A yet-to-be-identified Boko Haram commander was reportedly arrested in the private residence of a caretaker chairman of one of the area councils in Borno State, a report said on Sunday, January 1, 2016.
“Authorities are suspecting the council chairman is either harbouring or fraternising with the suspected terrorist as he failed to report his presence to security agencies,” the newspaper said.
It quoted residents of 1,000 Housing Estate in Maiduguri, the state capital, where the chairman lives, as disclosing that armed men stormed his house on Saturday, arrested him and his “guest” believed to be a Boko Haram commander.
“They first barricaded everywhere, stormed the house and took them away but I could not go near to know if they recover any arms or not,” one of the residents said.
The paper said that efforts to get confirmation on the arrest were not successful as both the military and the Department of Security Services (DSS) neither responded to calls nor issued official statement on the matter.
President Muhammadu Buhari declared “mission accomplished” in the war against the terrorist group when in the closing weeks of 2016, he declared victory over Boko Haram while announcing the recapture of Sambisa forest by Nigerian troops.
