By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Three villages in Chibok Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno State lie in ruins with many persons feared dead and more missing following another devastating series of attacks by terrorists believed to belong to the Islamic State for West Africa Province (ISWAP).
At least three churches,including an EYN church, a pastor’s house and an unspecified number of residential buildings also were reportedly burnt down by the rampaging terrorists.
ISWAP is affiliated to the dreaded Boko Haram insurgent group.
The attacks took place about 2am on Monday,locals said.
Recall that Chibok was the scene in April,2014 of a raid by Boko Haram militants on an all-girls boarding secondary school where the armed insurgents kidnapped over 300 students,some unaccounted for to date. The successful raid saw Nigeria painted with negative global publicity.
Renowned Borno-based rights activist, Ali Dikwa, told peopleandpolitics.net exclusively that,in the latest attacks, a count of the dead and missing was ongoing from safe havens that are close to the afflicted areas.
Dikwa, who is Director General, Centre for Justice on Religions, said both Muslims and Christians were similarly targeted and killed or affected by the murderous attacks.
The attacks hit Skarkar, Bamzur and Zillan villages.
Other sources said the attackers razed down almost all the houses in Bamzur with an unspecified number of persons killed and many more fleeing into the bush or to safer locations,with most abandoning their personal belongings at home in the life-or-death frenzy.
Where the heavily-armed insurgents failed to find residents,they were said to immediately resort to looting foodstuffs, clothes, any form of fuel, stole available cash, livestock, and carted away items needed for their day-to-day sustenance in their hideouts.
The situation in the three villages was made more desperate and confused as mobile phone network signals in the villages were suddenly and inexplicably cut, following the attacks.
Many persons have tried unsuccessfully to connect by phone with their beleaguered loved ones on ground, heightening speculations over the latter’s fate.
One of the paper’s sources tried several times to reach a close friend, popularly known as ‘Ajasco’ in the area, to no avail.
“No network over there. That is the problem,” the source regretted.
Elaborating on what actually happened in the villages, Dikwa said the terrorists “almost wiped out the villages. They have been killing people and many people ran away.”
On the attacks which occurred in Dumba community,near Baga, Kukawa LGA, just few hours before the Chibok villages’ invasion, Dikwa said: “What has happened is, a lot of people have died.”
Disputing the figure of 40 dead reeled out by the authorities, Dikwa said: “More than a hundred have died. Some of them (people), nobody knows where they are now because they (ISWAP) went away with them.
“So,there is no way for somebody to get the exact number, but as it is now, the figures are too much.
“Honestly,the government are deceiving people. The figure that government has been giving is not correct. You know, their fear is that people will start asking ‘where are they keeping these guys?’ Nigerians will rise up, that’s why they’re giving the fake figure to protect their own interest.
“I went to the park, one place we used to call Baga motor park in Maiduguri town (the Borno State capital). Now, everybody is afraid of even going there (Kukawa communities) again. If you go there (the conflict areas) in English dress, on the road they (insurgents) will stop you and bring you out and kill you.
“The driver even advise that anyone who wants to go there, one, you have to dress like us, a native there.”
He claimed that locals who fled the conflict communities said death figures totalled “in one place,70, in one place, 60, in one place 40-something persons killed.”
In what appears an upswing in ISWAP and Boko Haram attacks in the State, the dire humanitarian situation in the North-Eastern state may worsen even as the military have recorded successes in the President Bola Tinubu administration’s fight against insurgency.
On the heels of the Dumba attack, the state government issued a press statement with Governor Babagana Zulum slamming the attacks.
He declared that persons who escaped the attack were being tracked to be reunited with their families.
The statement,which was signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Internal Security, Professor Usman Tar,and which confirmed 40 dead, read,in part: ““On Sunday 12 January 2025, armed militia suspected to be Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists attacked some farmers and fishermen at Dumba community, near Baga in Kukawa LGA.
“Investigation has commenced on the circumstances behind this attack. Initial report indicates about 40 farmers have been killed while many who escaped the attack are being traced for reunion with their families.”
