The Executive Secretary, Yobe State Emergency
Management Agency, Musa Jidawa, has
confirmed the arrest of four insurgents who
attempted to enter the Pompomari Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Damaturu.
Mr. Jidawa told journalists on Sunday in
Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, that two
suspects initially disguised as visitors to see
relations at the camp but were apprehended.
He added that two others, who came separately
later, were also arrested while trying to enter the
camp.
He explained that “security operatives and some
IDPs screening entries and exit from the camp
identified the suspects, who were later confirmed
as insurgents by the IDPs from their
communities.”
He said that the last suspect came to the camp
where his father, mother, wife and child were all
taking refuge.
The SEMA executive secretary said “a member
of his Turo Kura village identified the suspect
and raised an alarm, saying he belong to the
sect and the suspect’s father, also an IDP at the
camp, confirmed it, which led to his arrest.”
The suspect’s father, who pleaded not to be
identified, told journalists that he narrowly
escaped from his son in the village when he
targeted to kill him.
The father said “I have nothing to do with him;
he should be arrested and killed just like he killed
others.”
The SEMA secretary said the Agency had
reinforced security checks and means of
identification to ensure that non-members do not
slip into the camp.
The Boko Haram have in the past carried out
attacks in IDP camps in the north-eastern part of
Nigeria. On September 11, a bomb explosion at
the Maikohi Camp – Nigeria’s largest Internally
Displaced Camps – located in Yola, the capital of
Adamawa State, killed seven people and injured
20 others.