Security sources and locals residing in communities outside most of the Local Government Areas in northern and some other parts of central and Southern Borno State in Northeast Nigeria have revealed that there are still towns and villages under the control of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram and Islamic State for West African Province also known as ISWAP.
Sani Adam Malumfatori, a resident of Maiduguri said that, “These Local Government Areas include: Abadam, Gwoza, Guzamala, Kalabalge, Magumeri, Gubio, Marte, Damasak and Dikwa in Borno State as well as Yunusari and Gaidam in Yobe state.
It was gathered that people living those villages or crossing from one town to another or from one local government to another still pay taxes to the terrorists who normally block the road against travelers.”
He said although local government headquarters seem secured, the same cannot be said of towns and villages under them.
International NGO officials working in Borno State have also said that there are areas, particularly in the northern Borno and the Lake Chad area where activities of Boko Haram/ISWAP is still showing red and they are not expected to carry out any activity there for the safety and security of aid workers. He said, those areas are ”no-go areas”
“Despite the fact that there are no incidents in Maiduguri, the non-state actors have been very much active outside Maiduguri. There are hundreds of people in need of food and medications that cannot be reached particularly in the Lake Chad region due to the increasing activities of AOG (Armed opposition Group),” a security official with one of the INGOs in Borno said.
Infopowerng reported that earlier this month ISWAP, a terrorist organization, which broke out from the mother body – Boko Haram in 2016 declared that a new union of ISWAP-Boko Haram terrorists’ group has reshuffled its leadership and structures.
This followed the death of some top commanders in a battle with the Nigerian military who are currently on clearance operations in most towns and villages across Borno State.
According to the sources with close information about the group, “the leadership ‘restructuring’ was in line with a directive from ISIS headquarters in Iraq, which was resulted from the recent losses of some of ISWAP-Boko Haram commanders to military offensives, and the realignment of forces by the hitherto separate insurgents groups.”
There were also videos being circulated to the effect that the two warring groups in northeast Nigeria have come together to pursue a common cause. Their fighters carrying AK47 rifles and other dangerous weapons have spoken in such videos and have warned residents and other religions in the region.
The terrorist organization has also claimed to have in their restructuring, appointed governors to rule some areas of their occupation. The Lake Chad region was one of such places a governor was said to have been appointed by the group to govern.
The situation within Borno State has degenerated recently due to the activities of Boko Haram/ISWAP. The State for example has been in total darkness in the last six months owing to the destruction of lines supplying electricity to the state by terrorists.
