At least, 60 corpses belonging to suspected Boko Haram terrorists were said to have been deposited at the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.
The terrorists were said to have been arrested and handed over to the military by youths alleged to be engaged by government and trained by foremost hunter, Ali Quara who is a specialist in hunting robbers and notorious criminals.
After months of blood-letting and violence in the state, some groups of youths, now called “Civilian JTF” in Maiduguri, have declared hunting extravaganza on Boko Haram terrorists and other criminals in a bid to clean up the state.
One of the directors charged with the responsibility of evacuating corpses, who did not want his name in print, told newsmen on Tuesday in Maiduguri that the youth, had been making tremendous effort at hunting and catching members of the dreaded sect, who seemed to have defied all effort to be arrested by security officials.
He said, “If you observe now, the security personnel are not oppressing the people as they are doing in the past. Now it is the civilian JTF who knows these Boko Haram boys that go about identifying, arresting and hands them over for justice.”
“With this new arrangement, Borno would soon be cleansed of these bad elements and the peace we are all praying for is at our doorsteps. What we need to do is to continue to pray for victory for these youths that have voluntarily contributed by putting their lives on the line for the sake of millions of Borno citizens who were being killed by Boko Haram terrorists.”
He said, “This is what the state should have done long ago to prevent the killings of many innocent citizens, but everything has its own time. We did not know that one day, some youths would come up, bundle a Boko Haram member and hand such over to the military. That was impossible in the past but now it is the Boko Haram who are seeking hiding places.”
Another director in the Ministry of Information who also declined being named said that he was reliably informed that those youths hunting for Boko Haram members in Maiduguri were 300 in number and were selected 20 from each of the 15 wards in Maiduguri and supported with the help of the hunter Quara and some of his boys.
“You know Ali Quara was engaged by government to train these boys who know those Boko Haram members from each ward of the state capital, they were not just trained but also using all forms of ‘juju’ that bullet or knife cannot penetrate them and they know all those involved in Boko Haram activities in their areas.
“Also the people in every ward in the state are now gingered by the show of courage by the youth and are now coming out with information on who is Boko Haram and who is not in their domain. That is why there have been great success since this new operation ‘catch Boko Haram again in Maiduguri.”
Meanwhile, there was no confirmation from the Police or JTF with regard to the number of Boko Haram terrorists killed, as there were still no telephone services in Maiduguri to make calls to security agencies for official confirmation.
In another development, following the destabilisation of the activities of Boko Haram terrorists in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State, a committee set up by the state governor, Kashim Shettima, was taking some relief materials to the victims of insurgents in Marte, to cushion their sufferings.
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also known as the UN Refugee Agency, released a report yesterday in New York, United States of America in which it estimated that no fewer than 6,000 people ,mostly women, children and elderly, displaced following the military onslaught against members of Islamist militant sects, Boko Haram and the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru, have fled to neighbouring Niger Republic.
“Those who spoke to UNHCR say they escaped for fear of being caught in the government-led crackdown,” Reuters quoted him as saying. He added that the presence of the Nigerians refugees in Niger was “putting a strain on meager local food and water resources” on the country which “struggles with food insecurity due to years of drought,” said the spokesperson, Mr Adrian Edwards.
According to him, the “refugees are either renting houses or staying with host families, who are themselves living in very precarious conditions.”
Edward stated that UNHCR member of staff, who visited several border villages hosting the refugees met some Nigerian families living out in the open and some under trees.
Disclosing that the agency would help the Nigerien authorities to register the refugees, he said further that there were plans to deliver some relief to the refugees and their host communities.
He said that 240 others, comprising Niger nationals and people of other nationalities, also fled from Nigeria to Niger while some ran to Cameroon and Chad in the past few weeks. The two countries also share common boundaries with Nigeria.
The report also stated that the Nigerian “refugees reported that air strikes by government forces are continuing from time to time, and that planes are regularly flying over the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where a state of emergency has been in force since May 14.”
It added, “People arriving in Niger also mentioned the increasing presence of roving armed bandits in several states in Nigeria. The people also spoke of rising commodity prices coupled with pre-existing food insecurity which is also becoming a major concern for the populations of the affected states.”
Nigerian forces are engaged in a four- week-old operation to regain territory from fighters loyal to Boko Haram. The soldiers claim that they had destroyed key Boko Haram bases and arrested more than 150 suspected insurgents in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
The military was not immediately available for comment, but in a statement on Friday Defence Headquarters Spokesman, Brig -Gen. Chris Olukolade, denied a report that Nigerian refugees were “pouring into” Niger.
This was even as the National Emergency Management Agency said it was responding to the humanitarian needs of the displaced Nigerians in Niger Republic to alleviate their conditions.
It said the basic needs were identified by a special assessment carried out by its team that was dispatched to the Niger Republic to ascertain the conditions of Nigerians that had crossed over the border into the country.