Borno State: “Damasak not fallen to insurgents” – Governor Zulum

Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum says Damasak town is not fallen to insurgents after the devastating attack by members of the Boko Haram on Tuesday 13th of April 2021, and his subsequent visit on 15 -16 April.

The Governor who passed the night in Damasak confirmed 18 deaths, in the attack that injured 21 residents.

Zulum travelled alongside Senator Abubakar Kyari representing Borno North, who hails from Damasak, and some top government official among are his (PPS)  Principal Personal Secretary Barrister Mustapha Busuguma among others.

The Governor held an operational meeting with soldiers and other security forces after which he presented 12 security vehicles which include an armoured personnel carrier (APC), and 11 patrol vehicles, to strengthen armed forces and volunteers made up of trained youths in the civilian JTF, hunters and vigilantes, helping in the fight against insurgents.

Damasak, headquarter of Mobbar Local Government Area in northern Borno, is located in the fringes of Lake Chad, and it shares a border with communities in the Niger Republic.

The town used to be a producer and exporter of vegetables to target markets within Nigeria, Niger republic and other neighbouring countries.

Boko Haram had occupied Damasak in 2014 as one of their caliphates, and the insurgents seem interested in the town for strategic access to raising funds through agriculture and for land routes to the Niger Republic.

The Governor interacted with residents, empathized with them and assessed destructions caused by insurgents.

Thousands of residents who had fled to border communities in the Niger republic returned on Friday.

The UN humanitarian hub, private residential houses, a police station, the palace of the district head, a primary healthcare centre, and a GSM village were among the property destroyed.

The insurgents attacked the town with three gun trucks, residents told Governor Zulum. Tuesday’s attack on Damasak was the sixth in two weeks, by the Boko Haram the residents recalled.

The Governor, therefore, assured the residents of robust measures being put in place to avert future attacks on Damasak town by the insurgents.

PIAK