The effort by Boko Haram insurgents to install a leader, or Amir, in Maiha town of Adamawa State following its annexation of the town has suffered setback as about 75 members of the sect were allegedly killed by a combined force of hunters and a local vigilante group who subsequently liberated the town.
Maiha local government had fallen into the hands of the insurgents on Monday after they launched an offensive which claimed the lives of several soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel while others fled.
Afterwards, local hunters and vigilante group mobilized themselves and took the war to the insurgents who were already basking in their easy victory.
The local hunters and vigilante group were reported to have overwhelmed the insurgents as they confronted the militants in their hundreds, killing dozens of the Islamists and recapturing the town. They also vowed to repel any further attacks on their town.
A Maiha resident, Mallam Sani Pella, said that before the attack on the insurgents, he saw about 10 truckloads of the local fighters heading towards Maiha.
Another resident of the area, who affirmed that about 75 insurgents were killed in the battle, said there is no member of the Boko Haram sect anywhere in Maiha local government as they had all retreated to Mubi following the crushing defeat they suffered.
Another resident of Maiha told reporters in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, that the remaining residents who were trapped when the insurgents captured the town, have now started fleeing in their numbers in fear of reprisal by the insurgents.
Meanwhile, Islamic leaders in Adamawa State have distanced the religion from violence, saying that the reign of terror being perpetrated by the insurgents is un-Islamic as the aim of the religion is to foster peace and harmony among people.
The Muslim leaders, who said the violence being perpetrated by the insurgent group was not in any way connected to Islam, counselled the insurgents to stop attributing their wicked activities to Islam.
The Muslim leaders made this clarification during an interactive session with a team of officials of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) led by its Mission Director, Mike Harvey.
Spokesman of the Muslim Ummah, Uztaz Dauda Muhammad Bello, said the activities of Boko Haram sect were at variance with the teachings of Islam and that Boko Haram’s association of Islam with violence was the height of deception.
The cleric dismissed the position of the insurgents that killing of non-Muslims was legal and insisted that Islam did not in any way condone mass killing, looting, destruction of property and abduction of innocent girls, saying that anybody who embraces these atrocities is a mere criminal and should be treated as such.
According to him, “Islam means a religion of peace and is concerned about promotion of peace among the Muslim Ummah and among the non-Muslims.”
He explained that there is no compulsion in the practice of Islam as being propagated by the Boko Haram insurgents, adding that the prophet, during his time, never forced anyone to become a Muslim.
In his submission, the public relations officer of Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI), Adamawa State chapter, Uztaz Saidu Bobboi, also condemned the sect’s activities as not being in tandem with the teachings of the religion.
While delivering his speech, USAID Mission leader Mr Harvey sympathized with Nigerians for the unprovoked violence being perpetrated against them by the Islamist sect.
Harvey’s team, accompanied by the members of the American University of Nigeria community, led by its president, Professor Margee Ensign, later distributed relief materials donated by USAID to some internally displaced persons in the state capital.
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