Gunmen kill NURTW boss, Islamic clerics in Borno

THREE suspected Boko Haram gunmen yesterday in an unmarked black Mercedes Benz car shot and killed the Borno State Chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Ibrahim Dudu Gobe, wounding his son in the thigh and arm at his Mairi Kuwait ward residence of Maiduguri, the state capital.

The gunmen trailed Gobe, leader of the NURTW, Bama Road Motor Park, right from the community mosque to his house in the vehicle, before firing several shots into his head and chest with the Kalashnikov rifle hidden in under their flowing traditional gowns.

The wounded child, it was learnt, had already been admitted at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) and was responding to treatment.

Confirming yesterday’s assassination at the Maiduguri Police Headquarters, the Borno State Police Commissioner, Mohammed Abubakar, while speaking with The Guardian, disclosed that three suspected members of the outlawed Islamist sect known as the Boko Haram, killed Gobe at about 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday.

He said at about 9.00 p.m., the police also received a distress call from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Gwange, reporting that the feared Islamists sect members had launched an attack on the residence of Mallam Gobe, killing him along with his son who sustained bullet wounds in his arms and thighs.

Also, five suspected Boko Haram gunmen riding two separate motorcycles on Monday night in Maiduguri shot and killed two Islamic clerics, Sheikh Goni Tijjani and Mallam Alhaji Abur, at their respective residences in Mairi and Bulabulin wards of the state capital.

While alive, Sheikh Tijjani was close to the state governor’s father, Galadima Modu Sheriff while Abur was a critic of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

Three assailants attacked Abur’s residence and shot him in the head and chest at about 8.35 p.m. in Bulabulin.

An eyewitness told The Guardian: “Two gunmen on a motorcycle began trailing Sheikh Goni at about 7.00 p.m. to his residence, after performing his evening prayers in the community mosque and fired several shots into his head and chest with a Kalashnikov rifle hidden under their traditional flowing gowns”.

After slaying the cleric, his attackers sped off on motorcycle towards the neighbouring wards of London Chiki and Costain.

The eyewitness said passers-by at Goni’s residence and other people that accompanied the cleric to the mosque took to their heels, as the gunmen fired severally into the air to scare the people around before fleeing on the motorcycle.

Confirming the killings, Borno State Police Commissioner, Mohammed Abubakar, said: “It is true that two clerics, Sheikh Goni and Abur of Mairi and Bulabulin wards were shot and killed by suspected members of the outlawed Islamic sect riding on two separate motorcycles with Kalashnikov rifles hidden under their traditional gowns.

“The divisional police officers in Gwange and Bulabulin confirmed to us that the two clerics were attacked at about 7.00 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. of the same evening on Monday before they fled to the neighbouring wards of Costain and London Chiki”.

Abubakar added that four other persons were hit by stray bullets in the incidents and that they had been admitted at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital for treatment.

Goni and Abur have been buried according to Islamic rites at the Gwange Central Cemetery.

To check the incessant attacks and killings, the police, according to Abubakar, have restricted the movements of all commercial motorcycles and taxis between 6.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. daily, stating that most of the serial attacks and killings in the metropolis were carried out on motorcycles between the hours of 6.00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m.