Terrorists ambush gov convoy, kill 15 soldiers, policemen, others

‌Terrorists suspected to be Boko Haram members on Friday killed 15 security personnel in an ambush on the convoy of the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum.

Sources told AFP that eight policemen, three soldiers, and four members of a government-backed militia were killed in the attack on vehicles carrying the Borno governor near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad.

The insurgents reportedly opened fire on the convoy with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades as the governor’s team was passing through a village close to the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force, a military coalition of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

“The governor escaped unhurt but 15 security men on the convoy were killed in a fierce battle with the terrorists,” one source said.

Zulum was on an assessment tour of Baga in preparation for the return of thousands of residents displaced from the town by the jihadists in 2014, the sources said.

The governor flew on a helicopter into the garrison town of Monguno, 60 kilometres (40 miles) away, and headed to Baga in a convoy under tight security, one of the sources said.

The IS-affiliated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group maintains most of its camps on islands in Lake Chad and the region is known as a bastion for the jihadists.

The militant group has recently intensified attacks on military and civilian targets in the region.

In July, Zulum’s convoy came under gun attack from ISWAP outside Baga, forcing him to cancel his trip to the town.

Last week, the group killed a Nigerian army commander along with three soldiers in an ambush near the town of Damboa.
Civilians plying highway linking Monguno and the regional capital Maiduguri said the jihadists set up daily checkpoints, robbing, killing and abducting passengers.

The decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed about 36,000 people and forced over two million to vacate their homes.

Most of the displaced have been housed in squalid camps where they depend on food handouts from international charities.

Local authorities have been encouraging the displaced people to go back home despite concern from aid agencies of the security risks to which the returnees would be exposed.
Last week, Zulum said feeding the displaced was not financially sustainable, insisting the only option was for them to return and rebuild their homes and live a “dignified” life.
ISWAP splintered from the main Boko Haram group in 2016 and has gone on to be the dominant insurgent force in the region.
[9/26, 7:01 AM] rasheedbisiriyu2: Boko Haram ambushes gov convoy, kills 15 soldiers, policemen, others

‌Terrorists suspected to be Boko Haram members on Friday killed 15 security personnel in an ambush on the convoy of the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum.

Sources told AFP that eight policemen, three soldiers, and four members of a government-backed militia were killed in the attack on vehicles carrying the Borno governor near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad.

The insurgents reportedly opened fire on the convoy with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades as the governor’s team was passing through a village close to the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force, a military coalition of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

“The governor escaped unhurt but 15 security men on the convoy were killed in a fierce battle with the terrorists,” one source said.

Zulum was on an assessment tour of Baga in preparation for the return of thousands of residents displaced from the town by the jihadists in 2014, the sources said.

The governor flew on a helicopter into the garrison town of Monguno, 60 kilometres (40 miles) away, and headed to Baga in a convoy under tight security, one of the sources said.

The IS-affiliated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group maintains most of its camps on islands in Lake Chad and the region is known as a bastion for the jihadists.

The militant group has recently intensified attacks on military and civilian targets in the region.

In July, Zulum’s convoy came under gun attack from ISWAP outside Baga, forcing him to cancel his trip to the town.

Last week, the group killed a Nigerian army commander along with three soldiers in an ambush near the town of Damboa.
Civilians plying highway linking Monguno and the regional capital Maiduguri said the jihadists set up daily checkpoints, robbing, killing and abducting passengers.

The decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed about 36,000 people and forced over two million to vacate their homes.

Most of the displaced have been housed in squalid camps where they depend on food handouts from international charities.

Local authorities have been encouraging the displaced people to go back home despite concern from aid agencies of the security risks to which the returnees would be exposed.
Last week, Zulum said feeding the displaced was not financially sustainable, insisting the only option was for them to return and rebuild their homes and live a “dignified” life.
ISWAP splintered from the main Boko Haram group in 2016 and has gone on to be the dominant insurgent force in the region.

NEWS
Another court order bars NLC, TUC from Monday strike

The Federal Government on Friday obtained a fresh order barring the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress from embarking on their planned industrial action scheduled to commence on Monday.

Justice Ibrahim Galadima of the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja again issued the restraining order following an ex-parte application by the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

This is coming barely 24 hours after the same judge made a similar restraining ex-parte order in favour of a civil society group, Peace and Unity Ambassadors Association, on Thursday.

The Acting Director of the Department of Civil Litigation of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Maimuna Shiru, and Mr Tijjani Gazali, led the Federal Government’s team who moved the ex-parte application that was later granted by the judge.

The NLC and TUC had jointly declared a nationwide strike billed to start on Monday to press for the reversal of the recent hike in petrol pump price and electricity tariff.
The organised labour has said there is no going back on the strike and they have continued to mobilise their members across the country.

.Airspace may be shut on Monday

There are indications that Nigerian airspace may be shut on Monday if the aviation workers unions carry out their threat to back the nationwide strike.
According to the General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, Mr Aba Ocheme , the aviation unions will implement the directives from the NLC that aviation workers should close the airspace to make the nationwide strike effective.
A statement from the unions on Friday reads ,“As you are aware, the NLC and TUC have declared an indefinite nationwide strike action with effect from Monday, September 28, 2020″.
”As such, all workers in the aviation sector are hereby directed to withdraw their services at all aerodromes nationwide as from 00hrs of 28th September 2020 until otherwise communicated by the NLC/TUC or our unions. All workers shall comply,” the statement added.