Boko Haram kills villagers, RCCG pastor

Scores of people were reportedly killed by Boko Haram in Damboa, Borno State by the dreaded Boko Haram sect, Saturday Tribune gathered in Maiduguri on Friday. The gunmen, sources added, had a field day as Damboa town had earlier been deserted by policemen and soldiers. Read their statement below…

 An official of the Nigeria Vigilante told reporters that some of his men in the village explained that the gunmen crept upon the villagers at about 5am on Friday and began the killing. 

He said only a handful of youth Vigilante group, known as Civilian-JTF and some few Vigilante officials were available in Damboa to protect the people there following the desertion of the town by soldiers since the attack on security formations there about two weeks ago. 

Attempts by soldiers to return to Damboa military base failed as the Boko Haram gunmen took over the highway and continued to engage soldiers in ambush attack that forced them to return  to Maiduguri on two occasions.

“Since the attack, Damboa has been without any  police or military presence,”said Abbas Gava. “It is only the vigilantes that are there and we know they have their limitations.

“The death casualty could be very high because my contacts in Damboa said they were still picking and piling the corpses, but many houses, nearly half of what remains of the several attacked town, have been burnt”.

A senior personnel of the security who did not want to be named, confirmed the incident. 

Attempt to speak with the Borno state Command of the Nigeria Police Force did not yield result as the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jibrin could not be reached on phone for confirmation.

Insurgents murder RCCG pastor in Borno, wife, kids missing
The killing of a Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Pastor by the Boko Haram sect in troubled Borno state has thrown the church into mourning and apprehension.

The pastor, Taiwo Dokun was killed in the insurgents attack on Dille village in Askira-Uba local government area of the state on Monday. According to some members of RCCG who spoke to journalists in Maiduguri, the whereabouts of the late pastor’s wife and three children is not yet known.

“The family could have been abducted by the insurgents who took away many of the residents of the town as the family members were not found since the attack and have not called any one.

“Though their residence was completely razed by the insurgents, their corpses were not found in the debris,” one of the church members who preferred anonymity told journalists.

Speaking from Dille on Friday, Jacob Mamza narrated how the pastor was killed in the attack which claimed 45 lives. He said “the pastor was in his house at about 6am when the insurgents attacked the village, his house was surrounded by the hoodlums and while attempting to run he was shot.

“Pastor Taiwo was running to a neighbour’s house and it was in the course of his fleeing that he was shot in the head and the chest and the insurgent equally came to butcher him to make sure that he was dead.”

Mamza said the insurgents subsequently went to his house to raze it down and it was at this time that his family might have been abducted.

Some of the members of RCCG, who spoke to journalists in Maiduguri, said the late pastor might be buried in Mubi, Adamawa state as the initial plan to convey his corpse to his native home in Akure, Ondo state, for burial may not materialise as his body had started decomposing.

One of them said: “He might be buried at Mubi for he was initially taken to a Mubi hospital where he was embalmed but because it was not properly done, the corpse started swelling up and a decision was taken to bury him in the town.”

Investigations revealed that his death has caused anger among the RCCG churches in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

 “We are still looking for one of us who was abducted on January 6 by the insurgents and we have frequently appealed fruitlessly that the parishes in some of these affected local government areas of Borno be closed for now’’.

Friends, I employ you all to pray for the safety of Nigerians in these troubled areas and that God should visit the land with His judgment.