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ABUJA. — Nigeria’s military said yesterday that they had detained more than 460 people travelling from the country’s north to the south, reportedly on suspicion of being Boko Haram members.Army spokesman Brigadier General Olajide Laleye said 462 people, including eight women, were held in southern Abia state on Monday as they headed on 36 buses from northern states such as Bauchi and Jigawa to Port Harcourt.
“It is after investigation that their status will be known,” he added in a text message to AFP.
Nigerian newspapers quoted southern politicians as linking the arrests to Boko Haram, which has been waging an increasingly deadly five-year insurgency in the north and claimed thousands of lives.
Nigeria, which is Africa’s biggest oil producer and leading economy is split almost evenly between a Muslim-majority north and predominantly Christian south.
Large groups of northerners have previously been held in the south on suspicion of belonging to Boko Haram, raising concerns among Muslim leaders of religious “profiling”.
In January, around 300 traders from the north were held in southern Rivers state. Most were later released. Some 84 apprentices were also sent back to Katsina state during a training course in Imo, southeast Nigeria.
In 2012, the police in southeastern Enugu state arrested 25 hunters from north-western Zamfara state on an annual hunting expedition to the forests, holding them for a month. They were also suspected of Boko Haram links.
Meanwhile, Nigerian vigilantes said yesterday they had killed eight suspected Boko Haram militants who attacked a village near Chibok, where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped in April.
Adamsi Tarsaid the suspected militants had attacked a village about 15 kilometres from Chibok in volatile north-eastern Nigeria, burning several homes and looting food.
As the assailants tried to flee, vigilante members opened fire on them, killing eight. One was arrested and the rest fled, said Tar, the local leader of the vigilante group.
“The gunmen fired shots indiscriminately because they had no idea where the shooting was coming from. When they realised their response was futile they retreated,” he said.
“Several homes and buildings in the village, including our office, were burnt along with our uniforms.”
Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 girls from the remote town of Chibok on April 14, leading to global outrage. A total of 219 are still missing. — AFP.
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