Residents flee Marwa’s hometown over fresh Boko Haram attack

The terrorists struck about 5.30pm and started shooting sporadically before soldiers engaged them with superior firepower. Spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Brig-Gen. Sani Usman, in a statement released Tuesday in Damaturu, said the coordinated air support from Air Component of Operation Lafiya Dole repelled the terrorists towards the border area with Niger.

According to him, the terrorists, who were overwhelmed by the military, fled with gunshot wounds.He added that the troops chased the fleeing terrorists towards the border.He, however, noted that the two soldiers wounded in the three-hour repulsion were receiving medical attention. Usman added: “Further details of the casualties on the terrorists and recoveries would be provided on completion of the mop up and pursuit operations.”

Barely 24 hours after Buba Marwa and 70 other retired generals endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari for re-election, five villages in Madagali Council along with Marwa’s Michika were deserted for fear of fresh attack by terrorists.Residents of Michika yesterday deserted the town over information that the deadly group was advancing towards the town.

When The Guardian contacted the Adamawa State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Orhman Abubakar, he said that soldiers, hunters and the police were on the ground to handle the attackers.“Those people running is out of fear, because our men, including hunters, are on the ground to confront the [terrorists]. We are prepared for them,” he said. He confirmed that normalcy had returned in Shuwa town of Madagali and some communities in Michika after Monday night’s attack by Boko Haram.

In a related development, the Vice Chancellor of Yobe State University (YOSU), Prof. Yakubu Mukhtar, has blamed bad governance and parenting in Borno and Yobe states for the emergence of Boko Haram. The 10-year insurgency in the Northeast has claimed many lives and property with the displacement of over two million people.

Prof. Mukhtar, while presenting the ‘Dissemination of Research Findings’ to address political, youth restiveness and conflicts in Damaturu, said that Yobe and Borno states would continue to sit on a time bomb, if people continue to give birth to children without “adequate and proper” parenting.According to him, bad governance has also contributed to youth restiveness and terrorism in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

His words: “Bad governance has been one of the main reasons for emergence of Boko Haram. I could recall that for years before the emergence of Boko Haram, my late mentor, Prof. Nur Alkali, was concerned about youths gathering in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. People from other states of the federation were also dumped in Maiduguri metropolis under the auspices of almajiri (street children).”

The don lamented that people, under the guise of obeying Islamic teachings, marry three to four wives and keep reproducing children without thinking on how to train them.He further disclosed that parents of affected children ignored their “welfare and proper upbringing” into society.