UPDATED: Boko Haram ‘captures’ Chibok

Boko Haram fighters have taken over Chibok, the Borno town where more than 200 girls were abducted in April.

According to a resident of the town who spoke with TheCable on phone, the insurgents, numbering “200 to 300” seized the town on Friday after surmounting resistance mounted by a combination of Nigerian soldiers and local vigilante.

“We were at the market around 3:30pm on Thursday when we heard sounds of gunshots everywhere. We quickly closed our stores and found our way out,” he said.

“We went to a nearby place to spend the night, thinking that the soldiers would have overpowered them. But up till 11:30 this morning, there was no sign that military could tackle them. We decided to leave for another community when we saw that Boko Haram had taken over.”

He said the insurgents had misled the villagers into thinking they would launch an attack, only to show up the day after.

“They had alerted us earlier, so the military and civilian JTF laid an ambush for them but they did not come on the day that they said they would, so the soldiers and JTF people were relaxed, not knowing that insurgents had advanced.

“Boko Haram took them unawares. They did not come through the main road; they came through a village called Bayamoku. The security had their minds focused on the main entrance, but the insurgents took them by surprise.

“They climbed the mountains of Bayamoku, entered Chibok, and started shooting. They attacked the soldiers and vigilante until their members with vehicles drove in through the main entrance and joined them.

“It is only elderly people who are in Chibok now. All the youths have escaped. No single youth is there. The elders only decided to stay back.”

He gave no idea of the casualty toll, saying he did not know if civilians were being harmed.

“It’s only the Chief Imam who died and it’s not as if they attacked him. He died out of shock. He is hypertensive and when he heard gunshot, he started running and fell and there was no one to assist him because everyone was running away and he died in the process.”

Like majority of the people, he was himself fleeing Chibok.

“I am on my way to Gombe now with my brother. We are leaving Chibok,” he said.

“I tried to take my parents along but they refused. They said they could not leave the village. So we left. My wife and family are in Yola. There is no school in Chibok, so my children have been schooling in Yola.”

Bitrus Pogu, the Chibok community chairman, also confirmed the development.

“As of 6pm on Thursday when Boko Haram first entered Chibok, my driver was entering the town. He came under heavy fire and had to run out of Chibok,” he told TheCable.

“Yes, Chibok has been captured. The local vigilantes were overpowered because they did not have enough cartridges for their shot guns.

“The chief of the vigilante group at Chibok had gone to Maiduguri early yesterday to purchase some cartridges and just arrived today. There is no doubt that the fight will continue because the vigilantes will not give  up. As of now, we are at the mercy of Boko Haram. Some villagers escaped while some were trapped in the town.”

More to follow…