Bauchi State Government said suspected Boko Haram insurgents have infiltrated four local government areas of the state.
The Secretary to the Bauchi State Government (SSG), Alhaji Sabiu Baba, disclosed this during a press conference after an emergency Security Council meeting presided over by Governor Bala Muhammed on Monday.
Baba disclosed that investigations revealed that four LGAs have recorded an influx of some suspected terrorists. According to him, the affected LGAs are Zaki, Dambam, Darazo, and Gamawa.
The SSG said, security intelligence suggested that the suspected Boko Haram terrorists are coming from Geidam, a local government area in Yobe State, which was recently attacked and taken over by the insurgents.
Zaki, Dambam, Darazo, and Gamawa LGAs are sharing a border with Yobe State, which was recently hit by the Boko Haram fighters.
In his words, “There was an emergency Security Council meeting of Bauchi State this afternoon and the meeting was to look into the attack by Boko Haram in Geidam (Yobe State) and the takeover of that town and the implications for Bauchi State.
Bauchi state is sharing borders with Yobe State in four local government areas of Zaki, Dambam, Darazo, and Gamawa. The implications of what has happened in Geidam are that there is a lot of influx of people moving into Bauchi State from Yobe.
Of course, that will put a lot of strain on our facilities and resources, and considering the kind of movement out of Boko Haram activities, the security implications there are also very high. The meeting today was to discuss the implications of that, identify the security threats and how to contain them from the Bauchi side.”
“Security is the collective duty of all and we do not expect the security agencies alone to tackle this problem, so all hands must be on deck including traditional and religious leaders and all groups.
It will be expected that we will continue to profile whoever is coming into the state. I can tell you that some people coming into the state come in with weapons and it is the profiling that will help us stem that kind of problem.”
Nigeria has been experiencing a series of security threats ranging from terrorism, banditry, militancy, cultism among others in several parts of the country.
The country has been battling terrorism for more than a decade which has killed 36,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands in the northeast.
The Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) split from the jihadist group Boko Haram in 2016 and has since become a dominant threat in Nigeria, attacking troops and bases while killing and kidnapping passengers at bogus checkpoints.
On March 1, jihadist fighters burnt down a United Nations humanitarian compound in the town of Dikwa after dislodging troops, killing six civilians.
Nigeria’s jihadist violence has spread to neighboring Chad, Cameroon, and Niger, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.
