Soldiers gunned down as Boko Haram terrorists raid military checkpoint in Niger

Amid the heightened tension in Abuja over possible terrorist attacks, many Nigerian soldiers were reportedly killed on the night of Thursday, July 28, 2022, when Boko Haram terrorists attacked a military checkpoint in Niger State.

According to Daily Trust, the terrorists arrived at the military checkpoint some minutes after 7 pm and opened fire immediately.

A source, who spoke to the newspaper on the incident said, “They took control of the area for about 30 minutes and kept on shooting before heading towards Kaduna axis of the expressway.”

About 20 minutes after the terrorists left, a patrol team of policemen and soldiers from Zuma barracks arrived at the place.

FCT residents are worried: The recent terrorist attacks in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been a serious cause of security concern for Abuja residents.

Recall that on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, terrorists attacked Kuje prison and freed many inmates including Boko Haram prisoners.

Again, on Sunday, July 24, 2022, a captain and two soldiers attached to the Presidential Guards Brigade were killed.

Consequently, the fear of terrorist attacks forced the FCTA authorities and the Ministry of Education to shut down schools in the nation’s capital.

The terrorists had also threatened to abduct President Muhammadu Buhari.

FG seeks Nigerians' support: Speaking after a security meeting with the president on Thursday, July 28, 2022, Babagana Monguno, the National Security Adviser, said Nigeria is in a “very difficult situation”.

Monguno said the fight against terrorism should not be confined to only the security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies.

He said, “Today’s meeting was convened by the President, as a continuation of the meeting that took place last week to discuss the technical issues and the tasks that were given to the various security agencies. The meeting deliberated on all those issues, after the brief by the National Security Adviser, which is usually the procedure.

Again, council deemed it necessary to inform the general public, that fighting this type of asymmetric conflict is a collective effort. It’s not something that should be confined to only the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

“When we keep saying whole of society approach, whole of government approach, to get a whole of nation approach, what it means is that everybody has to partake in this enterprise.

The truth is that no country can ever overcome the difficulties of an asymmetric conflict by virtue of the fact that the enemy of the state is embedded within the population within the wider society. It is true that the local people are averse, they’re scared, they’re worried and there’s no confidence. That is understandable. But without their support, without the cooperation in terms of giving information, it makes it very hard for the operational elements.

The National Security Adviser said the recent killing of the Presidential Guard Brigade by terrorists might have been averted if there had been a collective effort by way of just snippets of information.