Adamawa youths, vigilantes kill 80 fleeing insurgents

Youths and vigilance group members in Michika and Madagali local government areas of Adamawa State on Tuesday night killed about 80 Boko Haram insurgents fleeing the areas.

The insurgents, who had been wreaking havoc on some boundary communities in Adamawa and Borno states, were said to have run into the bush after running out of arms and ammunition.

It was gathered that normalcy had returned to the the LGAs with troops stationed in strategic places.

A resident of Michika, Vandi Joseph, told journalists on Wednesday in Yola, that the insurgents were overpowered by youths and vigilantes who shot them to death.

He said, “As I am speaking to you, our youths and vigilance group members ambushed and killed over 80 insurgents who escaped from soldiers and hid themselves in the bush. Our youths and vigilantes saw them and killed them.”

Meanwhile, the Mubi Emirate Council of Adamawa State has refuted media reports (The PUNCH not included) that the Emir of Mubi, Alhaji Abubakar Ahmadu, left Mubi and his palace for Yola, following an attack by Boko Haram on the town.

The spokesperson for the council, who is also the Danruwata Mubi, Chief John Elias, said at a news conference on Wednesday, that the Emirate was dismayed by the report.

Elias explained that the Emir who is the Amirul Hajj for the 2014 Hajj operation for Adamawa State , went to Yola to meet members of the delegation over preparation for the pilgrims.

He said, “The Emir did not leave Mubi for Yola as an escape from the insurgents but rather for meeting with members of the 2014 pilgrimages delegation committee which he is the leader. He returned to Mubi immediately the meeting was over.”

The Danruwata Mubi cautioned people to desist from spreading information that had no source and creating panic in the Emirate and the state in general. He claimed that there was no attack on Mubi and anywhere in Mubi North and Mubi South LGAs as well as Maiha LGA.

Elias,who however said only Michika and Madagali had been affected by insurgency, called on the public to remain calm.

However, report from Michika indicated on Wednesday night that the attacks on the people might be linked to the fact that some people in the town harboured insurgents.

An indigene of the town, who gave his name simply as Daniel said, “Some people who have sympathy for the sect are frustrating military’s efforts at flushing out the insurgents.”

Meanwhile, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to relieve the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, of his job.

Agbakoba said since the military had failed in its mandate to win the war against Boko Haram, Badeh had no right as the CDS, to remain in office.

Agbakoba made the call on Wednesday at a press conference where he spoke on sundry issues of national interest in his office.

Agbakoba said that the CDS who was appointed in January this year had lost control of the army, citing the case of about 480 Nigerian soldiers who ran into Cameroon during a confrontation with the Boko Haram insurgents as a confirmation of his position.

The SAN, who was a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, said it was worrisome that Boko Haram was now copying the tactics of the ISIS by declaring a caliphate in the North-East.

He therefore called on the President to show more seriousness in tackling the insurgency, adding that the first step to take was for him to sack Badeh.

He said, “I think our first task is to look around the world and ask whether our Nigerian intelligence and military infrastructure are doing just what they ought to do. If I were the Commander-in-Chief, I would invite the CDS , Alex Badeh and tell him that if he loses any command in the army, it’s over. If the President fails to send a strong message that the mission is not accomplished, then the chain of command would be weak.

“In the army, it is obedience to superior orders. How can you have Nigerian soldiers carrying our equipment into Cameroon and running away? It tells you that the Army is degraded. The only way that you can solve the Boko Haram problem is by a resolute decapitation of the leadership. There is no other way.”