BIG TROUBLE: Boko Haram Runs Out Of Food Supply

There are indications that the need to feed the over 200 students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, that were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on April 14 has put pressure on the Islamic terrorist group to steal food items and loot communities close to Sambisa Forest in the North East. The terrorist group had in the past week stepped up the looting of villages, markets and food stores in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states for food items. Now the villagers have started attacking and killing them. Some Boko Haram members met their waterloo in Madagali, Adamawa State, where they were given up by a local food vendor from whom they had planned to buy foodstuffs. The vigilante group pounced on them and killed over 70 while seven others were handed over to the police. A Madagali resident, who did not want his name mentioned, had said, “The vigilance group mobilised, laid ambush and waited patiently for the insurgents. As soon as the insurgents, numbering over 100, showed up in the village to pick up their favourite meals, the vigilantes attacked them, killing most of them in a hail of bullets.” Security personnel, during the week, also repelled attacks by the terrorists on Kubla, a border town between the troubled Borno and Adamawa states. A security source stated, “The heavily armed terrorists arrived in Kubla and started burning houses and stealing foodstuff, until a contingent of the military was mobilised to confront them. The soldiers engaged the militants in a fierce exchange of gunfire to repel them.” According to Punch, the hoodlums were well armed with sophisticated weapons, and after raiding the area, they went to the major market and shot sporadically and indiscriminately into the crowd, killing 20 persons on the spot and burning most of the shops in the market. He said the attack lasted for over two hours last Sunday. “The invaders had a field day wreaking havoc on us. They snatched several vehicles and loaded them with bags of assorted foodstuff, before fleeing the area.” Some residents of the affected communities close to Sambisa Forest told journalists in Maiduguri that the Boko Haram members had visited their towns recently asking for money to execute “God’s work.” The villagers were able to raise N70,000. They took the money and promised to come back for more money.