Metro

Borno Missing Children Rise As B’Haram Steps Up Recruitment

Published

5 months ago

February 17, 2025

The case of missing children in Borno State has sparked public outcry, following a disturbing video of a young boy confessing to undergoing military training in a forest alongside dozens of other children.

Some residents who spoke with The PUNCH on Sunday recounted the agony of their missing loved ones and expressed the fear that the rise in child disappearance cases in the state may be linked to insurgent recruitment efforts.

The development comes as the #BringBackOurGirls movement renewed calls for the Nigerian government to release the findings of the fact-finding committee on the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction.

With 78 girls still unaccounted for more than a decade later, the group urged transparency and accountability in the search for those still missing.

A video of a boy, around 10 years old, confessing to undergoing arms training along with approximately 30 other yet-to-be-identified children in a forest near Ajiri in Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State, went viral on social media at the weekend.

The video, posted by Zagazola Makama on X and reportedly recorded on January 22, 2025, captured the boy demonstrating his knowledge of handling firearms.

He confessed that he and other children of similar age were receiving military drills deep inside the forest.

“They are training us on weapons handling. Ali Shehu, Umar, Alhaji, and Malam Oro are the ones training us. We are at least 20 to 30. We are all young boys; some are bigger than me, while I am older than some of them,” the boy stated.

To support his claims, the child was handed an AK-47 rifle, which he expertly stripped and reassembled with near-perfect precision.

He also unloaded and reloaded a magazine, displaying an alarming level of proficiency in handling the weapon.

Speaking with The PUNCH on Sunday, some of the residents lamented the increasing rate of missing children in the state, an occurrence they alleged might be connected with the trending video.

One of the residents and a mother of two in Mafa, a location close to the Ajiri forest allegedly said to be the camping area for the children, Aisha Ali, confirmed the disappearance of her six-year-old child for over three years without trace.

“Around February 2022, my last born, Mustapha went missing. At the time, he was just six years old. It was during the late evening. All of a sudden, his whereabouts could not be traced, the last thing I remembered was seeing him eating while I was going to a friend’s place around 3 pm.”

She added, “Upon my return, I learnt he stepped out. We searched and searched. Just like a joke, we could not find him again. In fact, we just concluded he is dead because his whereabouts remain a mystery we can’t explain.”

Another resident in Maiduguri, the state capital, Muhammad Mamman, expressed concern as he narrated a recent experience.

“Around early last year, my brother lost his child, not that the baby girl died. She was just four years or so at the time. She just went missing. We immediately announced on the radio, yet she was nowhere to be found to date. Either dead or alive, we can’t explain,” he said.

To corroborate these experiences, an announcer in one of the popular radio stations in Borno State, who pleaded not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said in two weeks, at least one announcement on a missing child would be made.

“We have always announced cases of missing children. I can say at least we see such cases once every two weeks. This is alarming,” he said.

Other residents who spoke with The PUNCH called on the government for immediate action, by combing the surrounding forests for missing children.

“With that video, security agencies must rise to the task. These places are not unknown. It may and may not, but we can’t continue to hear cases of missing children on local radio and a boy came out to say that he and others have been camped in a forest receiving training, yet the government will be comfortable,” Umar Abdulrahman, a resident said.

When contacted, the state police command said there had been at least one reported case of missing children every week in the state.

In an interview, the spokesperson of the command, Nahum Daso, said many such cases had been resolved in the past with a few still ongoing.

“Yes, there have always been cases of missing children. In aggregate, we can say at least one per week.

“Often, we do get the children back. I don’t have the current statistics with me, but we have reunited many missing children with their families.

“Most times when children get missing like that, the suspicion has always been that they have been kidnapped or for other reasons. However, compared to other places, the cases recorded here are very low,” he said.

Reacting to the video, Daso dismissed the recency of the claims, saying the act of using children as foot soldiers was in the past.

“You know, some of these clips are mostly old ones. From us, we don’t have any threat in regards to maybe children being used as child soldiers, but it used to be in the past. For over a decade, we have not recorded any cases like that,” he said.

Also reacting, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Brig Gen Abdullahi Sabi Ishaq (retd.), said such operations were usually perpetrated by members of the Islamic State of West Africa.

“What you saw on that video is not part of the known activities of Boko Haram. That is the trademark of ISWAP.

“They take small almajiri children who are suffering and malnourished, get them to the bush, feed them and take care of them before training and turning them into combatants.

“Does that boy look malnourished? No. It is the evidence of good living they are having there,” he said.

When asked how the state government would address the claims by the suspect that other children were still undergoing training, he said, “You know, the war is still on and the state is using the non-kinetic model while the army is carrying out operations.

“We must acknowledge that the army is doing its best. However, I must tell you that one thing the army is seriously considering is the issue of collateral damage.

“If the Air Force visits these locations and detonates bombs, considering the little children there, the whole of Nigeria will rise and say that they have burned children. So these are some of the challenges.

“As for us, we rely on the army for this type of operation. Our Civilian Joint Task Force cannot handle it, especially as it concerns ISWAP. We relied more on military strength,” he added.

Highlighting the challenges to tackling the uprising, he said the use of traditional methods in fighting the insurgency was a serious setback.

“War is no longer fought as it was in the olden days. There is a need for technology that will prevent the soldiers from moving about in the bushes with legs and vehicles, to minimise casualties,” he added.

In a statement issued on Sunday and signed by its spokesperson, Jeff Okoroafor, the #BringBackOurGirls movement criticised successive governments for withholding the report on the abducted Chibok girls.

“The #BringBackOurGirls movement wishes to remind President Bola Tinubu’s administration of its constitutional duty to protect all citizens.

“To this effect, the administration has a duty to provide an account of the status of the rescue of the remaining Chibok girls to their families and the Nigerian people.

“We reiterate the importance of bringing closure for the families of the remaining 78 missing school children.

“Critically, the Tinubu administration has, like their predecessors, failed to release the Sabo fact-finding committee report, despite our movement’s request including through an FoI process,” the statement read.

The group recalled that on the night of April 14, 2014, 276 schoolgirls were abducted by terrorists from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State.

Following global outrage and mounting pressure, then-President Goodluck Jonathan set up the Sabo committee on May 6, 2014, to investigate the incident.

The committee’s report, submitted on June 20, 2014, confirmed the abduction, noting that while 57 girls escaped, 219 remained missing at the time.

More than a decade later, BBOG reported that 141 of the originally missing girls had regained freedom, with many resuming their education.

It, however, said 78 girls remained unaccounted for, with concerns that some may have been assimilated into terrorist enclaves.

Okoroafor also urged citizens to join the BBOG to demand comprehensive public disclosure of the tragedy and release of all investigations conducted into the abduction of the Chibok girls on April 14, 2014.

(PUNCH)

Metro

Mobile Court On Standby, As Street Traders Clash With Kwara Govt

Published

6 hours ago

July 4, 2025

Editor

What looks like a pitched battle is raging between traders on the streets around the Oja-Oba Market in Ilorin, Kwara State, and the state government. Predictably, there have been chaotic scenes at every stage of the intermittent clashes for control of spaces around the market.

For now nobody has an idea of who will emerge victorious at the end of the day.

But Before late last year, Oja-Oba Market, which had been existing for over 100 years, was always overcrowded with traders overflowing to the nearby streets, thus creating serious traffic problem for motorists and commuters in the area. But following public outcry, especially by motorists and other road users, the state government was compelled to move in and arrest the rot, which has been creeping in over the years without any control from any quarters.

Although the state government had initially employed a subtle method to address the challenge created by the unwholesome practice of trading on the streets adjourning the market, it later gradually wielded the hammer leading to the traders losing their coveted spaces without notice. The state government started pushing the traders inside the market by first expanding the post office through the Emir’s Road towards the Oja-Oba Market by grading and overlaying it with asphalt and new walkways for pedestrians.

…over one million traders

The market situated within the ambience of the Emir’s palace from which other markets across the state sprung up, hosts more than one million traders, according to the Iyaloja of Oja-Oba Market, Alhaja Mariam Moshood Elefun. It has enough space for people to do their business inside. However, many traders prefer to display their wares on the road side where they find easy buyers, who claim that the prices of goods are cheaper on the streets than inside the market. But the state would not want to hear any of such story. It has carefully reconstructed the walkways and provided adequate barricade against street trading to confine all buyers and sellers inside the imposing market so as to create a sense of orderliness around the market.

This is the product of the ongoing urban renewal agenda of the administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in Kwara State.

The state government does not want any trading on the street around the market and has set up enforcement teams to monitor compliance by traders from dawn to dusk. To this effect, the state deploys a team of soldiers, policemen, and officials from the Kwara Transport Management Agency to keep watch over the market and to deal with anyone found trading on the street outside the market. In a bid to ensure compliance, wares of traders caught outside the market are promptly confiscated by officials of KWATMA to serve as a deterrent to would-be offenders.

But last Monday, the government added a more legalistic measure to the move to end street trading around Oja-Oba Market by arraigning offenders and sending them to prison for one month or a fine of N10,000. Notwithstanding the tough disposition of the government, Arewa Voice found out that some recalcitrant traders have refused to budge and are still displaying and selling their goods by the roadside. The leader of Oja-Oba Market Traders Association, Alhaja Mariam Moshood Elefun, told AV correspondent that government had directed those trading on the streets to occupy shops inside the market, but that many of the traders ignored the directive.

“We understand that government has the final authority over everything. Now that the government is exercising its powers, it is clear to everyone that nobody can stop the government,” she said.

“Our people who are trading on the streets can still go to Oja Ago, Ita Amo and even Mandate Market to continue their trading, but they would tell you that you are asking them to leave because you already have a shop. But there is nothing we can do with the situation we have found ourselves,” she said.

Another trader Asumi Moshood Olateju in an interview with AV expressed satisfaction with the upgrade of infrastructure in Oja-Oba Market and the steps taken by the administration to sanitise the area for easy traffic. The General Manager, Kwara State Geographic Information Service, Alhaji AbdulKareem Babatunde Sulyman, made it clear that Oja-Oba Market was not meant to promote street trading and asked the traders to return to their shops within the market to do their legitimate business without fear or favour.

“Nobody is asking them to leave the market; we are only asking them to stay in the shops allocated to them to trade and stop trading on the streets,” he said.
(Vanguard)

Metro

Police Arrest Six Suspects Over Abuja Market Killing

Published

8 hours ago

July 4, 2025

Editor

No fewer than six suspects linked to the killing that triggered unrest at Gosa Market along Airport Road in Abuja have been arrested by operatives of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command.

The incident, which caused fear among traders and residents, followed the death of a man accused of stealing tubers of yam. As a result, many people abandoned the market, which is widely regarded as one of the most affordable places to buy food items in Abuja.

Speaking during a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, the Commissioner of Police, Adewale Ajao, said the police swiftly moved into the area following the incident to de-escalate tensions and restore normalcy.

He explained that the crisis began when a man accused of stealing was lynched by an individual who took the law into his own hands.

He described the killing as a clear case of murder, confirming that six suspects were already in custody.

He said, “A young man was accused of stealing some tubers of yam at the market. And lo and behold, an individual decided to take the law into his hands. That’s a complete human being. This is what led to the crisis.

“Following the police swiftly moved into the area to douse tensions and restore normalcy.

“Six suspects are currently in custody over the matter, which the police are treating as a clear case of murder. ”

Ajao noted that the police engaged community leaders and traditional rulers in dialogue immediately after the incident, which helped to calm the situation and encourage peace.

“Immediately after the incident, we engaged the community leader there. The traditional ruler was with us. We discussed and tried to find out what went wrong. They saw the need to embrace peace,” he said.

He also confirmed that as of Thursday, Gosa Market had resumed full operations under tight police surveillance, with officers on the ground to maintain order.

“The market is on today, and life is bubbling there. Our policemen are on ground, policing the marketing operation,” Ajao added.

He warned against the growing trend of impersonation and the use of false identities, especially vehicles bearing diplomatic or official number plates without authorisation.

According to him, such actions are often linked to criminal intent.

He also condemned the illegal use of tinted glass, vowing that enforcement would continue as part of efforts to enhance public safety.

Ajao said, “We are coming after you. Because the only reason for that is to engage in crime and criminality, ” he said.

“We are still arresting, and we’ll continue to arrest these people. When you conceal every identity, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Highlighting the command’s achievements over the past two months, Ajao announced that the police had recorded 49 criminal cases and arrested 82 suspects.

He said several kidnapping and robbery attempts were foiled across different parts of the city.

He added that the police recorded successes in efforts to curb theft, fraud, child trafficking, rape, and other violent crimes, with multiple suspects apprehended and victims rescued.

Ajao revealed that weapons, vehicles, cash, communication devices, and other criminal tools were recovered in the process. He stated that children were rescued from traffickers, abandoned babies were handed over to the Social Welfare Centre, and victims of various crimes were provided support.

Looking ahead, the Commissioner assured residents that the command would intensify community engagement, intelligence-led operations, and public sensitisation campaigns to address evolving threats.

He emphasised the commitment of the FCT Police Command to sustaining peace and security through proactive and coordinated policing efforts.
(PUNCH)

Metro

PHOTOS: Troops Uncover Cache Of Unexploded Bombs Under Borno Bridge

Published

8 hours ago

July 4, 2025

Editor

Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have uncovered a cache of improvised explosive devices kept under the bridge linking Marte and Dikwa in Borno State by suspected Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists.

The Nigerian Army, which disclosed this on Friday on its official Facebook page @HQ Nigerian Army, said the discovery was made by Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams deployed from both Marte and Dikwa Forward Operating Bases

According to the statement, 56 fully prepared IEDs have been safely recovered from the location, while efforts are still ongoing to render the remaining devices safe for complete recovery and disposal.

The statement reads, “Troops of Operation Hadin Kai in conjunction with members of the CJTF have uncovered a significant cache of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) emplaced by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists on the strategic bridge linking Marte and Dikwa in Borno State.

“The discovery was made by Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams deployed from both Marte and Dikwa Forward Operating Bases during a targeted clearance operation.”

It added, “A total of 56 fully prepared IEDs have been safely recovered from the location. Controlled procedures are currently underway to render the remaining devices safe for complete recovery and disposal.”

According to the statement, the successful operation has prevented a potentially catastrophic attack and reaffirms the vigilance, expertise, and commitment of Nigerian troops in safeguarding key infrastructure and civilian lives within the North East theatre

The PUNCH had reported a series of explosions on different highways across the state, leading to the death of many travellers.