An additional 104 fighters loyal to Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have surrendered in Borno State, the military said on Monday, citing increased bombardment by ground troops and air force as the reason.

The military authorities explained that the fighters and members of their families surrendered to the 25 Task Force Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Damboa, Borno State.

According to the military on its official Facebook page, those that surrendered were 22 males, 27 females and 55 children, noting that they took the decisions following persistent troops’ operations.

It said the deadly assaults on the terrorists by the military forced the fighters and their families out of hiding. Damboa is approximately 90km southwest of Maiduguri, the state capital and is in the southern part of Borno State.

Daily Trust reports that recently, the attention of political and military leaders had shifted to southern Borno following increased terrorists’ activities around Damboa, Chibok and Askira Uba, among others following the massive relocation of ISWAP fighters from northern Borno and the fringes of the Lake Chad.

Credible sources told Daily Trust that the terrorists were finding it easy to manoeuvre their way back to Sambisa or Alagarno forests whenever they launched attacks on nearby locations in the affected LGAs. 

It was around Askira Uba that Brigadier General Dzarma Zirkushu, the commander of the 28 Task Force Brigade of the Nigerian Army and three other officers were killed in November last year when they were ambushed by the terrorists.

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‘It’s a new dawn for us’

A military source told one of our correspondents last night that more terrorists and their families would surrender in the coming days because they have no option.

“Sustained operation is ongoing. Take it from me; it will never be the same because a lot of factors hampering our operations have been addressed,” he said.

“It is now dry season and the visibility is clearer. Also, our Super Tucano jets and other fighting equipment have been deployed to both northern and southern Borno.

“And as you can see, the actual fighters from the 104 that surrendered are not more than 25; the rest are vulnerable women and children and this is what is slowing massive bombardment.

“It will not be good to kill the vulnerable and that is why the operation is taking longer time. But then, you can see them coming out from their hideouts because they know the situation is no longer the same. 

“We have neutralised scores of ISWAP commanders especially around the shores of Lake Chad in the last few days.

“Their massive relocation to southern Borno from northern Borno following sustained operation has further weakened them,” he said.

Our correspondent reports that since June 2021, hundreds of Boko Haram fighters and their families have surrendered following the killing of their leader, Abubakar Shekau, in May of the same year.

Also, the killing of ISWAP leader Abu Musab Albarnawi and those who took over from him in succession has thrown the group into disarray with barely a central command. 

Sources said many of the frontline commanders have dropped their arms with some of them being rehabilitated by Operation Safe Corridor in Gombe camp and other places.

On July 30, 2021, the Nigerian Army said the troops of Operation Hadin Kai took custody of 91 Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists and their families who surrendered in the North East.

Similarly, in August 2021, the Army through its spokesman, Onyema Nwachukwu, a Brigadier-General, disclosed that 56 terrorists and their families laid down their arms.

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In September 2021, the Nigerian military high command said 8,000 Boko Haram commanders, fighters, and their family members had surrendered since June 2021.

‘Terrorists likely behind Okene police station attack’

Terrorists were likely responsible for the attack on the Divisional Police Headquarters in Okene, Kogi State in the late hours of Sunday, Daily Trust learnt.

Authorities and locals said the attackers were chanting religious incantations during the attack.

Some of the sources said the attackers wanted to seize the opportunity to steal arms in the station.

The Kogi State Police Command Public Relations Officer, William Aya, said the state Police Commissioner, Edward Ebuka, had drafted a crack team from the headquarters to trail and arrest the perpetrators.

In a statement made available to Daily Trust on Monday in Lokoja, he said: “On February 6 at about 2200hrs, some armed hoodlums attacked the Okene Area Command Headquarters with sporadic gunshots and explosives chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’. 

“The officers on duty gallantly repelled the hoodlums, shot dead one of them which forced them to flee before the arrival of backup teams from neighbouring divisions.”

It was learnt that the hoodlums went to the town on motorbikes and rode straight to the police area command headquarters with explosives and other dangerous weapons, shooting sporadically.  

“The attack has the hallmark of how terrorists operate,” one of our sources said. 

“The Boko Haram, the ISWAP and Ansaru fighters raid security formations to get arms. And let me remind you that in the last 10 years or thereabouts, we have picked many Boko Haram and Ansaru fighters in Kogi State. 

“They capitalise on the relative peace in the state to hibernate. Abu Dardaa, who is in our custody after his arrest in Kaduna, has a lot of contacts in Kogi,” he said.

“The truth is that Kogi deserves special attention because of its proximity to Abuja and other states,” another source said.

“Some of these miscreants hide there. Even though they rarely launch an attack there, they organise criminal activities from there. What happened yesterday was surprising,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Kogi State Government has commended the gallantry of the police operatives, hunters and others who repelled the attack on the Okene police divisional headquarters.

A statement by Kinsley Fanwo, Commissioner of Information and Communication, said 30 hoodlums armed to the teeth invaded the station.

Daily Trust reports that in April 2016, Khalid al-Barnawi, the leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group, Ansaru, was captured at a facility in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State. He is still in detention.

The United States had placed a $5m (£3.5m) bounty on his head after branding him one of three Nigerian “specially designated global terrorists” in 2012.

Ansaru is a splinter group of Boko Haram.

Abductors of Kaduna Catholic priest demand N60m

Abductors of a Catholic Priest in Chawai Chiefdom in Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State have demanded N60m, Daily Trust gathered.

Reverend Father Joseph Danjuma Shekari was abducted in the parish house located in Chawai, Kauru LGA on Sunday night.

A source from the community who spoke with Daily Trust said when they called the priest’s number on Monday, the abductors said they would only release the cleric if paid N60m.

It was gathered that his aide, Mr Sati Musa, was shot dead by the abductors who stormed the house between 10 and 11 pm.

The 20-year-old Musa was a student of St. Monica’s Secondary School Ikulu-Pari, Chawai who was preparing to write final year exams.

A statement signed by the Chancellor, Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, Bishop Emmanuel Uchechukwu Okolo, called for serious prayers for the release of the clergy and urged the people to refrain from taking laws into their hands.

The Catholic priest is the fifth priest abducted in Southern Kaduna between 2021 and now. 

Daily Trust