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KANO (Nigeria) — Boko Haram militants shot and injured the soldier son of Nigerian ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo during clashes, an associate of the former head of state told BBC radio yesterday.Lieutenant-Colonel Adeboye Obasanjo was wounded when troops fought the Islamist fighters in the northeastern state of Adamawa, Mohammad Keffi said on the broadcaster’s Hausa-language service.
“I got in touch with . . . Obasanjo and told him that I received this information . . . He told me yes, he was aware of the incident,” Keffi said in an interview.
“He told me his (son’s) team had left Mubi on their way to Michika when they came under fire from Boko Haram. He was shot and injured but he is in a stable condition.”
The younger Obasanjo, an army engineer leading a platoon of army troops, was “getting better” after Monday’s incident, according to Keffi.
The soldier’s father, 77, was elected president in 1999, marking a return to civilian rule after military dictatorship, and held office until 2007. He had previously served as military leader from 1976 to 1979.
Obasanjo has been involved in attempts to end the five-year insurgency. In May, he held exploratory talks to open discussions with the armed Islamic fundamentalists to obtain the release of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in April.
Nigeria’s military has been under increasing pressure to stop Boko Haram advances after the militants took over a number of towns in the northeastern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa.
Meanwhile, Cameroon said on Monday its soldiers had killed “more than 100” Boko Haram fighters during an attempted incursion by the Nigeria-based Islamist insurgents, while across the border thousands continued to flee the group’s advances.
The Cameroonian army dealt “a severe setback” to Boko Haram during clashes in the north of the country on Saturday, government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in a statement read out on state radio.
The statement, which could not be immediately verified, said Boko Haram militants fired two shells on the town of Fotokol in Cameroon’s northern tip, on the border with Nigeria.
“There were no casualties reported on the Cameroonian side,” the statement said.
“Our defence forces responded vigorously with mortar fire aimed at the positions held by units of the Boko Haram terrorist group. The Cameroonian response resulted in over 100 deaths among the aggressors.”
The Boko Haram militants were pushed back towards the Nigerian border town of Gamboru Ngala, separated only by a footbridge from Cameroon, which they seized over a week ago. — AFP.
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