Nigerian troops have closed the only safe highway that leads
into Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, following a series of attacks on the
route by Boko Haram insurgents in the last 48 hours.
It is not yet clear how long the closure will last, but
motorists said they were stopped from plying the route early Wednesday.
There are six major highways that takes travellers in and
out of Maiduguri. But with the capture of territories and displacement of
residents from their communities in 2014, all the five roads were closed by the
military due to security concerns.
At the peak of its attacks, Boko Haram bombed bridges on the
major routes leading to Maiduguri, except the Maiduguri-Kano highway that links
the state capital with the Yobe state capital, Damaturu.
Since 2014, soldiers and the police have battled to prevent
Boko Haram from attacking the Benishek Bridge which is the only bridge on the
135km-long road linking Maiduguri and Damaturu. Benishek is the headquarters of
Kaga local government area of Borno state.
The military and residents feared that should the
Maiduguri-Damaturu Road fall under the control of Boko Haram, the insurgents
would have effectively won the war because the Borno State capital would have been
practically cut off from all access by land.
Even after the military from December 2017 through early
2018, opened up most of the roads that were taken by Boko Haram, travelling on
them still required heavy military escort.
On Christmas Day, three weeks ago, suspected Boko Haram
gunmen carried out a major attack on a military base located at Kukareta
village of Yobe state, along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway, where they burnned
down the camp and dislodged the checkpoint being manned by soldiers there.
On Monday, Boko Haram insurgents carried out yet another
attack on Auno village, 25km away from Maiduguri.
The attack, which was confirmed by the Theatre Commander of
the Operation Lafiya Dole, Benson Akinroluyo, a major general, occurred at
about 6 p.m. on Monday.
It was later followed by a late night attack on a village,
Sajiri, located right outside Maiduguri town.
Though details of the Auno attack are still not clear as
military has blocked access to the village, PREMIUM TIMES learnt that two
persons were killed and eight houses burnt in Sajiri.
Sajiri is a small community located behind the Nigeria Air
Force base, situated along the Maiduguri-Damaturu Road.
Though reasons behind military’s decision to close down the
road have not been made clear, PREMIUM TIMES learnt from reliable sources that
Ngamdu, a boundary village between Borno and Yobe state, located along the
Maiduguri-Damaturu Highway, was attacked last night.
A military source informed PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday that
vehicular movement on the Maiduguri-Kano Road have been extended down to
Potiskum, a town in Yobe, which is about 235km away from Maiduguri.
Confirming the development, a commercial cab driver who
normally plies the route, Ali Vectra, informed our reporter on phone that, “We
have stopped loading passengers because the soldiers have closed the road,
which makes it impossible for us to travel in or out of the town”.
Saidu Bappa, a business man in Damagum, a local government
headquarters in Yobe state, which is about 68km away from Damaturu, confirmed
to PREMIUM TIMES that the road between Damaturu and Potiskum has also been
closed down.
“Normally, the road is closed at night and opened for
vehicular movements at 6am everyday,” he said.
“But we woke up this morning to find out that the road
remained closed from Potiskum to Damaturu.”
The development has hundreds of vehicles and travellers stranded on the either sides of the road.
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