B’Haram captures, renames Mubi...Says Adamawa poll illegal

Militant Islamist sect, Boko Haram, has renamed Mubi as ‘Madinatul Islam,” meaning the city of Islam.

The action is further confirmation that the sect was in total control of the town which it recaptured last week after troops stationed there withdrew. Boko Haram had earlier hoisted its flag in some parts of the town, including the Palace of the Emir, which serves as its administration headquarters.

On Monday, the sect announced the introduction of Sharia and the amputation of 10 people in the town, the second largest in the state.

A trapped resident, Aliyu Bala, who disclosed the renaming of Mubi on Tuesday, also said that the sect had set up check-points in strategic parts of the community.

“They are keeping vigil in every nook and cranny of the town and calling on residents who ran away to come back to their homes. They are also asking those in communities in the four Local Government Areas which they captured to return because their safety will be assured,” Bala added.

He said that despite the assurance that they would be better protected under an Islamic Caliphate, some residents of Mubi, who stayed back when the insurgents stormed the town,   were sneaking out.

A lawyer, Sunday Wugira, who went to Maiha   to pick up his aged parents who fled to the village when Mubi was captured, also confirmed that many trapped residents were secretly fleeing.

He said, ‘‘I was in Maiha a few hours ago, the plight of the people I saw was simply beyond imagination. We were in a commercial bus when some fleeing soldiers said we must adjust for them to get space in the bus.”

Salisu Baba, a resident of Uba, one of the captured communities,   said the insurgents also warned politicians not to hold any election in the state.

“The insurgents don’t want any election. They have restated their vow to capture the whole state in no distant time,” he added.

Baba said the insurgents   assured residents of free movement anytime of the day and the use of their motorcycles.

He said, “The insurgents have assured people of total freedom and have been telling shop owners to open their shops threatening that anyone who fails to open his shop will have the shop broken.

“Whenever the insurgents want any commodity, they pay for it. This encouraged meat and   tea sellers and others to open for business.

“They provided security during the market day in Uba last Thursday while promising to continue to give marketers and residents who come to the area utmost security as long as they complied with Islamic rules.

“They also opened one of the filling stations belonging to A.A Garba in Uba   as motorists’ trooped out to buy petrol.”

Meanwhile, the state government has banned the use of motorcycles in seven LGAs as part of measures to contain the security situation in state.

A statement by Phineas Elisha, the director of Press and Public Affairs to Governor Bala Ngilari, urged the public and security operatives to ensure compliance.

The affected LGAs are Hong, Gombi, Song, Girei, Numan, Demsa and Fufore.

In Nafada LGA of Gombe State, gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members on Tuesday killed 10 people.

It was learnt that they had earlier killed an unspecified number of soldiers on duty at the checkpoint in Nafada.

A resident of the area told journalists on the telephone that the attackers stormed the town around 11am in four Hilux vans and motorcycles, wielding guns and shooting sporadically into the air.He said they immediately set the Police station and the Local Government secretariat ablaze.

“The gunmen then went to the house of an Islamic cleric named Adamu Misira and opened fire on him and nine other people that were there with him, ” the resident who did not want his name in print said.

When contacted, the state Police Commissioner, Kudu Nma, said he had yet to hear of the incident.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, on Tuesday said that Nigeria was not helpless despite the continued onslaught by   Boko Haram.

He spoke with State House correspondents when he led service chiefs to the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Journalists had asked Badeh to react to the loss of his hometown in Adamawa State to members of the sect and the burning of his house.

Badeh, who had earlier declined comment however changed his mind when he was asked if the nation was helpless in the face of the renewed onslaught.

The security chief said he was pained by any town lost to the sect irrespective of whether it is his hometown or not.

He also said he carried the weight of the sect whenever any house is burnt regardless of whether the house belonged to him or other Nigerians.

Badeh said, “How can Nigeria be helpless? That is unfair. If CDS loses his hometown, it is the same thing as losing Lagos. Any part of Nigeria that is lost, the CDS carries the weight.

“It is immaterial whether it is my hometown, whether it is my house that is burnt or it is Emeka’s house that is burnt. Whoever’s house is burnt in Nigeria, the CDS is pained.”

He however did not reply when he was asked to respond to the various calls for his removal.

He quickly rushed into his car amidst the confusion caused by his orderly who engaged journalists in altercation while trying to keep them away.

Punch