Wednesday, October 29, 2014 was one day Nigerians in Mubi and other neighbouring towns in Adamawa state would never want to remember. It was the day Boko Haram terrorists invaded and captured Adamawa towns and villages. The terrorists displaced Nigerian government and its institutions, overpowered security agents, killed innocent civilians and renamed towns. Mubi town was renamed to Madinatul Islam.

Civilians went through untold hardship in the hands of terrorists while the Nigerian security operatives were not only helpless but also took to their heels in their thousands, fleeing for their lives.

Residents woke up that morning to see the unthinkable, as ragtag Boko Haram terrorists in a well-coordinated attack, invaded Mubi town. Women and children were killed as many others fled the towns to neighbouring Cameroun. It was the biggest invasion in the history of terrorism in Africa as more than five local Government areas were captured in 20 minutes.

Click Here to read Inside Boko Haram 1: Fact-finding Trip To Boko Haram Most Ravaged Towns In Adamawa State

Few months to the October 2014 invasion, residents of Mubi had heard of rumours of impending Boko Haram attack on their town. At each time the rumour was circulated, resident would flee to nearby villages and some others to Yola, the state capital.

They had been living in fear of a possible Boko Haram attack but Nigerian Soldiers would come to calm the town, assuring them of maximum security. Residents said they believed the Soldiers would always protect the town and their families from Boko Haram terrorists until the ‘black Wednesday’ when terrorists struck. “It was a pathetic story that was not palatable for hearing”, a Yoruba cleric in Mubi said.

Narrating the invasion, Jonathan, a resident in Mubi north, said at about few minutes past 9am on that Wednesday, he was at the ATM Machine along the road with his cousin, when he noticed some people, dressed in Military camouflage inside a tricycle.

According to Jonathan, he and his cousin wondered what kind of Soldiers were they that would ride in tricycles and not Military Hilux Jeeps. Jonathan said they (terrorists) parked their tricycle around the area for few minutes and then drove away. Looking at their uniforms, Jonathan’s cousin also doubted that they were real Nigerian Soldiers.

Jonathan’s cousin suggested they leave the area at once; saying that he had overheard from someone that Boko Haram had attacked a nearby Uba Local Government Area that morning. As early as 9:15am, students were already discharged from their schools due to rumour that Boko Haram would attack.

Click here to read Inside Boko Haram 2: How Boko Haram Recruited Nigerian Youths For Africa’s Biggest Terrorist Invasion

But Jonathan dismissed the rumours, saying that rumours had been on for a while without any attack. According to him, he later got a call from his 80-year old mother, who told him to come home at once. Jonathan said by the time he got home, he began to hear explosions and gunshots from outside their compound and people were running helter skelter behind their compound with some carrying their belongs on their heads.

The Yoruba Cleric who was in town during the attack said: “usually we don’t see motorcycles in Mubi, but that morning, we saw people riding motorcycles, some with arrows, some with guns and other weapons”.

“I saw Boko Haram terrorists blocking roads and shooting sporadically with sophisticated weapons”, the Cleric said.


Some Boko haram-ravaged homes in Hong LGA
In a well-orchestrated attack, terrorists began to mount road blocks simultaneously on major roads in Mubi town, According to residents, at least thirty (30) of about 60 terrorists who came into Mubi went to Military barrack in Mubi, chasing Soldiers in their thousands. It was gathered from residents that no fewer than 2,000 soldiers were in Mubi at the time of the invasion.

The terrorists immediately dispatched some of its members to Mubi Prison, captured it and threw the gate open for their members and other inmates to escape. The Emir of Mubi’s palace which is just a stone throw from the prison was also taken over by the terrorists. It is worthy of note that the Emir, HRH Alh. Abubarka Isa Ahmadu (CFR) was not in town during the invasion.

Also captured simultaneously was the home of immediate past Chief of the Defence Staff, CDS, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, who hails from Mubi town. Badeh was the CDS at the time of the invasion. There were speculations that his family members were evacuated just before the bloody terror attack on Mubi but Greennews.ng could not independently confirm the allegation to be true.

BH3
Nigerian Military Checkpoint at Geire, Adamawa State
On why Soldiers fled Mubi and never fought back when Boko Haram attacked, a Soldier in the town, apparently referring to lack of weapons as the reason, said: “you can’t give sticks to Soldiers to go fight Boko Haram who were better armed”. Recall that $2.1 billion (N546 billion) was budgeted for the purchase of arms during the last administration. Unfortunately the money was allegedly misapplied and laundered by the immediate past National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki in what culminated into the infamous “Dasukigate”, one of the biggest corruption probes in Nigeria’s history.

The arms money was allegedly used by the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, through the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, to fund its campaign during the last general elections which it eventually lost to the opposition.

The 20 minutes invasion became easier as some Boko Haram terrorists were already living among residents in the town. While some were active Boko Haram members who came to rent apartments in the town, others were youths in the community who had been strategically recruited by terrorists.

Very baffling was a revelation that most of the Boko Haram terrorists that took over Mubi town were not Nigerians, According to the Cleric, they had curly hair like that of Chadians and Arabs.

As terrorists invaded the town, shooting anyone they found from house to house, some of their members living in the towns also brought out their guns and joined in staging the unprecedented capturing of Mubi South LGA, Mubi North LGA, Hong LGA, Uba LGA, Mararaba, Gombi and others. By 10am that day, these local government areas were already in the hands of Boko Haram.

Terrorists blocked major exit points in Mubi town except routes that led to Cameroon which shared border with Mubi. This was the solace route for many Nigerians as they began the gory journey to neighbouring Cameroon, a journey many never returned. It was a disaster beyond imagination.

http://greennews.ng/inside-boko-haram-3-how-boko-haram-captured-adamawa-towns-in-20-minutes/