Boko haram now selling seized items back to owners

FROM TIMOTHY OLANREWAJU, MAIDUGURI
From the survivor of Boko Haram attack on a Borno town came the startling revelation that Boko Haram insurgents were selling goats and other livestock seized from owners during se­ries of attacks on the communities to buy pet­rol.




“They took away our goats, chicken and other livestock after attack on Kukawa and other neighbouring villages. They also seized our property, claiming Allah has bestowed these things to them. But when people started returning to Ku­kawa before the start of Rama­dan, Boko Haram men started selling the goats, chicken and some of the items back to peo­ple who were even the origi­nal owners in the first place. They said they were raising money to buy petrol to fuel their vehicles and motorcycles because petrol was being sold for N1,000 a litre in Kukawa before the last attack (Wednes­day),” Danladi Umar who fled the troubled Kukawa town, north of Borno following the Wednesday Boko Haram at­tack disclosed to Sunday Sun.
A group of Boko Haram insurgents last Wednesday launched coordinated attacks on Kukawa, a serene com­munity around the Lake Chad bordering Niger. Sources said residents; mostly peasant farmers and fishermen, had barely assembled in the major mosques for the break of the Muslim fast when the armed men came to unleash terror on them.
“They rounded up people in mosques and opened fire on them. They also pursued those trying to escape and shot them. About 97 people were killed while the insurgents also set fire on houses,” one of the sources disclosed. But Danladi who appeared fam­ished shortly after arriving Maiduguri following two days of trekking in the bush, said the casualty figure was higher, insisting that about 120 people were massacred.


“It is more than 97, there are corpses everywhere, about 120 people may have died. The insurgents burnt many houses and wrecked havoc in Kukawa,” he said. He said an historical tree in the town was cut off following heavy shoot­ing by Boko Haram.
He said life has gradually returned to Kukawa, about 192 kilometres to Maiduguri, after the February repeated attacks in the area and Baga, a neighbouring commercial community, until the group struck last Wednesday. He said many children who had gathered at a place where women fry and sell bean-cake were caught up in the spo­radic gunshots. “Most of the women and children at a place where bean-cake are sold were shot dead. The women were frying bean-cake and selling pap to those willing to use it to break their fast since the time for breaking of fast was approaching. Some of the children were also there to buy bean-cake. Kukawa, an his­torical town, north of Borno, was reported to be the place where the first Shehu of Borno received two British Explorers to the Bornu Empire in 1822 and 1834 respectively.
Source : sunnewsonline.com