The rise of the civilians against terror took the Boko
Haram saga to a new turn in the early hours of
Tuesday morning when citizens of Rann,
headquarters of Kala-Balge local government area,
Borno northeast, who had fore-knowledge of an
impending Boko Haram attack, decided not to remain
sitting ducks but prepared for battle.
According to reports we received from Civilian sources
in Borno, over 400 Boko Haram terrorists stormed
Rann and neighboring villages in the early hours of
Tuesday, with their usual convoy of hilux trucks,
motorcycles and APC (Armored Personnel Carriers)
only to meet villagers ready for them this time. The
civilian villagers pounced on the terrorists with mere
rocks, bows and arrows, local Dane guns, swords
and “charms,” but as we have earlier reported, Boko
Haram are more frightened of Civilian-JTF than they
are of the Nigerian army, and run from the civilians
even if they - the civilians only have knives
The battle raged till the sun came up and ended with
the civilians killing over 200 Boko Haram terrorists,
capturing several prisoners and recovering several of
their vehicles.
From an account of a civilian who participated in
defending the neighborhoods, as reported in
DailyTrust, “Our people also recovered over 70
motorcycles that the attackers came with. They also
collected 2 Hilux vehicles and an Armoured Personnel
Carrier (APC) while some of the attackers were captured
alive.” [Daily Trust ]
This amazing victory of good over evil, promises a new
direction in the war against terror that has wrecked
hundreds of farming villages in the north of Nigeria in
the last four years, largely unchecked by State security.
Civilians determined to arrest a situation they believe
the Nigerian security services has permitted to destroy
their farming villages in various towns in the north
east, have apparently decided take up a fighting
posture against Boko Haram terrorists; no longer
waiting for a military response that hardly ever comes.
Last week, Boko Haram terrorists ravaged Gondura
Ngala town, freely without any hindrance from the
Nigerian military drafted to the north, and decimated
the entire town, killing over 300 residents. On April
14th, Boko Haram stormed Chibok and abducted over
200 girls. In that episode, Amnesty International
reported that the Nigerian security services were fully
informed of the impending attack, by civilian vigilantes
and other Intel, several hours prior, yet did not alert or
defend the village nor engage the terrorists for a full
eight hours of the abduction, looting and destruction
of the village.
A mother from Chibok reportedly told CNN, that “if the
army is not ready to fight Boko Haram, then we will
fight them ourselves.” Apparently that day has come.
The Civilian-JTF and ENDS.ng civil rights group is
pressing the Nigerian government for the civilians to
have the right and government support, to bear arms,
to end the terror scourge once and for all. The
government is yet to officially respond to this urgent
request as villagers remain at the mercy of Boko Haram
terrorists.
The Shehu of Bama is reported to have ordered his
citizens to go get guns, after his town was completely
decimated twice by Boko Haram terrorists with no
military response for the full eight hours of carnage.
More towns are expected to follow suit as the nations
leadership sleeps and permits terrorists the largely
unhindered freedom to operate, massacre and destroy
Nigeria’s farmers and northern farming villages.
