FEW hours after the Federal
Government gave the military marching orders
to flush out Boko Haram insurgents from
Mubi, the commercial nerve centre and second
largest town in Adamawa State, the terrorists,
yesterday, defiantly renamed the town
‘Madinatul Islam’, which means the city of
Islam.
Four local governments of Michika, Madagali,
Mubi North and Mubi South of Adamawa State
are now in the firm grip of the insurgents,
throwing up thousands of internally displaced
persons.
Trapped residents of the town who spoke on
telephone confirmed that the insurgents firmly
in control have renamed the town and have
also set up check-points in strategic
locations. The terrorists were also said to
have urged all the residents who fled to return
as they would be more secure in the areas
controlled by Boko Haram than in Nigerian
territories.
A trapped resident, Aliyu Bala, who spoke on
telephone said: “They (insurgents) mounted
check-points in strategic locations,
brandishing rifles but asking us not to panic
or run away. But despite assurances of safety
and security, thousands of the trapped
residents have been sneaking out as they said
they would not risk staying in the town for
fear of the unknown.”
A resident of Uba town, Mallam Salisu Baba,
however, said normal activities have started
picking up in the captured territories as Boko
Haram enjoined residents to go about their
normal activities while asking them to open
their shops for business.
He said: “The insurgents have also warned
politicians not to try to hold any election in
the state as they vowed to frustrate any of
such actions and restated their resolve to
capture the whole state in no distant time.”
Baba said the insurgents have assured them
of security and freedom. He added that unlike
other parts of the state where curfew was
imposed and people were prevented from
riding motorcycles, the insurgents have
assured residents of free movement any time
of the day and asked them to ride their
motorcycles and go about their normal
activities.
According to him: “The insurgents have
assured people of 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 sellers, tea sellers
and others to open for business.
“They provided security during the market day
of Uba town last Thursday while promising to
continue to give market owners and residents
who come to the area utmost security as long
as they comply with Islamic rules. They have
opened one of the filling stations belonging to
A.A Garba in Uba town as motorists trooped
to buy the commodity due to high demand,”
Baba said.
Yola-based legal practitioner, Sunday Joshua
Wugirawho, who went to Maiha town to pick
up his aged parents who fled to the town
when Mubi was captured, said despite the
assurance by the insurgents, several trapped
residents were still fleeing, including soldiers.
“I was in Maiha few hours ago. The pathetic
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, and
we had no choice than to oblige. It’s
unfortunate that even soldiers joined civilians
to run away,” he said.
Boko Haram on rampage in Gombe, attacks
police station
Meanwhile, gunmen suspected to be Boko
Haram insurgents, yesterday, launched an
attack on the police station in Nafada Local
Government Area of Gombe State. The gunmen
also took over the premises of a strategic
cement manufacturing company in Gombe
State, shortly after killing five people including
a Sheikh in a neighbouring town.
According to workers at Ashaka Cement
factory, the heavily armed militants came in
convoys of pick-up vans and started shooting
indiscriminately at workers after the security
guards at the company fled into the bush.
Police officers attached to the Nafada station
were said to have been overpowered as some
of the officers reportedly fled on sighting the
insurgents who had superior fire power.
Arms and ammunition were believed to have
been looted from the station.
Spokesperson of the Command, Fwaje Atajiri,
confirmed there were reports of attacks in
Nafada, and that reinforcement had been sent
there. He however said details of the incident
were still sketchy.
30 killed, 89 injured in Yobe bomb attack —
hospital
In a related development, Executive Secretary
of Yobe Hospitals Management Board, Dr
Mamman Mohammed, has confirmed that 30
persons died while 89 others were injured in
last Monday bomb attack in Potiskum, Yobe
State.
He told Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, who paid a
visit to the victims at the Potiskum General
Hospital that some of the victims with severe
injuries have been referred to tertiary health
institutions in Azare and Nguru.
Gaidam directed that free treatment be given
to the victims, saying “the government will
bear all the medical bills of the victims,
including those referred to other hospitals
outside the state.”
He also condoled with the Shi’ite group on the
death of their members. Members of the group
were presumably attacked by a suicide bomber
while on a procession



www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/boko-haram-renames-occupied-mubi-town/

Just a dramma