QUIT ORDER: Boko Haram kills 30 southerners

The Boko Haram Islamic sect has made good its threat to attack Southerners living in the North as no fewer than 20 people from both the Igbo and Yoruba extractions were murdered in Mubi, Adamawa State between Thursday night and yesterday.

Eight other people, including six Christian worshippers, were killed and several others wounded in a Deeper Life Church in Gombe State just as an 80 year- old father, Musa Darkuwa and his son, Usman were killed in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State on Thursday night, bringing the number of those killed by suspected members of the sect in the two states within the period to about 30.

Wife of the Pastor Johnson Jauro of the Deeper Life Church was among those killed in the attack, even as two other victims in the state were killed in a hotel in the metropolis.Governor Ibrahaim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe has always expressed shock over the mayhem unleashed on the Deeper Life Church.

The governor who visited the church yesterday in company of the State CAN Chairman, Reverend Abare Kalla, and many other state dignitaries, directed security agents to fish out the perpetrators of the crime, noting that the development was alien to Gombe.

In Delta State, the police also confirmed that five people, including two policemen; an Assistant Superintendent and Inspector were killed by armed robbers in military camouflage.  The others were a couple and their salesgirl in a jewellery shop in Warri.

Also, in what looked like a reprisal attack over the killings of Southerners by Boko Haram, enraged youths numbering about 2000 and armed with axes, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons yesterday went on rampage in Sapele, sacking and inflicting injuries on about 50 Muslims at the Hausa Quarters in the local government.

A screen grab made on October 21, 2010 in an undisclosed location from a video allegedly showing members of the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram. A purported spokesman for Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a Christmas Day explosion near a church outside the Nigerian capital on December 25, 2011. "We are responsible for all the attacks in the past few days, including today's bombing of the church in Madalla," Abul Qaqa told AFP by phone. "We will continue to launch such attacks throughout the north in the next few days." AFP PHOTO

Two mosques were torched during the crises, as the Chief Imam of Sapele Central Mosque, Alhaji Mohammed Usman condemned the incident. Two persons suspected to have carried out the attacks were however arrested by the police in Sapele.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that the killing in Mubi started Thursday night when gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram killed three southerners.

It was learnt that while relatives of those killed the previous day gathered yesterday to discuss modalities for conveying their corpses to their respective states for burials, the same gunmen swooped on them and started shooting sporadically killing 12 people on the spot and wounding over 30 others, thus bringing the number of those killed in Mubi alone to 15.

Those wounded were said to be  receiving  treatment in various hospitals in the  state.  An  Information Officer in Mubi told  Saturday Vanguard that tension was seriously mounting in the town as Igbo traders had closed their shops in solidarity with their slain colleagues. He said attempts by the Igbo to retaliate the killings of their kits and kins was being hampered by the heavy security presence in the town.

However, Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo who visited the church in company of the State CAN Chairman, Reverend Abare Kalla and many other state dignitaries, directed security agents to make sure that they fish out the perpetrators of the crime and the cause which he said was alien to Gombe.

The Governor who condemned the attack of a place of worship and the killing of worshippers however stated that the incident has challenged the government to step up measures for the continued peaceful co-existence of the people in the state, even as he tasked the people to henceforth seek security help and advise before embarking on an overnight church activity.

He acknowledged that the location of the church was known to be a den for criminals and hoodlums also promised free medical treatment for those still receiving treatment while also promising that Government would take care of the burial rites of those that lost their lives in the attack.

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