{"id":14392,"date":"2019-01-06T22:22:26","date_gmt":"2019-01-06T22:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=14392"},"modified":"2019-01-06T22:22:26","modified_gmt":"2019-01-06T22:22:26","slug":"army-shuts-daily-trust-offices-after-papers-detailed-report-on-iswaps-attacks-and-armys-planned-offensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=14392","title":{"rendered":"Daily Trust confirms shut offices after paper’s detailed report on ISWAP’s attacks and troops’ planned offensive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daily Trust offices in Abuja, Maiduguri shut down, reporters picked by soldiers
\nThe Daily Trust newspapers has confirmed the shutting down of its offices in Abuja and Maiduguri, Borno State, ostensibly over a report in its Sunday edition detailing troops’ movement and plans against insurgent group, Boko Haram in Borno State.
\nA Channels Television report monitored in Abuja quoted the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Editor-in-Chief of the paper, Mannir Dan-Ali, on the travails of the company.
\n\u201cAround four o\u2019clock, I got a call from our Maiduguri office where I was informed that soldiers and some plain-clothes security officials had surrounded our regional office and forced their way in and after spending about 20 minutes, they now went away with two of our reporters (the Bureau Chief Mr Uthman Abubakar and a reporter, Mr Ibrahim Sawab.
\n\u201cAn hour or so, thereafter, I also got another
\n

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Soldiers around Daily Trust offices in Abuja<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\ncall because I happened to be outside Abuja, driving back into Abuja. So, I got another call saying that soldiers had come to our head office and that they\u2019ve forced themselves into the premises. And eventually they asked everyone to leave the premises and then they confiscated some computers from our editorial department where tomorrow\u2019s paper is being prepared.
\n\u201cObviously, the aim is to prevent the Daily Trust from being on the street tomorrow.
\n\u201cNow I\u2019m actually close to the office. I\u2019ve gone to the gate, I\u2019ve seen the soldiers who are manning the gate and they have shut down our five floors and all the lights are off and that\u2019s the situation as I speak to you now,\u201d Dan-Ali said.
\n 
\nIn the report in its Sunday edition, the newspaper said the Nigerian military has assembled thousands of troops and equipment in preparation for a massive operation to retake Baga and five other towns in the northern part of Borno State from Boko Haram.
\nThe report states further: The towns were reportedly seized last week by members of the Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP), the faction of Boko Haram that is affiliated to ISIS.
\nThe Abu Mus\u2019ab Albarnawi-led group reportedly took control of Baga, Doron-Baga, Kross Kawwa, Bunduran, Kekeno and Kukawa, after expelling their military defenders.
\nThe Army has denied reports of the fall of the towns but residents fleeing the areas confirmed the presence of Boko Haram fighters on the streets.
\nThe fresh military buildup is coming days after the Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima convened an extra-ordinary security meeting to come up with measures to halt the resurgence of terrorist attacks in the state.
\nDaily Trust on Sunday\u00a0learnt that all the three arms of the nation\u2019s armed forces, the army, navy and the air force, would be involved in the major offensive to flush out the insurgents from the areas they have captured.
\nCredible sources said the Defence Headquarters had gone far in mobilising men and resources ahead of the major onslaught scheduled to take place anytime soon.
\n\u201cA major operation is on the way but we can\u2019t divulge the details to you,\u201d a source said.
\n\u201cMore troops including ground troops, airmen and naval personnel are being deployed from different formations. They would join those on ground in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states for the operations,\u201d he said.
\nAnother source said many fighting equipment were being put together for onward delivery to the northern part of Borno for the major operation.
\n\u201cIt is going to be a serious operation, I can assure you,\u201d he said.
\nResidents in parts of northern Borno confirmed mass movement of soldiers and military hardware to the area.
\nThe Borno State Hunters Union,\u00a0Daily Trust on Sunday\u00a0reliably learnt, has also deployed a reinforcement of its men to the captured communities to lend a helping hand to the military.
\nBoko Haram insurgents have stepped up attacks on military locations in the North-East recently, with an attack in November at Metele claiming the lives of over 20 soldiers.
\nThe soldiers were killed when the insurgents overran 157 Battalion in northern Borno. Additional 12 soldiers also lost their lives in separate attacks around that period.
\nChief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Yusuf Tukur Buratai last month attributed the setbacks to psychological warfare by the Boko Haram faction, which he said had instilled fears in both troops and civilians.
\nDaily Trust on Sunday\u00a0learnt that apart from attacking military bases, ISWAP has been ambushing military convoys and patrols.
\nThe most recent of such attacks happened in Banki, where two soldiers were killed, when troops of 152 Battalion were ambushed by the insurgents. They seized four Hilux vehicles belonging to an unnamed NGO and three drums of diesel.
\nIt was also gathered that the group, after taking Baga, had been making consistent attempts to overrun Monguno (64km from Baga and 171km to Maiduguri). But they have been repeatedly beaten by the Army\u2019s Special Forces deployed in the town.
\nMany of the insurgents have lost their lives in the hands of the elite troops defending the town, sources said. They also said that over 200 of them were killed by Nigerien forces as they moved towards the neighbouring country after they were repelled from Monguno.
\nISWAP holds Baga, others<\/strong>
\nThe ISWAP is currently in control of many towns, villages and islands in the Nigerian shores of the Lake Chad, even as thousands of fishermen and farmers who found their ways out of the locations are now taking refuge in Maiduguri.
\nThe insurgents, according to locals, initially converged on Doron Naira and Dogon Chukun, two islands along the Lake Chad not far from Baga town, before launching last week\u2019s onslaught on the fishing community.
\nA fierce battle ensued between ISWAP and Nigerian troops, lasting two days (Wednesday, December 28 to Friday, December 30), leading to the withdrawal of Nigerian soldiers attached to the Multi-National Joint Task Force base in Baga.
\nSources said the development led to the fall of major towns and settlements like Baga, Doron-Baga, Kross Kawwa, Bunduran, Kekeno and Kukawa towns.
\nSources said at the time of the fight last week, only Nigerian troops were at the base as forces from Chad, Cameroon and Niger had for long withdrawn and were only manning their own sides of the borders.
\nBesides the MNJTF headquarters, the insurgents also overran a naval fighting base and a marine police base.
\nA fisherman, Modu Ari, who is now in Maiduguri, told the\u00a0Daily Trust on Sunday\u00a0that the departure of troops from many locations in the last few months, including those in Metele, following attacks by Shekau-faction of Boko Haram, left many communities at the mercy of the Abu Mus\u2019ab\u2019s faction of the Boko Haram.
\nAccording to him, locals in dozens of communities now live under the control of the Abu Mus\u2019ab\u2019s faction.
\n\u201cSome of the communities include Gashigar, Zari, Granda, Gudumbari, Kukawa, Arge, Metele, Alagarnon Arewa, Kangarwa, Jilli, Birmari, Mairari, Mainari, Kuroskauwa, Mil 4, Mil 90,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cBut the only difference we are witnessing this time around is that the (Abu Mus\u2019ab\u2019s) Boko Haram fighters kill locals only when they show some form of resistance.
\n\u201cThey asked those who want to leave to leave but told those interested in staying behind not to worry,\u201d he added.
\nHe said the fighters were armed with Anti-Aircraft guns and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs); and that they were in their thousands.
\nA farmer, Makinta Aisami, who also spoke to\u00a0Daily Trust on Sunday confirmed what Ari said, but added that locals living in many communities near the Lake Chad are living in fear and are being extorted by the group.
\n\u201cThey charge taxes,\u201d he said.
\nHe said in communities located far from strong military facilities, Boko Haram fighters were forcing farmers to pay tax before they could be allowed access to their farms while fishermen pay \u201crevenue through their noses\u201d before they were allowed to go with their catch.
\nHe said the only people living in relative peace because of military visibility were those in Monguno, Damasak, Gubio, Gajiram, Kareto and Malumfatori.
\n\u2018Missing relations\u2019<\/strong>
\nApart from those who fled towards Damasak and Gaidam, thousands escaped to Maiduguri on foot and by road.
\nThey have been thronging the popular Baga Road Market in Maiduguri, sleeping in the open, waiting for the possible arrival of their missing relatives, and partly because they have nowhere to go.
\nThe Borno State Government has been evacuating them since last Monday to the Teachers Village IDP camp.
\nDaily Trust on Sunday\u00a0observed, however, that while a substantial number of them would not agree to be evacuated, many were moving back to Baga, banking on a said promise by Boko Haram that they would not be harmed when they return to their captured territory.
\n\u201cOver the last one week, transport fare to Monguno that used to be N1,000 increased to N5,000 per passenger, and to charter a car will cost between N25,000 and N30,000, instead of the N5,000 it used to be,\u201d a commercial car driver, Mohammed Bukar, told\u00a0Daily Trust on Sunday.
\n\u201cInitially, you could not find more than 500 residents remaining in Baga, Mile 4 and Doro,\u201d a leading member of the Borno State CJTF, working under the Multinational Joint Task Force, (MNJTF), told\u00a0Daily Trust on Sunday\u00a0on Friday, explaining, \u201cSoldiers had themselves fled from the communities \u2026when the boys (Boko Haram) came and invaded Baga. They simply seized a deserted military barracks, 8 Div Headquarters.
\n\u201cAs I am speaking to you now, thousands of our returnees, including my father and mother and many of my own family members and friends are still missing in the bush between the Lake Chad and Maiduguri,\u201d Muhammad Bukar from Kangarwa near Baga, said.
\n
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Army Chief, TY Buratai<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nISWAP recruiting youths<\/strong>
\nA community leader in northern Borno who does not want his name mentioned, said the insurgents were recruiting young people.
\n\u201cThey are seriously working on the psychology of our people,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThey no longer kill our people, especially the youths, instead, they show them they are better in terms of taking care of them, and to me this is very dangerous.
\n\u201cOf course, they collect taxes from sales of produce and fish but they no longer forcefully collect the goods and with this approach, they are getting some sort of sympathies, tactically winning the love of our children,\u201d he said.
\n 
\n\u201cThe terrorists have the advantage of knowledge of the environment and they can go to Cameroon, Chad, or Niger if the heat becomes unbearable for them, hence the need for serious cooperation between all the countries in the area of operation to stop the menace,\u201d he added.
\nThe forces behind ISWAP<\/strong>
\nIn August, 2016, ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi put to an end, the seven years of Abubakar Shekau\u2019s leadership in Nigeria and the West African Province.
\nIn his stead, he anointed Abu Mus\u2019ab Al-Barnawi, whose real name is Habib. He is the son of the late Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram.
\nThe Boko Haram under Shekau had earlier in March, 2015 paid allegiance to ISIS\u2019s proclaimed caliphate under Al-Baghdadi.
\nWhen he was removed as leader, Shekau on August 4, 2016, released an audio in which he described the breakaway leader, Al Barnawi as heretic. Soon after the new development, sporadic fighting broke out between the two factions, one headed by Shekau and the other by Al-Barnawi who has the support of Mamman Nur.
\nFindings by our reporter at the time revealed that while the ISIS-backed Al-Barnawi had an upper hand in northern part of Borno State, Shekau remained dominant in the central and southern parts of the state, where the large swathe of the Sambisa forest is located.
\nWith the support of Mamman Nur, Albarnawi achieved a lot in consolidating his gains in northern Borno by trailing and killing \u201cShekau\u2019s boys\u201d in places like Monguno, Kukawa, Damasak, Abadam, Marte and Kala-Balge.
\nOn the other hand, Shekau remained \u201cstrong\u201d in villages in Gwoza, Damboa and Chibok, which are all not far from the Sambisa forest.
\nMamman had been on the wanted list of the United States with ransom placed on his head.
\nNur was killed around August, 2018, by forces close to Al Barnawi over alleged \u201cselfish\u201d handling of millions of money in hard currencies allegedly given to him as ransom for the release of captives.
\nBefore his death, Nur was seen as ISIS linkman in Nigeria, but fronting Al-Barnawi as leader, in order to retain the loyalty of the original supporters of Mohammed Yusuf.
\nWith Nur\u2019s death, the Albarnawi faction became more vicious in attacking military formations and ambitious in capturing more communities.
\nBeyond northern Borno, Al Barnawi\u2019s fighters are now inching towards central and southern part of Borno, launching attacks in places like Mainok, Jakana and other locations along Maiduguri-Damaturu road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daily Trust offices in Abuja, Maiduguri shut down, reporters picked by soldiers The Daily Trust newspapers has confirmed the shutting down of its offices in Abuja and Maiduguri, Borno State, ostensibly over a report in its Sunday edition detailing troops’ movement and plans against insurgent group, Boko Haram in Borno State. A Channels Television report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5777,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}