The Nigeria Police Force, Borno State command, has confirmed that no fewer than 55 scrap metal collectors lost their lives in a series of attacks coordinated by the Boko Haram insurgents in the last three weeks in the state.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Abdu Umar, made this known while speaking on the sideline of a security stakeholders’ meeting on Saturday in Maiduguri.
IGP Usman Baba Alkali
The stakeholders included the police, the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and Department of State Security (DSS) among others.
SaharaReporters had on June 9 exclusively reported that the militants from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, killed at least 23 metal scavengers along Boboshe village in Dikwa LGA of Borno State.
Two people escaped the attack while seven others remained missing, a military source had told SaharaReporters.
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The police boss, Umar, on Saturday said the insurgents killed 32 scrap metal collectors at Modu village in Kala-Balge Local Government Area while 23 others were murdered at Mukdala village of Dikwa LGA, respectively.
He said the victims sneaked into the forests, located about 25 kilometres from the towns, without informing the security agencies for scrap metal collection.
He said that Governor Babagana Zulum directed security agencies to adopt proactive measures to stop the killings to forestall future occurrence of the incident.
“The state government is working to come up with a policy plan to checkmate these activities.
“This is because the government has had a bad experience where infrastructure and individual vehicles, especially in liberated communities, are being vandalised by scrap metal collectors.
“And it is surprising that the unions said none of the victims in Kala Balge and Dikwa were their members.
“The government is really concerned about the welfare and safety of every citizens, it set up a committee to check these activities with a view to fashioning out ways to forestall future occurrences,” he said.
Also commenting, Umar Usman, chairman, Scrap Metal Association in the state, said the victims of the Kala-Balge and Dikwa attacks were not registered members of the association.
He alleged that the victims were Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the affected communities.
The chairman further refuted alleged vandalism of critical infrastructure by its members, adding that the association liaised with the security agencies and community leaders before transacting on scrap metals.
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