Heavy explosions at Giwa Barrack’s Armoury Maiduguri.
Residents of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, were rudely jolted from their sleep at midnight due to the sounds of explosions thought to be bombs exploding. Many residents of the town, which had witnessed the worst of Boko Haram in the recent past, were alarmed, fearing the city was under attack by the insurgents. Last Friday, Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umar Zulum, informed the Minister of Defence, Badaru Abubakar; Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, and other top military commanders who visited him in Maiduguri that Boko Haram and the Islamic State insurgents were regrouping in the Tumbus areas of Lake Chad and the Mandara Hills within the Sambisa Forest in the state. Governor Zulum lamented what he called a setback in military operations in the state, saying Boko Haram terrorists were regrouping in the Tumbus water areas on Lake Chad without resistance by the military to dislodge them. Though he acknowledged the efforts of the military in combating the Boko Haram menace in Borno and the North-East, Zulum noted that there had been a resurgence of the terrorists in certain areas, particularly around the Tumbus in Lake Chad and the Mandara Hills in Sambisa Forest. He said, “What we are facing now is that we do military exercises/operations, and after some time, we disengage. The Boko Haram and ISWAP members will again come and take over those areas that were hitherto regained. “There was never a time since the insurgency started that operations were conducted on the shores of the Tumbus in Lake Chad. And it has been a breeding ground for the insurgents. They can get money, livelihoods, and everything in that water.” “So, there is a need for us to see how military operations should be conducted in the waterway because all the terrorists that are operating in the Northwest, North Central, and Northeast will return to the Sahel and Tumbus in the Lake Chad for their livelihoods. This is something that needs to be done,” he opined.
Meanwhile, the state deputy governor, Dr Umar Usman Kadafur, has enjoined Maiduguri residents to remain indoors following the multiple explosions, calling for “patience as the explosions were a result of a fire incident that erupted at an Armoury of Giwa Barracks, contrary to reports of Boko Haram attacks.”
