Military arrests 486 Boko Haram members in Abia State

A report by Guardian, not less than 486 suspected Boko Haram members including eight women were arrested by the military personnel of the 144 battalion of the Nigerian Army with base at Asa in Ukwa West council of Abia State. Full report below...

Abia State Information Commissioner, Chief Eze Chikamnayo, who took some reporters to the military camp yesterday to see the suspects said they were arrested around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday along Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway at Arongwa area called Imo Gate, which is a boundary between Abia and Rivers states.

He said that the suspects whose ages were from 15 years were traveling on 35 buses from undisclosed northern states to the South South.  He said that they claimed to be going to search for jobs, adding that two of the buses later escaped. Continue...

The commissioner spoke in the presence of the Battalion Commander, Lt. Colonel Rasheed Omolori, whose only comment was that the report had already been sent to his headquarter.

It was also disclosed that somebody whose name was not made known, had come to secure the release of the suspects but was arrested and detained.

Reacting to the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer ( PPRO),  Mr. Geoffery Ogbonna,  said  that  the matter was a military one and had not been reported to the police command. He said that when he contacted the Army Public Relations Officer in the state whose name he did not mention, he told him (PPRO)  that he was not yet aware of  the matter.

And following the bomb found on the premises and inside the Living Faith Church (a.k.a Winners Chapel), Port Harcourt Road, Owerri, capital city of Imo State, the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha,  in conjunction with security chiefs yesterday launched what he called “Operation Know Your Neighbour.”

The occasion was attended by a cross section of stakeholders in the state amid heavy security.

The meeting resolved as follows:
“. Hotels in the state should install security cameras and on daily basis always forward the list of their guests to the Director of SSS.
 “. Trailers bringing food items from the North would no longer be allowed to come into the state at night but only in the day, and the food items would be off-loaded at a designated place off the state capital.
 “. Residents in the state must also be careful with broken bottles, cans, leather bags, parked tankers and vehicles around their homes, public places and public buildings.
“.  Traditional rulers in the state were directed to summon emergency meetings of their various communities to take stock of strange faces living with them.
 “. Uncompleted buildings in the cities in the state and environs without security guards will be taken over by the government because criminals use them as hideouts.
“. Lands left fallow for several years and not used for any economic or gainful purpose but taken over by criminals will be seized by the government
“. Smoking of Indian hemp was also banned.
“.  A meeting of all non-indigenes in the state has also been fixed.”