Stop giving Boko Haram money, JTF warns Maiduguri residents

Traders in Maiduguri pay the Boko Haram for arms seized by the JTF.

The Joint Task Force in Maiduguri, Wednesday, warned residents of the city, to refrain from paying money to the militant sect, Boko Haram, for illegal arms recovered by JTF.

The JTF spokesperson, Sagir Musa, in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES said “the Task Force recently conducted a search operation in Monday Market and recovered some arms and ammunition. A day after the operation, some members of Boko Haram went to the market and made them to pay compensation for the arms and ammunition recovered by the JTF.”

Mr. Musa said that in a similar operation by the Task Force in Gamboru market where a large quantity of ammunition was recovered, the traders were made to pay compensation, which they did without reporting to the JTF.

Mr. Musa admonished residents of Maiduguri, saying they should “desist from such unpatriotic acts as both the giver and receiver of such monies would be treated as terrorists and be seriously dealt with.”

The JTF also called on the residents of the city to disregard leaflets allegedly being circulated by Boko Haram in the city “threatening and warning people not to pass information to the JTF on their hideouts, modus operandi and any other information about the sect members’ activities”.

In the statement, the inter agency security outfit said it is determined “to ensure the maintenance of law, order and safety of lives and property of all law abiding citizens in Borno State.”