EXCLUSIVE: How Boko Haram killed civil defence officials in Niger

On 19 November, a five-vehicle convoy comprising 20 Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officers from Kaduna Command was escorting a mining syndicate, including two Chinese nationals, when they were ambushed by Boko Haram terrorists near the Dagwachi-Falali axis in Niger State.

Two NSCDC officers were killed in the attack, while a Chinese miner identified as Liu sustained gunshot wounds, sources with direct knowledge of the incident told PREMIUM TIMES.

Two other NSCDC officers from the convoy — Aminu Shehu and Bello Tanimu — also sustained injuries during a gun duel with the assailants.

The incident also claimed the lives of two NSCDC officers from another team. According to sources familiar with the matter, this team comprised 11 convoys from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command.

The FCT team was deployed to inspect the threatened Shiroro power transmission line, according to a statement released by NSCDC spokesperson Babawale Afolabi.

Kaduna, FCT NSCDC teams meet

The mining syndicate and their Kaduna NSCDC escorts had gone into the forest to survey a mining site in a village straddling Niger and Kaduna States.

“On their way back, they met the FCT [NSCDC] officers who asked them for directions to the Shiroro power station,” a source briefed by one of the officers who survived the attack told our reporter, adding that the FCT officers had missed their way and the Kaduna team with an understanding of the terrain chose to lead them through.

“Instead of them [FCT team] taking Kurebe road straight, they followed Dagwachi road,” the source who asked not to be named for possible retribution by security agencies explained. He added that the Kaduna team, thereafter, chose to lead them to Kurebe Road.

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“A van from the Kaduna team’s convoy led them while others followed,” he continued. “But before getting to Dagwachi to take the road to Kurebe, the Boko Haram people struck.”

Another source, a traditional leader from the area where the officers were ambushed, told PREMIUM TIMES that a Boko Haram fighter riding a motorcycle sighted the NSCDC teams and abandoned his motorcycle before running into the bush to call his colleagues.

“We heard that the boy went to tell his commanders that security operatives are coming for them,” the traditional leader said.

Boko Haram sent envoy to NSCDC officers

Lurking around a river along the road the NSCDC teams were heading, the Boko Haram fighters sent a villager to the officers, accusing them of stealing the motorcycle that was abandoned by their member who had spotted the officers.

“The villager waved down the leading NSCDC van and delivered the terrorists’ message to the officers,” the traditional leader continued. “The villager told the officers that the terrorists threatened to attack them if the missing motorcycle was not handed to them.”

According to our source, who an NSCDC officer briefed, the commander of the FCT team ordered everyone to disembark from their vehicle and trek as they approached the river where the terrorists claimed to be awaiting them.

Fire from the mountains

“While trying to navigate the place, the terrorists started firing from a hilltop,” said the source. “The officers also fired back. But at a point, the commander ordered a ceasefire and instructed everyone to lie down.”

“Shortly after, the terrorists started descending from the hilltop,” the source continued. “The commander then ordered the officers to fire. I learnt that more than 20 terrorists were killed on the spot.”

The source added that four officers — two each from Kaduna and FCT commands — were also killed during the gunfire.

“Six officers and a Chinese man were injured in the process,” he said, adding the NSCDC teams manoeuvred their way out of the scene, “leaving four vehicles behind.”

As seen in a video and pictures obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the vehicles were burnt to ashes.

The source added that more than 100 soldiers of the Nigerian Army were mobilised to the scene the following day to evacuate the bodies of the slain NSCDC officers.

“But two of the soldiers died when their vehicle hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED),” the source added, adding the soldiers also killed some of the terrorists in retaliation.

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Sources in Udawa, a Kaduna garrison town leading to the scene of the incident, corroborated this. They said the soldiers were angered by the loss of their colleagues and killed about 30 of the terrorists.

“The soldiers’ van blown off by the IED is there with other vehicles burnt by Boko Haram,” a resident of Udawa who is into mining activities said.

Mr Afolabi, the NSCDC spokesperson, stated that 59 terrorists were killed in the incident. According to him, there were 80 NSCDC officers in the convoys.

He clarified that nine officers and 71 operatives from the Commandant General Special Intelligence Squad (CG SIS), the Federal Capital Territory Command, and the Kaduna State Command were involved in the attack.

Mr Afolabi explained that the operatives were deployed to protect national assets following the repeated attacks on power infrastructure by terrorists.

The agency’s spokesperson claimed that the team encountered stranded [Chinese] expatriates in Dagwachi village, Niger State, who were returning from a mining site and sought protection through the Farin-Kasa route in Kaduna.

“Unbeknownst to them, over 200 armed Boko Haram insurgents had laid an ambush at the Farin-Kasa hilltop, targeting the convoy as part of a revenge mission against security forces,” Mr Afolabi said, claiming the NSCDC officers killed more than 50 of the terrorists.