ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Nigerian military has successfully repelled the Boko Haram terrorists that invaded Gombe State in the early hours of Saturday and have since expelled them completely to Yobe State.
The Director of Defence Information (DDI), Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade in response to inquiries said that normalcy has been restored and terrorists routed from the state.
Olukolade confirmed the DHQ tweet saying that “the terrorists attack on Gombe has been repelled. Troops are in pursuit”.
He said that the military are in hot pursuit of the terrorists who have scattered in different directions towards Buni Yadi in Yobe state.
According to him, the terrorists move was an act of desperation to show that they can disrupt the forthcoming election following series of defeats in their major enclave in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
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Olukolade said: “Calm has returned and troops are pursuing them and have pursued them up to Buni Yadi in Yobe State. That was where some of them ran to, they have actually ran to different directions and are being pursued.
“At the moment they went to Gombe just to prove a point that they are still alive and can disrupt the elections. You can see that they were distributing leaflets”.
The Defence Spokesman said that combined air and ground operation are being sustained in pursuit of the terrorists and ensure they don’t gain a foothold in Gombe state, nor prevent them from exercising their franchise in the forthcoming general elections.
In the same vein, security sources told PRNigeria that the terrorists are desperately seeking other places to set up camps as they are being pursued from their existing camps in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
The report noted that in the last few weeks, Boko Haram camps in the northern parts of the states close to the boarders with neighbouring countries have been under intense pressures from Nigerian troops in cooperation with troops from the Multinational Joint task Force (MNJTF).
It disclosed that some of the camps have been destroyed, and as they could no longer enter Cameroon and Niger so easily, they are moving southwards, the sources confirmed.
Eye witnesses speaking to PRNigeria, said that the militants attacked soldiers at the security checkpoints at the edge of the town and forced their way into the quarter guard of the 301 Artillery Regiment.
According to the reports, the quarter guard was burned but they could not proceed into the main barracks which is a little far off.
The terrorists were said to have first invaded Dadin Kowa, a town, 40 kilometres away from Gombe but as they approached the state capital, they were engaged from the air and a combination of troops and mobile policemen.
In a related development, the military has made strategic gains in Monguno town close to Maiduguri.
A military source said that the Defence authorities will confirm the recapture of the town when mop up operations is complete.
“At the moment we are on the move towards Monguno. We wanted the operation to end before the authorities speak on it. This is because some of these operations are sensitive and we don’t want to disclose some vital operational information until certain stage”, the source said .
