No fewer than 100 people were, weekend, killed in separate attacks in Baga and Izge villages of Kukawa and Gwoza local government areas of Borno State, by Boko Haram insurgents, who also reportedly wounded several others and destroyed property worth millions of Naira. This came as President Goodluck Jonathan said in Lagos, yesterday, that the security challenges facing the country would have been worse without prayers from religious groups across the country.
It has also emerged that the Federal Government may be under pressure to open fresh negotiations with the terrorist group.
President Jonathan, who spoke at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Olive Tree Parish, in Banana Island, Lagos thanked Christians and other religious groups for their prayerful intercessions for the country. He said, but for their prayers, Nigeria would have been worse than it is in terms of the security challenges.
However, the Military High Command has now suspended further rotation of troops deployed to the North East region to fight the Boko Haram terrorists over alleged discovery that troops now play hide and seek to avoid being killed by the terrorists. The order banning further rotation of troops every six months came into effect on February 3.
Aside the weekend attacks, investigations by Vanguard showed that the Boko Haram terrorists had killed over 200 people within the last few weeks as well as inflicting severe wounds on residents who lost property worth billions of naira in Konduga, Gwoza and Kukawa council areas of Borno State.
Vanguard gathered from reliable sources that the attack in Baga village bordering the Chad Republic Friday evening, claimed 10 lives, while the Izge massacre at the Cameroon border with Borno State yesterday morning also left 90 people dead.