Boko Haram: Buratai launches Combat Motorbike Battalion; Re-opens closed road in Borno

BY ABUDLLAHI ISAH, MAIDUGURI

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, has on Saturday launched a combat motorbike battalion to effectively mop up Boko Haram insurgents in the hinterlands of the North East and patrol the newly re-opened roads linking Maiduguri, the state capital and other parts of the country.

The Army Chief, while launching the combat motorbike battalion at the 25 Task force brigade of the Nigerian Army headquarters in Damboa also unveiled the second phase of the list of 100 suspected Boko Haram terrorists declared wanted for various acts of terrorism in the country,

It woud be recalled that the road leading to Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu was closed for about three years due to insurgents’ activities on the road.

While unveiling the list of another 100 suspected Boko Haram terrorists, General Buratai said “the unveiling of the second phase of 100 suspected insurgents was as a result of the success achieved with the first list and I hereby call on the general public to continue to give us information until we completely stamp out insurgency in the country.”

The COAS said the decision to introduce the combat motorbike battalion is to ensure that “our roads are safe and that we pursue Boko Haram wherever they may be.”

He said the combat motorbikes would ensure a force multiplier effect and give the military an edge in the ongoing counter-insurgency war in the North-East.

He said that the reach of the motorbikes will be very important and will ensure that the military can improve on their successes.

On the re-opened road, Buratai said: “The road from Maiduguri through Damboa to Biu is now opened for motorists. The safety on this road is in the care of the Brigade Commander of 25 Task Force Brigade. I do not want to hear any attack on this road, motorists plying this road must be safe.”

The COAS appealed to the public to come out with information that will assist in the arrest of terrorists, adding that many terrorists in the first list of 100 wanted persons were identified and arrested.

He said the new list of 100 suspected terrorists is for the members of the public to identify and report their whereabouts so that they could be brought to justice.

He said: “The 100 Boko Haram members declared wanted have their faces on the poster. The members of the public should look at the poster very well and report appropriately.”

Speaking at the occasion, the Secretary of Borno State Chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Amadu Musa, expressed appreciation to the COAS for making the re-opening of the road a reality.

He however called for between 20 and 30 checkpoints on the road in order to checkmate the activites of the insurgents on the highway.