By Stephen Ubanna
With barely one week after armed BokoHaram Insurgents operating in the north eastern state of Yobe, stormed the Nigerian Customs office, Borno/Yobe Outstation at Geidam town and killed one Ahmed Usman, an Assistant Superintendent from Pindiga Town, in AAkko Local Government Area of Gombe, another north eastern state. The BokoHaram fighters, according eyewitness account had destroyed one generator and part of the Customs building. The attackon the Customs facility at Geidam Town may have infuriated Lt. General Rasheed Lagbaja, the Chief of Army Staff, CoAS, who was to have given a matching order to Mayirenso Saraso, a Major General and Commander Operation Hain Kai, OPHK, to mobilise his sector Commanders and their troops to deal decisively with the Insurgents. The OPHK, Commander, in turn was said to have told the sector Commanders and their Troops to more aggressive in the conduct of the ongoing mop up operation in the region.
The CoAS, who was unhappy about the development because of the embarrassment to the country may have read the riot Act to the Troops of Operation Hadin Kai, OPHK, and the Commanders of the various Btallions in the state to hunt for the Insurgents and kill them. This is in Keeping with directive with Christopher Musa, an Army General, and Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, that a Complete soldier is whoever kills one BokoHaram member.
This may have informed why Troops of 159 Battalion , Geidam, under the sector 2, Joint Task Force , OPHK, were said to have ambushed the BokoHaram fighters who were going out for another operation in the town and killed six of them . The aggrieved soldiers who poised to kill any Insurgent sighted within Geidam, for breaking into the town despite the tight security were said to have recovered weapons including two AK 47 rifles, two motorcycles and a mobile phone from the felled insurgents, thus restoring confidence to the residents of the community.
Given an insider information of the operation that led to the killing of the six Insurgents, Muhammad Shehu, a Captain and Assistant Director of Army Public Relations of OPHK, sector 2, had said that it was conducted on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, barely five days the Insurgents had stormed the Customs office and killed an officer and destroyed a general and part of the office at Jororo village in the flashpoint Geidam Local Government Area of the state . The sector 2 Troops were said to have struck at the Jororo Community believed to have been taken over by the Insurgents after receiving tips from the residents and actionable intelligence. The Troops, according to the Army Captain had killed two BokoHaram fighters during a gun battle.
Acting on the directive of the General Musa, the CDS, the Troops of sector 2, Joint Task Force , OPHK, a source informed The value news have sustained the aggressive drive in the conduct of the ongoing mop up operations to rid the north easter region of Borno and Yobe of terrorism, insurgency and sundry crimes within the sector area of jurisdiction.
Giving the matching order of the CDS, to the Troops to take the battle o the Insurgents and kill anyone found may have informed why Troops of 233 Batalion had carried out a similar operations at Babbangida in Tarmuwa Local Government , described as another notorious area used by the marauding insurgents of the state in harassing security agencies personnel and collecting taxes and levies from the residents of the Community on Thursday, October 26, 2023.
The sector 233 Troops, who were posed to kill any insurgent found around the Yobe state Community were said to have killed four of them who played into their hands. They were said to have also recovered 26 AK 47 rifles from the them. Many believe that the sector 233 OPHK , Batalion , could achieve that much with the support of the residents of Bajingo and Kurnawa, Communities of the Tamuwa LGA, who had provided them with the relevant information on how to go about the operation and caught the insurgents unawares.The sector 233 Troops were said to have disposed the insurgents of two motorcycles which is their major means of transportation around the Community to harass the people and force them to part with their farm produce, pay taxes and levies to them.
Mayirenso Saraso, an Army General and Commander of OPHK, who is impressed by the efforts of Troops of sectors 159, Geidam and 233 at Tarmuwa,, had commended the officers for their ‘’swift response to the residents calls when they are under threat of the insurgents.
The OPHK , Command may have gladdened the heart of the Troops of sectors 159, 233 and other sector Commanders in the Yobe state and the neighbouring Borno that he will continue to give them all the support to completely wipe out the insurgents to ensure that peace is restored in the north eastern region .
The renewed hunt for the insurgents in Geidam, Tramuwa Local Government Areas of Borno state may have gladdened the heart of Adewale Adeni, Comptroller General , Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, who has directed the Area Controller at the Borno /Yobe Customs Command to be red alert to avoid a repeat of any attack on their facility in any part of their area of jurisdictions in the two states of the north eastern region in the future. The attck of the Geindam Customs facility may have encouraged the officers and men attached to the Borno/Yobe Command to work more closely with the OPHK Troops based on the working agreement between the duo, Adeni , the Customs Comptroller General and Lt. Gen. Lagbaja, the Army Chief.
With the OPHK, sector Commanders and their Troops intensified fight to wipe out the insurgents in the north nor eastern states of Borno and Yobe, security experts say BokoHaram and ISWAP, fighters who have been given security agencies including Customs personnel a cause to worry are in for more trouble.
