruption and mismanagement. In 2015, former National Security Adviser under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was remanded in prison after $2 billion budgeted for arms purchase went missing.

More recently, the current National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, said no less than ₦1 billion that was released for the procurement of arms cannot be accounted for by both the outgoing and incoming service chiefs, he said they are in the dark on the whereabouts of the funds or equipment.

The NSA told BBC Hausa Service in an interview: “No one knows what happened to the money, but by God’s grace, the president will investigate to find out where it went or where the goods went.”

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The images show recruited child soldiers carrying balaclava and participating in martial arts training, weapon handling training, and religious education class.

Last year, VOA News reported that Boko Haram was recruiting children as soldiers who can be used as suicide bombers.

Officials with the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), a regional military alliance fighting the Boko Haram insurgency, told the news agency that the recruitment of child soldiers “is the latest in a retinue of brutal and inhuman tactics deployed by Boko Haram” since it began its insurgency a decade ago.

When Boko Haram started, it was a largely peaceful movement that wanted to replace Nigeria’s secular constitution with its hardline interpretation of Sharia law.

The group argued that the rampant corruption and poverty suffered by Nigerians was a result of Western education and proposed replacing it with an Islamic-style educational system.

Then in 2009, the group’s founder and leader, Muhammad Yusuf was captured and later killed in police custody.

Since 2009 the group has become more ruthless under its new leader Abubakar Shekau. One study estimates over 14 million Nigerians have been directly affected by Boko Haram’s insurgency in the past decade.

The study also said 13,000 churches were razed, 1,500 schools shut, and 611 teachers have been killed by the terrorists so far.

Nigerian officials are also concerned that the group is also infiltrating other criminal gangs across the country. Fulani herdsmen who have been finding it difficult to find grazing lands for their cattle are increasingly turning to banditry and other forms of criminality.

In December, while President Muhammadu Buhari was on vacation in Katsina state, gunmen took more than 300 boys from a secondary school in Kankara, some reports claimed that Boko Haram, which operates hundreds of miles away in the north-east, was behind the attack.

The claims were later disputed and the boys released after negotiations.

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In recent days, Nigeria has seen a significant rise in insecurity, including the kidnap of 35 people on Damaturu-Maiduguri road by Boko Haram.

But on Thursday, President Buhari commended the nation’s military, saying they succeeded in restoring stability in the North-East, including Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, quoted Buhari as speaking at the induction and inauguration of newly acquired NAF MI-171E helicopter, two reactivated Alpha Jets and one L39ZA aircraft, all belonging to the Nigerian Air Force.

The statement was titled, ‘We remain unyielding in confronting insurgency and other criminality, says President Buhari as he commissions new Air Force helicopter’.

Shehu quoted the President as commending the security forces for successes recorded so far especially by restoring “some level of stability not only in Borno and Yobe states but also in Adamawa State.”

He said the President noted that his regime had boosted the capacity of the Nigerian Air Force by the acquisition of 23 brand new aircraft in recent times with more still on the way.

The President said, “These 23 new aircraft are aside from the 15 additional aircraft, including 12 Super Tucano aircraft from the United States of America and 3 JF-17 Thunder Multi-Role Fighter aircraft from Pakistan that has been procured and will soon be delivered.”

Alternate reality

In a reaction to the President’s claim of stability, the National President of the Middle Belt Forum, Dr Bitrus Porgu, asked Mr. President where and how he achieved the stability in the affected areas

Dr. Porgu, who spoke with reporters in Jos, maintained that the reality on the ground in Borno with regard to security situation was at variance with Buhari’s position.

The Middle Belt leader recounted the many incidents of killings, abductions, and attacks by Boko Haram, which occurred in Borno communities in recent times, including Chibok, Michika, Gwoza, Askira, Maiduguri-Damaturu road, among others.

Dr. Porgu said, “Boko Haram has been killing people in these areas nearly every day. Up till now, many people in Gwoza and Michika, who ran for their safety to Cameroun, have yet to return to their ancestral homes due to the activities of Boko Haram.”

On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum ACF, Emmanuel Yawe, knocked the President’s claim coming in light of the slaughtering of over 40 farmers at Zarbarmari in Borno State by insurgents, saying, “This is not stability.”

Also reacting to the President’s claim, the Coalition of Northern Groups CNG’s spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said, “The Nigerian public has for long lost confidence in the ability of the President and his men to tell even simple thing as the truth.

“In any case, a government that is infested with such grandmasters of half and untruth, propaganda and uncouth lies as the Information Minister and the two presidential media aides cannot expect to be taken seriously.

“In a region where farmers are prohibited from accessing their farms, motorways cannot be passed, schools are attended at personal risk, and policing has become a major problem generally, no leader can boast of success in restoration of stability.

“Obviously, the presidency is coming up with this fresh gaffe to distract attention from the nationwide concern over the Financial Times report that Nigeria under the current administration (regime) is at the brinks of becoming a failed state.”

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The governor had earlier claimed that despite the continued troubles of Boko Haram terrorists in his state, the security situation in his state has improved under the regime of the President, Muhammadu Buhari.

On Monday, Zulum condemned what he described as the routine attacks on travelers and villagers by Boko Haram insurgents in his state.

The governor stated this when he visited Jakana, one of the major towns along the Maiduguri-Damaturu Highway where some travelers were killed, and others abducted on Friday, last week.

He said it was disappointing that the majority of the attacks within the last two years took place between Auno and Jakana towns, a distance of about 20 kilometers.

“I have had occasions to defend the Nigerian military in order to boost the morale of commanders and their troops at the frontlines because I know the true picture of things.

“However, I am really disappointed that despite all support from both the Federal Government and from us in Borno State, our military is failing to secure an area of 20 kilometers, which is the distance between Auno and Jakana,” he decried.

Governor Zulum added, “Honestly speaking, we are not happy; the Nigerian Army has failed in discharging their responsibility of protecting the commuters … majority of Boko Haram attacks along this Maiduguri-Damaturu-Kano Road keep happening between Auno and Jakana.

“So, if the military cannot secure 20 kilometers, how can they keep us with the hope they will defeat the Boko Haram?”

He also berated the Rapid Response Squad, comprising well-equipped policemen, vigilantes, and local hunters, set up by the Borno State government.

According to the governor, the security teams lack visibility along the Maiduguri-Damaturu Road which makes it feasible for Boko Haram to keep running their show on the same axis and on multiple occasions.

“With all of you (journalists), we drove from Maiduguri to Jakana, we did not see soldiers on the road; we did not see even our own Rapid Response Squad on this road, and they were trained, employed, kitted and paid to protect all Nigerians within their areas of operation and these Nigerians include travelers plying this busy and important road,” he said.

Governor Zulum lamented that in 2020, the insurgents have carried out many attacks along the Maiduguri-Damaturu-Kano Road, including one in February in which over 30 people, including a nursing mother and an infant, were burnt to death.

He, however, assured residents along the road that he would convene an emergency security meeting to come up with more measures to secure the highway.

The governor urged them to continually support the military by providing information on the activities of insurgents.

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The Islamists attacked a large convoy of commuters near Garin Kuturu in Jakana at about 5 pm on Friday, according to military sources.

“The passengers first sighted a burning fire, but they thought it was bush burning, not knowing that they had already ambushed a Dangote’s truck driver and set it ablaze,” the online publication quoted a military source as saying.

“But while they were approaching the scene, they sighted the insurgents storming towards them on trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, before they could turn their vehicles to run, the insurgents had already caught up with them.

“Many of the passengers fled into the bush, 35 were abducted, two private vehicles and one truck were set ablaze. Nine vehicles of the abducted passengers were also abandoned at the scene while their properties were looted.”

A senior police officer from the Crack team in Maiduguri, who preferred anonymity, said ten passengers were rescued while those who sustained injuries were taken to Maiduguri Specialist Hospital for treatment.

On December 11, bandits kidnapped over 300 students from a boarding school in Kankara, Katsina State. Boko Haram had earlier claimed responsibility for that attack but that claim has since been refuted with the return of the students.

Nigeria’s North-East has been under Boko Haram terror since 2009 when the government killed its founder Muhammad Yusuf. Since then, thousands of civilians have lost their lives and an estimated 3 million people have been displaced from the region.

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The incident occurred on Thursday night in the Gora Gan community in Zango Kataf Local Government Area of the State.

Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, explained in a statement that the gunmen during the attack burnt down at least 13 houses and two shops belonging to the residents of the community.

He disclosed that Troops of Operation Safe Haven were able to repel the attackers and stabilized the general area and thereafter retrieved seven dead bodies while one person was badly injured in the attack.

The commissioner stated that security agents including Troops of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), Special Forces of the Defence Headquarters, and police personnel are trailing the attackers with a view to arresting them.

Meanwhile, Governor Nasir El-Rufai has condemned the killing of innocent citizens as barbaric and inhuman.

In a condolence message to the families that lost their loved ones in the attack, the Governor directed the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to take inventory of the damages incurred and provide relief materials to the victims with immediate effect.

Nigeria’s security situation is getting worse day by day, on Thursday, the United States warned its citizens not to travel to the country owing o deteriorating security.

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Hundreds of Boys were kidnapped after gunmen attacked their school on December 11.

334 students were released and handed over to security operatives on Thursday after the gunmen had earlier released a video to prove they have the boys in captivity.

The release of the boys which came just hours after a video of them in captivity, led most people to suggest perhaps, ransom was paid for their release.

however, speaking when he received the freed schoolboys at the government house on Friday, the governor said his administration did not offer a penny to the abductors of the boys for their release.

He said security agencies and members of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) were instrumental in the release of the schoolboys.

“Those involved in the negotiation include my adviser, some top military and police operatives, members of Miyetti Allah; (they) were all involved in the negotiation,” Masari said.

The governor said the schoolboys “have suffered physically and psychologically”. He assured them that they would be properly taken care of before they are reunited with their parents.

The kidnapping is blamed on bandits – a local criminal group that has been terrorizing North-Eastern Nigeria. There are rumors that they were paid as much as $4 million dollars as ransom to release the schoolboys.

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