Buhari visits Cameroun as 32 Borno villagers die in fresh Boko Haram attack

Military recues 30 hostages from terrorists’ detention centres

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari would resume his diplomatic shuttle in an effort to build regional coalition against Boko Haram with a visit to Yaounde today for talks with President Paul Biya and senior Camerounian government officials.

The talks are expected to focus on the full activation and deployment of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) established under the auspices of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).

Meanwhile, a gang of suspected Boko Haram gunmen in a convoy of Toyota Hilux vehicles and motorcycles laden with explosives and petro-bombs, about midnight on Monday, attacked Dille village and three other communities in Borno State, killing 31 people and injuring 25 others.

Dille is a farming community on the south flank of Sambisa Forest, and 162 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the state capital.

Also, the military in its operation to clear Dikwa town and other communities in Borno of Boko Haram terrorists’ activities, yesterday rescued 30 hostages from Kwayabe and Wufe villages where they were held captive by the insurgents.

The rescue was disclosed yesterday in Maiduguri in a statement by Deputy Director, Army Public Relations of 7 Division of Nigerian Army, Col. Tukur Gusau.

A statement by Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, said Buhari, who would be accompanied on the two-day trip by six state governors as well as the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Defence and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), would also discuss further joint measures to curb terrorism, violent extremism and other cross-border crimes with Biya and Camerounian government officials.

The state governors on the President’s entourage are Alhaji Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa State, Mr. Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima of Borno State, Mr. Ben Ayade of Cross River State and Mr. Darius Ishaku of Taraba State.

Buhari will also use the opportunity of his visit to Yaounde to meet with Nigerians living in Cameroun.

The President, who is due back in Abuja tomorrow, would also undertake a one-day trip to Benin Republic on Saturday for talks with President Boni Yayi to round off the diplomatic shuttles to neighbouring countries, which he embarked upon on assumption of office to strengthen regional co-operation against terrorism and make it much harder for Boko Haram to operate across national boundaries.

The insurgents that attacked Dille, according to a resident, who escaped to Maiduguri, torched several houses and shops, and carted away food items and livestock in pickup vans.

The member representing Hawul/Askira/Uba Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Alhaji Jubrin Satumari, yesterday confirmed the attack on Dille.

Satumari, who spoke yesterday in Maiduguri in telephone interview, said: “It was really a sad day for me to learn that there were renewed attacks in my constituency and in some other parts of Borno State and the North-East in general by the barbaric insurgents.”

On the rescue of the hostages, Gusau said: “As a result of ongoing operations under the aegis of Operation Lafiya Dole to clear Dikwa and its environ of terrorists, troops of 7 Division Nigerian Army rescued 30 internally displaced persons from the hands of the Boko Haram insurgents in Kwayabe and Wufe wards in Dikwa Local Council,” the statement said.

He said among the rescued hostages were 21 children, a six-day-old baby and seven women, including three nursing mothers and two elderly men who were assisted to one of the Internally-Displaced Persons camps in Maiduguri.