The Caretaker Chairman of Gwoza Local Government Council in Borno State, Dr Hamma Jumba, narrowly escaped being killed by suspected Boko Haram terrorists who ambushed his convoy, Monday.
However, three police escorts and two other civilians in the convoy were not lucky as they were killed by the insurgents.
The incident occurred along the troubled Firgi-Gwoza highway, which had been under series of attack for sometime now.
NE gathered that the chairman had travelled to his council to distribute relief materials to victims of previous attack by the insurgents with some security operatives and ran into an ambush of the terrorists on their way back to Maiduguri, the state capital at about 4.30 pm.
Some government functionaries, who were on the entourage, were said to have managed to reverse their vehicles and ran back to the local government council while the policemen and the two civilians were not lucky as they were allegedly caught in the crossfire.
One of the survivors (name withheld), who is a driver attached to the Government House, told newsmen that it was by the grace of Almighty God that he found himself at the Government House yesterday morning.
He said: ”I have cause to thank God for sparing my life. It happened around 4:30pm when we were going to Maiduguri from Gwoza.
“On reaching the bridge, after returning from Gwoza township and Barawa village, the convoy was ambushed by the gunmen at the damaged Firgi Bridge who started firing indiscriminately from all the directions.
“Some of our drivers reversed and escaped, while two other vehicles were abandoned by their occupants who crawled for 300 metres to escape from the insurgents that destroyed the bridge last week.
In deed, we fell under a a deadly ambush of Boko Haram terrorists. The attackers were over 100 and armed with sophisticated weapons.
The driver, who was later rescued by some military operatives, who were deployed to the scene, was conveyed to Government House yesterday morning before being reunited with his family at about 10 am.
He said though he could not tell the whereabouts of the Caretaker Chairman, he hoped the council boss survived the attack because the SUVconveying him managed to make a U-turn back to Gwoza, stressing that from the information at his disposal, the chairman reached Gwoza safely and was hale and hearty.
The state Police Commissioner, Lawal Tanko, confirmed the incident, but declined further comments.
Also, confirming the incident in Maiduguri, the spokesman of 7 Division of Nigerian Army, Col. Mohammed Dole said as the operations in Konduga-Bama-Gwoza axis continued, there was an attempted attack on a civilians in a convoy at one of the bridges in the area. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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