Attacks in the Baga-Kawa area of Nigeria’s insurgency-ravaged northeast on December 26 caused more than 6,357 people to flee east into Chad and some 20,000 others to flee to safety within Nigeria, according to a report published on Friday by a UN-led group of aid agencies in Chad.
The report said armed groups have killed more than 100 Nigerian soldiers and captured an “a huge stock of weapons” in clashes in the northeast since December 26.
“Raids against the Nigerian Army have killed more than 100 Nigerian soldiers. According to the information available, the armed groups captured a huge stock of weapons,” said the report by the Global Protection Cluster in Chad, a group of aid agencies led by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Attacks by armed groups, mostly Islamic State-allied faction of Boko Haram, had intensified over the past few weeks, forcing people to flee to safety in other parts of Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, said the report, dated January 17.
Edward Kallon, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, said on Friday that repeated attacks were “severely affecting” aid delivery to the 76,000 internally displaced people living in Rann, a town in Kala-Balge Local Government Area of Borno State where insurgents killed at least 10 people and injured many in a night attack on Monday.
Coming barely four weeks ahead of the next general elections, the report brings security to the front-burner of campaign issues that the country’s presidential candidates should be discussing.
Nigerians will go to the polls February 16 to elect a president for the next four years. Many believe it is two-horse race between Muhammadu Buhari, incumbent president and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, who is seeking re-election for a second term, and Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and candidate of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party.
The two candidates, alongside presidential candidates of other political parties, are expected to participate in a debate on Saturday where they will outline their plans and programmes to Nigerians if elected. Pundits believe that security will feature prominently at the debate, alongside issues like economy and infrastructure.
Boko Haram has killed about 30,000 people and forced about 2 million people to flee their homes since the insurgency began in 2009, according to reports.
