Boko Haram: 27 police officers still missing in Gwoza — DCP Ojukwu

Police authorities, yesterday, disclosed that 27 police officers are still missing, almost one week after Boko Haram insurgents attacked Police Academy in Gwoza, abducting 35 of them.

Nigerian Police

In a statement by the Force Public Relations officer, DCP Emmanuel Ojukwu, the Police Command confirmed that eight of the officers have so far been rescued and returned to safe Police locations.

Ojukwu noted that “27 are still missing. We are looking forward to more returning in the next few days. Search and rescue efforts are continuing. Police will reclaim her facilities.”

It will be recalled that the Defence Headquarters had earlier declared that military operations to secure Gwoza town seized by the insurgents earlier this month were on-going.

This came as Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau proclaimed Islamic caliphate in the town, which he said, was now firmly in the grip of the sect.

Responding to the claim by the sect leader that Gwoza town seized by the insurgents earlier this month has been placed under an Islamic caliphate, the military authorities said, “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state is still intact.”

The Boko Haram leader had in a new video claimed that he has created an Islamic caliphate in Gwoza.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has described as an unprecedented national embarrassment the increasing seizure of Nigerian towns by the terrorist group, Boko Haram and the reported fleeing of 480 Nigerian soldiers to Cameroon during an attack on a military base in Gamboru-Ngala on Monday.

In a statement issued in Lagos, Tuesday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party called on President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently address Nigerians on the worsening security situation in the northern part of the country that has allowed Boko Haram to proclaim its rule over a part of the nation’s territory.

It said in the face of the biggest threat to Nigeria’s unity and territorial integrity since the country’s civil war, President Jonathan must also put partisanship aside and rally the nation against Boko Haram, which by all indications seems to be getting bolder and stronger, to such an extent that the group is now hoisting its flag over parts of the nation’s territory.

APC also restated its call for an urgent national stakeholders’ conference on security that will cut across party lines to help fashion a solution to what has now become a clear and present danger to the survival of Nigeria, while pledging its unalloyed support for any sincere effort by the Federal Government to end the insurgency as quickly as possible.

As an immediate first step, the party calls on President Jonathan to immediately halt the illegal electioneering campaign by his Ministers, other appointees and supporters, saying Nigeria must survive as a nation before any party or individual can rule over it.