40 killed in fresh attack

Forty people were killed on Wednesday in a fresh
attack by gunmen on a border community in
Borno State.
The gunmen were said to have arrived at
Gurmushi, Marte Local Government Area and
opened fire on the residents in their houses and
those on their way to the mosque for Subhi, an
early morning Muslim prayer.
Sources in Maiduguri told journalists that the
gunmen believed to be Boko Haram insurgents,
also razed down houses in the village before
fleeing.
One of the sources said, “I counted over 40
corpses littered on the ground, while the village
was razed down completely, most of us ran into
the bush for our safety.”
The source also told the British Broadcasting
Corporation on the telephone that 12 persons
were injured in the siege.
She said that many other residents of the
village fled to a Cameroon settlement for fear of
a repeat attack by the insurgents.
This claim could not however be verified from the
military or police authorities in the state at the
time of filing this report.
A military source told journalists that the incident
had not been reported to the security and military
people in Maiduguri.
However, a United States security expert,
Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, on Wednesday
described Boko Haram as the world’s deadliest
terror group.
Benjamin,who delivered a lecture at the 2nd
International Conference for Democracy and Good
Governance in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said
the sect attained the status after it was observed
that it kills a minimum of seven persons in
each attack.
The former Head, Counter-Terrorism Bureau, US
State Department, delivered a lecture on ‘‘The
Nigeria security challenge and its implication for
internal, Africa, and Trans-Atlantic relations.’’
He stated that despite the Boko Haram status,
Nigeria could not be described as a war-torn
country like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Benjamin said, “By 2012, Boko Haram was the
second most deadly terrorist group in the world
after Afghanistan’s Taliban. Taliban killed more
people than Boko Haram then.
“Currently, Boko Haram is the deadliest terrorist
group, killing at least seven persons per attack.
Boko Haram has already become a major menace
to countries like Cameroon, Niger and Chad.”
Also, the founder of the Centre for Value and
Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi, cautioned that no
administration could accomplish anything without
legitimacy.
Utomi, who delivered a lecture titled ‘‘Nigeria’s
Democracy: Issues and Challenges,’’ maintained
that only democracy could sustain legitimacy.
In his remark, the Rivers State Governor and
Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Mr. Rotimi
Amaechi, pleaded with Nigerians to vote out the
Peoples Democratic Party in 2015.
Explaining that Nigeria was in need of change,
Amaechi said, “Let me ask you this question: Do
you like the way Nigeria is being governed now?
“We have one answer. Vote those people who
have kept us in this condition out. Vote them out;
whether they are from the Niger Delta, or
Southern Delta, whatever Delta.”