“I was left with no option but to flee to Cameroon,” said Abdulrahman Abubakar, the district head of Kirawa, after Boko Haram torched his palace.
Abdulrahman Abubakar, district head of Kirawa in Gwoza Local Government, has revealed why he fled Nigeria for Cameroon after Boko Haram fighters invaded his community earlier in the week.
The insurgents killed two people and set Abubakar’s palace ablaze, prompting residents to flee. “I was left with no option but to flee to Cameroon,” he told Reuters, adding that while some boarded trucks across the border, others ran toward Maiduguri.
Boko Haram later released a video showing its fighters torching a barracks during the attack. Reuters reported that more than 5,000 people have fled Gwoza into Cameroon in recent days.
Governor Babagana Zulum confirmed that hunters and Civilian JTF members had been deployed to secure affected towns. He criticised the withdrawal of security forces. “Unfortunately, the insurgents came on Wednesday and vandalised everything we worked so hard to rebuild,” Zulum said, lamenting the destruction of homes, vehicles, and equipment.