Kayode Idowu, Maiduguri
The convoy of Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, was again attacked on Sunday morning.
The latest attack, which recorded no death, occurred when the convoy was returning to Maiduguri.
The PUNCH gathered that the attack happened around 10.30 am on Sunday, about two kilometers away from Baga.
The convoy, according to some of the people who returned to Maiduguri on Sunday evening from the tour, was shot at by suspected Boko Haram terrorists.
One of them, said, “There was no death recorded this time around except some minor injuries.
“The windscreen of some vehicles was shattered, some vehicles had their tyres busted by gunshots, including the Government House Press Crew bus.
“The military gun truck was also shot at and a soldier had his shoulder scalded with a gunshot.”
The governor’s convoy was said to have been attacked between Monguno and Baga areas of the state.
Baga town was displaced by the Boko Haram insurgents 21 months ago, with most of the residents taking refuge in Monguno and Maiduguri.
Zulum was on an assessment tour of Baga in preparation for the return of thousands of residents displaced from the town by the jihadists in 2014.
In July the governor’s convoy came under gun attack from ISWAP outside Baga, forcing him to cancel his trip to the town.
A few days ago, the group killed a Nigerian army commander along with three soldiers in an ambush near the town of Damboa.
Civilians plying the highway linking Monguno and the regional capital Maiduguri said the jihadists set up daily checkpoints, robbing, killing and abducting passengers.
The decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed 36,000 people and forced over 2 million from their homes, according to AFP.
Most of the displaced have been housed into squalid camps where they depend on food handouts from international charities.
Local authorities have been encouraging the displaced to go back to the homes despite concern from aid agencies of the security risks to which the returnees would be exposed.
Credit: The Punch