Mubi recaptured, Boko Haram leader arrested

LEADER of Boko Haram insurgents, Amir, has been arrested in Mubi, Adamawa State, by a combined force of the military and local hunters.

A British Broadcasting Corportion (BBC) Hausa report said Amir was overpowered during an encounter and had since been taken to an unknown destination in Adamawa State.

An eyewitness who spoke to BBC said Amir, a light skinned man with beard, was bundled and tied with a rope, while his disciples fled.

“Amir was not talking, he looked sad and angry,” said the witness.

Meanwhile, reports coming from the state indicated that local militia in Adamawa State have driven the Boko Haram militants out of Mubi, nearly two weeks after the town fell to the terrorists.

The state governor and residents, on Thursday, confirmed the latest development.

“Some of them (Boko Haram) ran away through Askira Uba and others through Mubi South and the situation in Mubi now is quite different from what it used to be,” a source disclosed.

A spokesperson to Governor Bala Ngilari told Premium Times that Mubi is now quite different from what it used to be.

He said local vigilante, popularly called Civilian JTF, launched a night time attack on Boko Haram terrorists in Mubi and drove them out.

The governor’s spokesman said the operation by the vigilante received some support from the military.

While a military source had said that the operation was not as “conclusive as claimed,” the Adamawa State government said the operation was successful and that Mubi is now free of Boko Haram.

“Governor Ngilari has confirmed that the combined efforts of the Civilian Vigilante and the Sarkin Bakan Gombi, as well as the military have successfully chased away Boko Haram from Mubi town,” Phineas Elisha, the press director to Governor Ngilari told Premium Times.

There was jubilation in Mubi town as residents marched from street to street in the town, chanting songs of victory over the recapture of their town, which had been under the control of the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents.

Residents said they were excited that their homes had been liberated from the hands of the Boko Haram insurgents who had been chased out.

One of the residents, Mallam Musa Bello, who spoke through the phone, revealed that most of the local hunters and Civilian JTF were mobilised from Gombe, Kano, Bauchi and Borno states by some top politicians in Adamawa State, after perceiving that the state might be taken over by the insurgents if nothing was done.

The state coordinator of Civilian JTF, Bako Goni, said over 2,000 people, including youth vigilantes, local hunters, retired military, police and para-military operatives, artisans and petty traders had signed up to confront Boko Haram insurgents in the state.