Information reaching our newsroom has it that not less than 50 motorists, passengers including a United Nations Humanitarian Worker identified as Abubakar Garba Idris have been abducted by terrorists along the deadly Maiduguri- Jakana- Damaturu 135km federal highway.
This development it would be recalled is coming barely two weeks when 35 passengers mostly women were kidnapped near the Mainok village situated between Jakana and Beneshiekh town of Kaga Local Government Area of Borno State, in which the state Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum visited the scene and later pointed an accusing fingers to security agencies for not doing their best to secure lives and property along the only road that links the state capital to other parts of the country despite unrelenting support from the government.
It was learnt that the terrorists barricaded the road near Matari village close to Jakana at about 8:25am. Sources said, scores of vehicles and passengers were trapped after looting properties by the abductors. A security Source who confirmed the incident said, “Boko Haram fighters have abducted dozens of people including a staff of the United Nations (UN) along Damaturu-Maiduguri road in Borno State on Saturday morning.
“Held captive is Abubakar Garba Idris, aka Alooma, a Senior Protection Assistant with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “The terrorists ambushed vehicles conveying commuters near Matari village between Minok to Jakana highway. One of them, Alooma was seized around 8:30am.
It would also be recalled that Prof. Zulum had expressed disappointment when he visited military formation in Jakana last two weeks after one of the abductions that took place, lamenting that majority of the attacks within the last two years, took place between Auno and Jakana, a distance of about 20 kilometers away from Maiduguri, the state capital.
But even with all the rising kidnaps by the Islamist terrorists, activities of the armed bandits who operate freely in the north-east, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressive Congress (APC) party have continued to claim that they have defeated Boko Haram in the country, which has led to the sustained campaign that the service chiefs should be sacked by the president.