Borno gov blasts soldiers on Damaturu-Maiduguri road over alleged extortion

Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum, on Monday blasted the men of the Nigerian Army deployed in Damaturu-Maiduguri road over alleged extortion.

The governor, who was on his way for an on the spot assessment to Jakana, a commun­ity where Boko Haram insurgents struck on Saturday, was said to have been enraged with the activities of the soldiers on the highway.

The soldiers were said to have mounted checkpoints on the road, where travelers were checked to ascertain their nationality.

He was said to have been held up in the long queue occasioned by one of the checkpoints on the highway.

In the video of the governor’s encounter with the soldiers watched by the Nigerian Tri­bune, the governor, alighted from his ve­hicle and walked str­aight to where some of the soldiers were.

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“I’m going to report all of you in this unit… nobody can tol­erate this. Boko Har­am is attacking peop­le and you are here collecting N1000 per car,” he said.

One of the soldiers tried to calm the go­vernor down, saying he would look into the case but Zulum fi­red back, saying: “B­ut we saw them.”

It was gathered that the visibly angry governor and some of the people on his entourage had seen some of the soldiers collecting money from vehicle owners on the road.

Members of Boko Haram have on Saturday invaded Jakana community, which is about 42 kilometers away from Maiduguri, the state capital.

They were however said to have been engaged by Nigerian soldiers, who repelled their attack.

According to an official of the Civilian JTF, the insurgents stormed the village at about 7.30 pm on Saturday and began to shoot sporadically.

“The exchange of fire lasted for about two hours but the military alongside our Civilian-JTF members, were able to repel the attack after killing many Boko Haram fighters,” said Bello Danbatta, a top official of the C-JTF.