22 Boko Haram members discovered among Nigerians deported from Cameroon

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has discovered 22 Boko Haram members among Nigerians deported from Cameroon who were put at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Mubi, Adamawa.

Mr Muhammad Sani Sidi, Director-General of NEMA, disclosed this at the 18th Safe Schools Initiative Technical Committee meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

Sidi stated that the Boko Haram members were identified with a peculiar mark on their backs amongst the 12,000 Nigerians deported from Cameroon put in IDPs camp in Mubi.

He added that 90 per cent of the deported persons were from Borno.

“The Cameroonian government dumped 12,000 Nigerians at Mubi and we had to move them to transit camps and even open more camps to accommodate them.

“Ninety per cent of these returnees are from Borno with a lot of Boko Haram elements among them.

“We arrested 22 of them yesterday who were actually planning an attack, they were identified with a mark inscribed on their backs with hot iron in form of tattoos.

“The mark on their backs indicates that they are ready to die,’’ Sidi said.

He said there were 23 residential camps in Borno and that the state government planned to open more as the number of displaced persons was increasing.

On the safe school initiative, Sidi commended the Adamawa team for recruiting 71 teachers to scale up education in IDP camps.

He urged other State Governors in the North-East to show commitment that safety and security of students were guaranteed before the team could rebuild the schools that were destroyed by insurgency.

In his address, Mr Baba Kalli, Desk Officer, Safe School Initiative from Borno, said that almost all the schools in Borno had been occupied by IDPs.

Kalli said that NEMA had taken over the catering for 23 camps but that the problem persisted as population of the IDPs kept increasing.

He solicited for more assistance for all Borno indigenes while thanking all their donor agencies for their assistance, so far.