Expdonaloaded News; Soldiers take over Gamboru, hoist Nigeria’s flag

IT was a historic event on Wednesday, when Ni- gerian soldiers led by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, and his principal staff officers, hoisted the Nigerian flag at Gamboru in Gamboru/Ngala, Local Government Area of Borno State. The flag was hoisted at exactly 5:01pm after a ceremonial military parade by the soldiers who sang the national anthem along with journalists covering the ceremony while the it was being raised.
Residents of the town, who are currently taking refuge at Fotokol, a boarder town in Cameroun, trooped out in their thousands to cheer the soldiers as they sang and clapped in jubilation during the ceremony. The residents, who could not control their joy, ran to the river bank separating Nigeria and Cameroon in wild jubilation and beckoned on the troops, who later went over to the bridge to cel- ebrate with them. The town, which had been under the adminis- tration of Boko Haram insurgents for over five years, was initially recaptured by Chadian and Nigerien soldiers, who later withdrew from the town, when they could no longer withstand the superior firing power of the terrorists, but finally taken over by the Nigerian troops, last Tuesday. In his address at the occasion, an elated Lieu- tenant-General Buratai, said, “we are here to re- assert our territorial integrity as enshrined in the constitution and we will not allow any bunch of criminals to take over our land.” Buratai, who was full of praises for the Nige- rian military, commended the soldiers for their bravery, determination and courage in the counter insurgency fight and assured that no Nigerian town will be taken by the terrorists again. Also,he assured Nigerians that the days of ter- rorists, who have been disrupting the peace of the nation with their violence, would soon be over as the military is all out to rout them from all their locations within Nigerian territory. The army chief, who described the insurgents as bunch of criminals who have no knowledge of the religion they claim to be professing”, assured that the insurgents would no longer have peace until they are completely routed out from the country. Buratai, reassured Nigerians of the determination and capability of the Nigerian military to end terrorism in the coming days and charged the troops to be more vigilant, maintain stiffer aggressive posture, and carry out constant patrol of their areas of operation. He stressed the need for the soldiers to be on the look-out for the ter- rorists who have resorted to planting Improvised Explosive Devise (IEDs), on major routes in the North East. Meanwhile, another batch of 551 displaced Ni- gerians taking refuge in neighbouring Cameroun have returned to Borno State for resettlement at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp. The IDPs fled their homes into the bush and eventually into Cameroun after Boko Haram raided and sacked their communities in Borno State. The North-east zonal office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) which facilitated the movement of the displaced persons to Borno State in collaboration with the State Emergency Management Agency (BOSEMA), said the returnees, all indigenes of the State, have been safely transported back to the State.