Following reports that Chadian troops are pulling off from the fight against Boko Haram insurgents and a local report of Nigerian troops also leaving the vicinity, residents of Gajiganna in Borno State are evacuating the axis for fear of imminent attacks by the insurgents.
AFP reports that Chad has ended a months-long mission fighting Boko Haram in neighbouring Nigeria and withdrawn its 1, 200- military personnel strong force across their common border.
Obinwannem gathered that spokesman Colonel Azem Bermandoa had told AFP that their troops who went to aid Nigerian soldiers months ago will be returning home, stressing further that the soldiers were done with their mission. He did not specify if they might be replaced following Friday’s pullout which saw them “return to their sector at Lake Chad.”
However, Chad’s general chief of staff General Tahir Erda Tahiro said if countries in the region which have contributed to a multinational anti-jihadists force were in agreement, more troops would likely be sent amid fears of a security vacuum the military withdrawal has created amongst the locals.
The Chad troops, brought out in pick-up trucks and tank transporters, crossed the bridge back to their home capital of N’djamena via the Cameroon border town of Kousseri under the curious gaze of locals. The Chadian soldiers had a garrison there as well as at nearby Monguno, close to Lake Chad itself.
An anti-jihadist militia source told Newsmen, “From what the Chadian soldiers told us their withdrawal is as a result of the expiration of their mandate which was for nine months.”
The source added that “as soon as they left most residents of Gajiganna fled to Maiduguri for fear of attacks by the terrorists. They left because Nigerian troops working alongside the Chadians also left their base soon after the Chadians had moved out.”
One Gajiganna resident who fled said, “I left Gajiganna and moved to Maiduguri on Wednesday when I realized that Nigerian soldiers had left their base soon after the withdrawal of Chadian soldiers”
He added that he had left with around 300 other people on learning of the troop pullback as people felt exposed and unprotected from Boko Haram attacks.”
Tahiro had earlier stated that “if the states around Lake Chad agree on a new mission there will surely be another contingent redeployed on the ground.”
Nwada Ugochinyere Onyechere reporting, Obinwannem News
