A
major battle ensued early Friday when Boko Haram insurgents attacked
military barracks in Bama, 78 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno State
capital. Defence Headquarters said it had dispatched more troops to enhance the operation in pursuit of the terrorists that carried out the attack.
Director, Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade, confirmed the attack by terrorists, who came from cells located across Nigeria/Cameroon border through Banki town.
He, however, said normalcy was being restored in the barracks, just as the surrounding communities were being properly secured.
Olukolade said high calibre weapons such as anti-aircraft and rocket-propelled guns were freely used in the attack that lasted several hours.
Many women and children were feared killed in the gun battle that left some parts of the barracks torched, a source told Saturday Tribune, while adding that many of the insurgents were killed.
Olukolade, however, disclosed that ground troops backed by the Air Force had repelled the attack and are in pursuit of the insurgents.
He added that details of casualties recorded in the incident would be officially released when the ongoing cordon-and-search operations in the general area were concluded.
President Goodluck Jonathan, on Friday, went into an emergency meeting with service chiefs in respect of the latest attack in Bama.
He had been scheduled to preside over the decoration of 48 newly promoted Generals in the army, navy and air force, but instead went into a meeting with the service chiefs.
The meeting, at the Command Officers’ Mess, Asokoro Abuja, was also attended by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar.
The president, who revealed that the meeting was over the Bama attack, said the nation was going through trying times and, therefore, there was the need for all hands to be on deck to ensure the protection of life and property in the country.
Locals in Bama town told Saturday Tribune that the insurgents who attacked the 202 Tank Battalion, also known as Kuru Mohammed Barracks, met their waterloo as soldiers had information on the planned attack and ambushed the insurgents, killing many of them.
A respondent said he learnt that the insurgents had arrived in the area since Thursday afternoon but hid by the road to Gulumba town.
He added that a resident informed the military about the presence of insurgents in the town which informed put soldiers on their toes before the attack.
The insurgents, reportedly numbering about 300, hit the barracks at about 2:30 a.m., but they suffered heavy casualties in the ensuing melee.
The attackers, it was gathered, focused the attack on the barracks as there were no reports of any attack on the civilian populace.
Acting Public Relations Officer of 7 Division, Nigerian Army, Captain Aliyu Danja, said “it is true, there was an attack in Bama. We are still on it and the details will be made available to you when our troops return from the field.”
It’s a challenging moment –Jonathan
Meanwhile, President Jonathan charged the newly promoted military officers to go the extra mile to justify their new positions and “help save the reputation of the country.”
He said: “It is a very challenging moment. I remember when I came in, I had a meeting with the service chiefs and Inspector General of Police because of what happened in Bama. It is a very challenging period in this country and we expect so much from you. As we say, to whom much is given, much is expected.
“For those of you who have been so decorated as full two-star Generals, we expect that you will bring your experience to bear. We must work together as a team to make sure that the armed forces are able to protect lives and property of Nigerians. If we cannot do that, the reputation of the country will continue to go down.
“A number of issues are being raised in the media. There is so much challenge in the armed forces and other security agencies in the country. We must collectively stand up for our own responsibilities and go the extra mile to see that as a nation, we overcome these challenges,” he stated.
The president noted the efforts of the newly promoted officers to get to their present ranks, observing that “it is not easy to wear two stars. It is almost the terminal position in the armed forces. Any other one is by the grace of God.
“To be so decorated as a two-star General, you must have passed through storms, endured several winters. Your wives must have also been well baked to survive this period.”
He expressed delight at the creativity and innovation in the armed forces of late, including the building of ships and unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles.
“I am so impressed with what is happening in the services. I am seeing creativity and innovation in the three arms. From the army, I have seen a lot of initiatives, creativity, innovations in terms of their equipment that before this time were all re-configured or maintained abroad but you are now doing yourselves. The same thing with the navy.
“On Monday in Kaduna, we were quite impressed with the unmanned aerial vessels that we all saw, and the people who did it are young men and women from the Nigerian Air Force. This shows initiative, creativity, innovation.
“The wind tunnels were imported into this country in 1984. My assumption is that the (former President Shehu) Shagari government imported them into the country but only recently they were able to couple it for use.
“Maybe for quite some time, probably we at the leadership level of this country have not been doing things the way we are supposed to do. I believe that a number of things the members of the armed forces are supposed to have gotten over this period, they don’t have.
“Now that we are now faced with the challenge that we never expected, we are being overwhelmed in some scenes, some incidents but we usually get over it.
“I will work with you to make sure that you are in position to defend our nation, to protect lives and property and to make sure that our environment is peaceful and that Nigerians can move freely from one part of the country to the other without being afraid that somebody will point the trigger at them,” Jonathan added.
Twenty-seven officers from the army, 15 from the air force and six from the navy were decorated at the event after two others had been decorated by the president at an earlier event.
Nigeria worried over terrorists’ use of Cameroonian territory
In the meantime, in a fresh move on winning the war on terror in the country, the Federal Government is said to have asked the Republic of Cameroon to stop harbouring members of Boko Haram in its territory.
The request by the Nigerian government came against the backdrop of intelligence reports which indicated that Cameroonian territory has been serving as a haven for the sect members and their weapons.
A top security source disclosed that Boko Haram has a well established operational base in the Central African country, from where attacks were hatched and then carried out in Nigeria.
The source said after perpetrating most of the attacks in Nigeria, the sect members always returned to the Cameroonian base, a situation which made tracing them seem like a Herculean task for the Nigerian security forces.
The modality on carrying out the request by the Federal Government is being discussed between the two countries at the highest levels of authority, the source said.
At the recent security summit in France, authorities of both countries with those of other neighbouring countries were said to have exchanged security notes on why Cameroon and other affected countries must also declare war on the insurgents using their territories as bases to wreak havoc on Nigeria.
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