Boko Haram Sect Runs Out Of Food Supply – The Punch

According to The Punch, there are indications that the need to feed the over 200 students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on April 14 has put Investigations revealed that the violent Islamic sect had in the past week stepped up the looting of villages, markets and food stores in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states for food items including grains and bread.

Residents of these communities said the rate at which the insurgents stole their foodstuffs was unprecedented, noting that the pressure to feed the abducted girls might have contributed to the desperation of the insurgents to steal and kill the villagers in the process. One of the villagers, Bukar Umar, who resides in Kamuyya village in Borno State, told one of our correspondents that though it was normal for the insurgents to ask communities to contribute money towards “God’s work,’’ they were usually satisfied when communities raised money for them. He, however, said the insurgents in recent times had stepped up their activities by invading their communities and carting away food items.

With the pressure on Nigerian soldiers to clamp down on the Islamic sect, it was learnt that the insurgents no longer felt safe to go to markets to buy food items for fear of being arrested. Some of the insurgents recently met their waterloo in Madagali, Adamawa State, where they were given up by a local food vendor from whom they had planned to buy foodstuffs. Consequently, members of a vigilance group pounced on them and killed over 70 of them while seven others were reportedly handed over to the police. The vigilantes acted after they were tipped by the local food vendor that the insurgents were coming to get food before going for a major operation in a   neighbouring village.

The insurgents on Sunday intercepted a vehicle loaded with bread, killed the four occupants and drove the vehicles towards Sambisa Forest. The vehicle, which was on its way to Polka from Gwoza, was attacked at Waraba village. In a recent attack on Shawa, a neighbouring Chibok community, the terrorists stole food, after killing no fewer than 10 people. In another attack on Alagarno village, Borno State, the gunmen also stole food and razed their victims’ homes. One of the residents who spoke with journalists, Mallam Umaru Saina, said, “They destroyed everything we had and burnt down our remaining food after stealing what they needed. What is most painful is that they did not spare our kids. They killed children and women.” Apagu Maidaga also said Alagarno residents hid in the bush and watched while the extremists set ablaze their homes of thatch-roofed mud huts.

The British newspaper, The Mail, had last Sunday reported that Nigerian journalist, Ahmad Salkida, who is trusted by both the Federal Government and the Boko Haram leader as a mediator, visited the camp where the abducted schoolgirls were being kept. Sakilda was quoted as claiming to have seen the abducted schoolgirls being “well fed and adequately sheltered.” It was also learnt that the violent sect had begun to pile up food items in preparation for a long drawn battle with the military, especially as the United States, United Kingdom, France, Israel and other foreign collaborators are assisting the Federal Government to ensure the safe return of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls.

With the allied forces believed to be on the ground to help the Nigerian military rescue the girls, it was learnt that the insurgents did not want to be caught unawares by running out of strategic resources, especially food. This development also contributed to the latest strategy of carting away food from communities, and the rustling up of the residents’ cattle in the last one week. Speaking on the growing raid of the insurgents for food, a military source said, “The military is aware of this and knows that the insurgents are doing this for a strategy but it is inevitable that we have to confront them if the schoolgirls and other girls and women they have abducted are not released.” He said, “They should continue to pile up food items as much as they can but wars and battles have different complexities and when we get to that stage we will definitely know which strategy to deploy.’’

Unconfirmed reports had indicated that certain helicopters used to drop food items and other needs in the Sambisa stronghold of the Boko Haram group. Security experts said the growing focus on the Sambisa forest must have disrupted the routine of the helicopters, thus putting pressure on the group’s supply chain and fueling more attacks on villagers in the North-East.

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