President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to sympathise with the Borno state government and its victims of Boko Haram attack that took much life along Maiduguri-Damaturu road on Sunday night.
President Buhari left Abuja for Addis Ababa to attend a 33rd Ordinary session of the head of government of the African Union (AU) on Friday.
According to the tweet by his Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President is “paying a sympathy visit to the government and people of Borno state following the recent attack unleashed by the Boko Haram insurgents that left scores of travellers dead in Auno, a town near Maiduguri.
While in Maiduguri, Buhari reassured the Borno people the determination of his administration is ending the devilish activities of the insurgents, saying he will ensure they do not hold Nigeria to ransom.
The statement partly reads, “The commitment of this administration to protect the lives of Nigerians will not be derailed by the cowardly and indiscriminate violence against innocent people by Boko Haram terrorists,’’ he said while reacting to recent attacks in Maiduguri.
Buhari condoles with the government and people of Borno state, assuring the government he will do everything possible to safeguard lives and properties of Borno state.
The President added our military will continue to receive hardware and intelligence to so that the current security challenge will be reduced to the barest minimum, assuring that the remnant of the insurgents will be degraded soon.
Our gallant security men will not relent until they crush them in totality, Buhari stressed.
Boko Haram had on Sunday night killed 30 passengers and raised down about 18 trucks loaded with goods worth millions of Naira who were locked out of Maiduguri by the military at 4:45 pm and were compelled to spend the night at Auno Village, a town about 20km into Maiduguri.
An eye witness said the terrorists, suspected to be loyal to Abubakar Shekau, also abducted 22 people and burnt 18 vehicles and properties worth millions of naira.
Aside attacking commuters, the insurgents also rose down shops belonging to villagers who were sleeping when the insurgents creep into the village while travellers were also asleep.