Barely one week after suspected Boko Haram insurgents invaded the Geidam community displacing over 6,000 residents, the suspected gunmen have again reportedly attacked Kanamma, headquarter of Yunusari Local Government Council of Yobe State Thursday night.
Spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force in the state, ASP Dungus Abdulkarim, confirmed to Channels Television in a telephone conversation that the incident happened on the outskirts of the community.
“As a matter of fact, Boko Haram insurgents attacked an outskirt of Kanamma Thursday night, unfortunately, we have lost contact with our people there due to the absence of a mobile network in the area, we will update you when we reach out to them,” he added.
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A local source further revealed that, on hearing gunshots around the military base, the residents fled to the bush for safety.
Kanamma which shares a border with the Niger Republic and 34 kilometers away from Geidam, was the community where suspected Boko Haram elements were first sighted in 2004 before they moved to Maiduguri the Borno State capital, and started their deadly attacks in 2009.
Renewed Assaults
Aside from Yobe State, several communities in North East, notably in Borno State, have in recent times witnessed a resurgence in attacks from the terrorist group as well as bandits.
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The insurgents had multiple times vandalized power towers, cutting off the northeastern state from the national grid.
“The ongoing insurgency has cut off the entire Borno from the national grid in the last three months,” the state governor, Babagana Zulum lamented. “We put all our efforts and restored it back, we have seen the joy and jubilation the people of Borno demonstrated after the restoration. But unfortunately, after 48 hours, the same group of insurgents went back and destroyed the main tower again.”
The rising wave of insecurity has also spread to other parts of the country. While banditry and kidnapping have become recurrent, especially in the northwest region, scores of persons have been killed in many parts of the nation in recent months.
In the largely peaceful southeast region, attacks on security formations have become widespread, heightening tensions in an area where calls for secession are gaining momentum.
Despite reassurances from the Federal Government, Nigeria’s security challenges seem to be unabating, leading to calls for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to declare a state of emergency on the sector.
“NEC urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately declare a national state of emergency on security,” the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said after its emergency meeting held in Abuja on Thursday.
