We ran helter-skelter as heavily armed Boko Haram fighters overwhelmed our military escorts

Tuesday, July 25, 2017 will remain unforgettable for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) and the Nigerian Army, following a deadly Boko Haram  ambush which killed over 30 of their officials.




The NNPC staff and geologists / technologists from the Geology Department of UNIMAID were returning from the Lake Chad Basin where they had gone to explore for oil when they fell into the ambush.

They were being escorted by the Nigerian Army and Civilian Joint Task Force,  JTF, personnel.

Although the military initially claimed that one army officer and eight soldiers were killed in the ambush and all the NNPC officials rescued, a top security official involved in the operation to  rescue the victims told Sunday Vanguard that it was difficult to give the exact number of casualty as some of the victims, travelling in a convoy of about 10 vehicles, were set ablaze and burnt beyond recognition.

Bornoyesu village, where the incident happened, is north west of Magumeri Local Government Area of Borno State. It shares borders with Jilli village in Gubio Local Government Area and some communities  in neighboring Yobe State.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that Bornoyesu is a stronghold of Boko Haram and that due to the volatile environment, even the military, aware of that fact, hardly operates in the axis. In fact, as fertile as land is said to be in Borneyesu, farmers, hunters and firewood fetchers in nearly communities, a resident said, do not  attempt to reach Bornoyesu.

Unconfirmed reports, however, put the number of soldiers killed in the attack at 18 while 15 members of the Civilian JTF lost their lives.

The Vice Chancellor of UNIMAID, Professor Ibrahim Njodi, said five  members of staff of the institution died, listing them to include two geologists, two technologists and a driver.

Reports said the deceased driver was the VC’s brother, Idris Abubakar Njodi.

The other deceased university staff were identified to include Dr Manager N. Uba, Dr Joseph V. Miletus and Dr N.Y. Solomon.

Njodi also said four other staff members of UNIMAID involved in the attack were missing.

The missing staff, according to him were two lecturers, one technologist and a driver.

The missing persons were identified as Dr Solomon Jojori, Mallam Yusuf Ibrahim and Alhaji Kalo Mohammed. The trio were believed to be in the picture sent to some media houses at the weekend by Boko Haram as having been abducted during the Tuesday attack. Some UNIMAI staff claimed to have recognised the three missing persons in the picture.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), UNIMAID Chapter, Dani Mamman, said the university had received the corpses of four of the slain staff, saying two of them were lecturers.

There has been no official statement from the NNPC on the casualty figure of its staff although reports put it at four.

Four  NNPC  officials initially scheduled to be in the oil exploration mission were also said to have missed the trip.

A  source told Sunday Vanguard that the schedule changed at the last minute to put them in other official assignments in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.