How Nigerian Governor’s Convoy Suffer Two Deadly Attacks In 3 Days
By Anukam Ebenezer
In what has become a worrisome development, there is an increase in spate of attacks in Borno state, a Northern state in Nigeria. This time, the attackers are targetting the Chief administrators in the state.
Governor of Borno state in Nigeria, governor Babagana Zulum, has been the subject of repeated terrorist attacks which have occurred in the Northeast over the last three days.
The first attack occurred on Friday, 25th of September, on the governor’s convoy at about (11:00gmt).
It was gathered that over 30 causualties were recorded in the deadly attack.
In a statement on Saturday, Borno state police officials said ” eight police officers and 3 members of a government approved militia were reportedly killed in the attacks, and 13 people were wounded.
Dead persons in the attack included 12 policemen, five soldiers, four members of a government-backed militia and nine civilians.
“The tally has increased to 30 as many bodies were picked in the surrounding areas after the attack,” one of the sources told AFP, adding that “many people were injured”.
The convoy was taking displaced people back to Baga at the start of initiatives to relocate displaced people back to their homes. It is believed that Governor Zulum was part of The convoy but was unscathed in the attack. Funerals were carried out for the soldiers on Saturday.
The terrorists reportedly made away with an armoured personnel carrier, a gun truck and six sports utility vehicles in the convoy.
It would be recalled that in July, Zulum’s convoy came under attack from ISIL’s West African Province (ISWAP) outside Baga, which forced him to cancel the trip to the town.
Barely three days after the friday attack, the governor was returning to the State Capital Maiduguri when terrorists strapped a ‘donkey’ with explosives and positioned the animal on the road. Soldiers on spotting the donkey shot it, and as the explosives detonated, jihadists came out from hideouts to attack the convoy. Several jihadists were killed but nobody was injured in the convoy.
Irked by the repeated attacks on his convoy, the governor has not held his silence but took to the media to constantly voice his disappointment at the deteriorating security situation in the region.
Speaking to journalists in July, governor Zulum had expressed frustration that despite presence of soldiers, Terrorists still have a field day operating in the state ” as far as I am concerned, what happened in Baga is a complete sabotage by the military. I wondered, we have over 1181 soldiers in Baga.72 officers, 107 soldiers. 400 soldiers in Mile 4 and 1900 soldiers in Monguno, I see no reason why these Boko Haram members cannot be stopped” an irate Zulum in July noted.
He also promised to be more careful in subsequent trips
“therefore I want to assure you that Insha Allah I will abide by some of the advice that you have given to me; we shall be more careful in carrying out our mandates and responsibilities because security is very paramount” he told Nigerian national assembly members who paid him a visit.
Zulum may have irked the insugents as he is trying to help thousands of people that have been displaced by Boko Haram crisis.. On Sunday he returned back to Maiduguri, the state capital after spending two nights at Baga where he received over 1,000 internally displaced persons willing to return to Baga town.
