Abubakar Shekau, said Gwoza in Borno State had been declared an
'Islamic Caliphate', following its alleged capture, the military was
quick to deny the claim.
Yet the question on the lips of may concerned Nigerians is why the
town has become so vulnerable to Boko Haram attacks, having been
invaded severally in the past.
Gwoza is a Local Government Area of Borno State. Its headquarters is
Gwoza, a border town about 135 kilometres south-east of Maiduguri.
It has an area of 2,883 km² and a population of 276,312, going by the
2006 census.
(Photo: A picture taken from a video distributed to journalists in
recent days through intermediaries and obtained by AFP on March 5,
2013 reportedly shows Abubakar Shekau (C), the suspected leader of
Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, flanked by six armed and
hooded fighters in an undisclosed place.)
The terrain, rocky and hilly, with the height of about 1300m above sea
level, provides scenery and is made up of ranges of mountains known as
the Mandara Mountains. These mountains form a natural barrier between
Nigeria and Cameroon, starting from Pulka. They overlook the Sambisa
game reserves by meandering towards Mubi and beyond in Adamawa State.
Gwoza LGA has been called "a notorious hide out for the Boko Haram
insurgents," who arrived in the area in 2009 from Maiduguri. The area
has suffered considerable violence as a result of the Islamist
insurgency, and, in 2014, saw an influx of Boko Haram fighters fleeing
Sambisa forest.
In June 2014, reports indicated that Gwoza was under attack. The
reports could not be substantiated because most telephone masts in the
town and surrounding villages had been vandalized by insurgents.
Security operatives and residents reported that "roads out of the
region are extremely dangerous and phone connections are poor to
non-existent".
Following the efforts displayed by the military to take over Damboa
Local Government Area of Borno State from Boko Haram, sources said the
insurgents ran away and wreaked havoc on neighbouring Gwoza in
August, a situation that led to the taking over of the town and
surrounding villages of Pulka, Ashigashiya, Limankara and the National
Police Mobile training camp by the insurgents.
Infact, what took place in Damboa between the military and the
insurgents before the former reclaimed the town could be described as
"a farmer, who instead of killing pests in his farmland, only drives
the pests into another person's farmland".
There are many reasons insurgents find it easy to operate without
confrontation in Gwoza and other communities in Borno. While some of
the reasons may be natural, others could be human -made or artificial.
The natural scenery and surrounding Mandara Mountains as well as the
porous borders with Cameroon Republic make it easy for proliferation
of arms and ammunitions into Nigeria. The physical features of the
area is another reason because of the long mountain range which
provides an escape route for Boko Haram.
Likewise, the hilly environment with vegetations serves as hideouts
and caves to insurgents that take the advantage of using 'hide, hit
or run' into their caves making it difficult for ground troops and the
air force to locate and bombard them whenever they strike on military
formations or residents.
Another natural factor, according to investigation, has to do with the
terrain itself that the military finds difficult to penetrate with
their vehicles, while the terrorists, conversant with the area, use
bicycles, motorcycles and sometimes operate on foot to perpetrate
their evil and run away.
A man- made or artificial factor, which sources described as the major
headache of the military in curtailing the insurgents, has to do with
"lack of zeal by government and the security forces to end the
insurgency as both benefit from the crisis politically, economically
socially."
According to sources, apart from the fear of being attacked or killed
for giving intelligence reports to security agents on the hideouts
and modus operandi of the sect by residents, one other factor is the
sympathy by some Gwoza indigenes for Boko Haram. Right from the time
the group came into being, many of them, due to poverty and fanatism
in the land, were recruited and played major roles in unleashing
terror on the rest of the society.
It is natural therefore that when Boko Haram was chased out of town
and its members fled to Sambisa forest, which borders Gwoza and
Damboa, some indigenes of Gwoza in particular were in no position to
give intelligence on their area to the military which made the town an
easy target.
Vanguard
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