A civil war veteran and former member of the Supreme
Military Council, General Mamman Shuwa, was gunned down on Friday by suspected
members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Forty other people were said to
have been killed in a bloodbath in another part of Maiduguri on Thursday night.
General Shuwa, who played a key
role during the Civil War and retired in 1977, was killed in his house at
Gwange, along with his guest, shortly before the Juma’at prayer.
Some residents of Gwange told
Saturday Tribune on phone in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, that following
the killing of over 40 persons in the state capital, the sect members’ were
said to have vowed to revenge the killings of their members by the joint
military task force, Operation Restore Order.
A resident of Gwange told Saturday
Tribune on phone that he heard gunshots near the residence of the slain
General.
“As usual, we waited with prayers
at home until the sound of gunshots died down. When we came out, we saw people
gathered and we were told that the General had been killed. I was shocked and
asked ‘how?’, because I know that there is a military post close to his house.
We left, however, almost immediately before the soldiers came to cordon off the
area,” he added.
According to him, for the past
three days, violence in the area had continued to claim lives.
“You see, we do not know how many
people were killed during the raid on the area yesterday, but some said that
over 40 people were killed. Others claimed they were over 70, while others said
over 100 people were killed by soldiers,” he said.
Speaking on the violence in
Maiduguri and series of killings within the week, another resident of Gwange,
who did not want his name in print, told Saturday Tribune that as of the last
count, more than 60 people had been arrested in their area by the JTF in a
search operation at Gwange, Zannari ward and Budun area of the metropolis.
“This is aside other arrests in
some areas like Suleimanti. Nobody can actually say precisesly, but we are
basing our assumption on what victims’ parents and other residents are saying.
We were also told that most of those people arrested were alleged to have been
killed by the JTF, but I cannot say that I saw the bodies of these people,” he
said.
The spokesman of the JTF, Lt.-Col.
Sagir Musa, confirmed to Saturday Tribune on phone the killing of Major-General
Mamman Shuwa.
Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, who later sent
the confirmation of General Shuwa’s death via e-mail, said that at about 12
noon on Friday, the General was with some guests in his house at Gwange 1 area
of Maiduguri metropolis, when four men, initially thought to be his visitors
and guests for the Juma’t prayers, entered.
According to him, the gunmen opened
fire on the General and his guests.
“One of the guests died on the spot
while the General died on the way to the University of Maiduguri Teaching
Hospital,” he said.
The statement added: “the JTF troops
located in the area immediately cordoned off the area and search for the
assailants is ongoing to apprehend the terrorists.”
While urging citizens to come forth
with information that could assist the security agencies to apprehend the
terrorists, the statement also said that the terrorists that carried out the
killing of the late General would be brought to book.