…Appoints Ameer who now sits on the Emir’s throne
“Sincerely speaking, my people, including the traders and other businessmen and women, have been prevented from travelling to Maiduguri to buy industrial and household goods for sale to customers in my chiefdom with an estimated population of 655, 000 in 11 wards and other border communities with Cameroon.
Besides that, there is no blessed day the Boko Haram gunmen will not kill 7 to 15 residents on these three roads that had already been blocked and taken over by insurgents. My people have been prevented from going to work on their farmlands last year; and even the limited cultivated farmlands with harvests, including my 350-hectre farmlands and orchards at Jaje village, were seized by the insurgents last October… Therefore, I am pleading, and will continue to beg the Military, Police and other security agencies in the state to take emergency action on the three blocked and taken-over roads in Gwoza council area. If my people flee to Cameroon, leaving me alone in this palace, who will I rule, as their traditional and religious leader in this chiefdom?”
Those were the words of the late Emir of Gwoza, Alhaji Idris Timta, in April, this year, in his “Save Our Soul” SOS, letter to the Federal Government and all the security agencies in Borno State.
But by May this year, about one month after crying out, the late emir was sent to his grave, by the same people-Boko Haram, he had cried to security agencies, to save his people from.
And even after his death, the insurgents appear not done yet with the town, surrounded by several hills. At the last count, the town, Saturday Sun’s investigations reveal, has been seized by the insurgents, with the late emir’s son, who is now the new emir, fleeing to safety.
Before the emir’s date with the insurgents in May this year, one of his sons, who was the District Head of Takumbari, in Gwoza Council area of the state, was also killed last year by the insurgents.
To show their current control over the town, the insurgents have appointed a spiritual leader, known as Ameer, for the town. The Ameer, who now sits on the emir’s throne, and holds court regularly, right inside the palace, Saturday Sun’s investigations further reveal, is a native of Gwoza.
Gwoza, for whatever reason, Saturday Sun recalls, has always been a centre of attraction for the insurgents, since 2004, when they first invaded Borno State, then on the auspices of the  “Nigerian Taliban.”
The group first struck in Yobe State in December 2003, precisely December 22, a day after, according to the then governor, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, they had promised to leave the state. The group equally struck again on December 31 2003, in Yobe State, while on their way to Borno State on a New Year day, when they engaged in a gun duel with military personnel drafted to the border town between Borno and Yobe states, a situation that left two of the members dead.
The group’s first strike in Borno State, Saturday Sun further recalls, was recorded on Tuesday, September 21, 2004, when the group invaded Bama and Gwoza towns, in Borno State, where the Area Commander-in-Charge of Bama, Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Ismail Sirajo, was brutally murdered.
But after about four days of gun battle between them and a combined team of Army and mobile policemen then, the group was subdued, losing about 40 of its members in the process.
The operation, carried out during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s second term in office, was supervised at the time by the current chairman of the Police Service Commission, retired IGP Mike Okiro, as DIG, in charge of  Operations, under the then IGP Tafa Balogun.
Why is it then difficult for the Army to rout the insurgents from Gwoza, considering the fact that the late emir had raised the alarm on the group’s occupation of parts of his territory before his death?
Although, the Army is yet to issue any statement since the insurgents occupied major parts of Gwoza formally, about two weeks ago, a highly placed personality from the area told Saturday Sun: “We are at a loss, as to what is happening. No one can really say, we can only continue to guess.”
“Remember that the governor once came up to speak on the need to equip and motivate our soldiers so that they can confront these criminals headon. His call was misconstrued. But recent events and statements from both the Presidency and the Army have further vindicated the governor.
“As we speak, if you are travelling on that road, you can hardly notice the difference between our Army and Boko Haram militants. They dress in military uniform, using the same vehicles as our military. Until probably when you come face-to-face with them, that is when you know these chaps are in borrowed uniform.
“I read you people writing that the military has re-taken Damboa from the insurgents. Let the truth be told, the military did not re-take anything. Those guys (insurgents) had a field day, in Damboa, and when they were done, they left on their own volition.
“It is the same group which left Damboa, which has taken over our town (Gwoza). As I speak, majority of our people, have run to Adamawa State. We are just praying to God that one day, they will leave Gwoza too, because our military appears helpless. And only God knows the reason,” the source added.
Speaking on the development, after accompanying Governor Kashim Shettima, to Adamawa and Gombe states, to visit the displaced persons, Senator Ali Ndume, who is from Gwoza, and who represents Borno South Senatorial District, at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, disclosed in Yola last Wednesday that Gwoza was under “siege.”
He further said it was “sad that we have to wait till now that people are being killed for government to take action. We know that for long, the road to Gwoza from Maiduguri had been a no-go area even for the soldiers.
“It is a known fact that soldiers of the Nigerian Army have been overstretched in both human and material capacity. The Federal Government has to rise to the occasion to give these soldiers the needed support to work. Two major Federal Government bridges leading to Gwoza have been bombed and no one seemed concerned about this.
“Our hope is not lost because we kept praying that the insurgency will soon come to an end. This is not the first time in history of the nation that insurgency attack is happening. It had happened before, only that the way Nigeria is handling it is quite different.
“We are in Madagali, Gulak, Mubi and other villages in the borders of Borno and Adamawa to sympathise with, and console our people over the loss of their beloved ones and properties. We will be visiting Biu and Gombe to meet with the other displaced persons there.
“We have learnt from our mistakes of handling the insurgency problem. If the right thing was done, it would not have happened in the first place. Now that it has happened there is no point apportioning blame on any person or group, this is the time to look for solution,” a beleaguered Ndume, said.
As at the time of filing this report, the insurgents were said to have invaded and taken over the Mobile Police Training College, in Gwoza. For a very long time, the college, remained the only one in the country, until that of Ila Oragun, in Osun State, was added to it, under then IGP, Tafa Balogun.
Similarly, they are also said to have taken over Buniyadi town, in Yobe State. But details remained sketchy, as at press time, just as the Army was yet to make any formal statement on the latest developments.