Army Uncovers Plot To Attack Kano

There is security build up in Kano as intelligence reports reveal a plot by a group of terrorists to launch attack on Kano, northwest Nigeria, during the Easter celebration.

P.M.NEWS reports that more security personnel in the Kano Joint Task Force, JTF, mostly soldiers, have been deployed at strategic locations within the state capital.

They conduct thorough searches at the checkpoints mounted by them.

On Tuesday night, at about 8:30 p.m. the JTF gunned down three suspected members of Boko Haram who hijacked a car ostensibly for an operation.

Authorities of 3 Brigade (Bukavo Barracks) said the terrorists trailed a man to his house and snatched his car without hurting him.

The military warned Kano residents over unnecessary movements, particularly, during odd hours, just as citizens were urged to always cooperate with security operatives with useful information on suspicious movements within their area.

The General Officer Commanding, GOC, 1 Mechanised Division, Kaduna, Major-General Garba Ayodeji Wahab who was on his first visit to 3 Brigade Kano, reiterated the resolve by the Army to, “stamp out terrorism from Nigeria.”

The General noted that, “if the security situation in Kano is guaranteed, then we will get security situation back in Nigeria. I want to appeal to the average Nigerian, especially the good people of Kano to realise that the soldiers are out to guarantee their safety and security. Nobody is out to witchunt, harass or provoke, rather we want to be sure that our job is done professionally. And we all need to realise that the guys we are dealing with are living among us, they are fellow Nigerians like us.

“So, it takes a lot for us to be able to fish them out. If we don’t do a thorough job, the possibility of these people escaping from one point to the other will be high. And if they perpetrate what happened here in Kano a second time—what happened on 20 January, if it is repeated, I am sure the average person will write the Nigerian Army off; and we don’t want that to happen.”

Major General Wahab urged citizens to get used to road-blocks at strategic entry points in the state, pointing out that soldiers were on the streets to ensure that lives and property were protected.

“You should bear a little bit with us. We will try as much as possible to improve on whatever we are doing. They (citizens) need to exercise a little patience with us.”

When asked to appraise the progress made so far by the military to fight terrorism in Kano, he said, “that is left for the general public to judge. You can assess us yourself from what happened on 26 February and what has happened, especially in the last week of March; and even what happened yesterday (April 3), nobody can come out and say an innocent person has been killed.

“It is those that we have information about and those that are perpetrating the act that we are after. And like I said, we are not out to molest or harass anybody. We want our boys to be as professional as possible.

“If we can do it outside, in all peace support operations, and we have been commended all over the world, that the United Nations would want us to come out and go to Somalia, it then means we are professionals. The average Nigerian should please look at what we are doing and provide us with useful information and I will assure you we will do our best.”

Spokesman of JTF, Lieutenant Ikedichi Iweha, told journalists that the three terrorists gunned down Tuesday night were out for an attack.

“They (Boko Haram) have changed their tactics to kidnapping and hijacking of vehicles. On Tuesday night, a group of terrorists trailed a man up to his house and snatched his vehicle. Luckily, they did not kill him and they did not collect his cell phone.

“Few minutes after they left, the victim put a call across to our men at a checkpoint close to his house. He described the vehicle and we formed a ring. As we closed in on them, they abandoned the vehicle and opened fire. During a cross fire, we gunned down three of them,” Iweha said.

The three dead bodies were paraded at Bukavu Barracks, including an ash colour Honda Accord, two pistols, two AK47 rifles and ammunition recovered from them.

—Maduabuchi Nmeribeh/Kano