Truth be said, Nigerian military is doing a very very fine job here. They have cleared Gombi, Hong, Mararraba, Mubi and the entire route of Boko Haram.
They are now at Uba slugging it out. Vehicles aren’t allowed beyond Gombi. People trek to Hong. The road is quiet. Clearing of hazardous materials like IEDs is going on along Mararraba-Mubi Road before the road is open to users.
Gombi-Garkida road is also cleared. It is safe. I saw many vehicles plying the road. Clearing of Garkida-Biu road may start soon.
The military is now better equipped and more confident. Its newly acquired T72 tank is devastating. Boko Haram bombed it using suicide bombers with a pickup packed with explosives but to no avail. Only scratches. And the beast moved on.
Communities are still riddled with bullets and IEDs. The military is doing a lot of cleaning up. If the military is able to keep the tempo, many more places will be liberated.
Gombi is quiet, half-empty, on curfew today, in the full control of Nigerian armed, police, custom, immigration forces. A camp of vigilantes can also be seen just before the junction to Mubi.
I trekked from Muchalla to Gombi, saw burnt cars, motorcycles and buses of Boko Haram when their advance was checked by the military 10 days ago.
Their last advance was stopped at Muchalla. So many bullet shells, small and big, on the road plus signs of shelling of trees, houses and others. Night curfew started just now at 6pm.
Many residents have returned, although the road from Girei to this point has been nearly empty.
Lassa and Dile exhibited the best use of self-defence doctrine. Unlike other towns that fled on hearing the sound of Boko Haram gunfire, the youths stood their ground and slugged it out with the Boko Haram chaps. Within 30 minutes, they cleared them although a few were able to escape.
Boko Haram is becoming demystified gradually, it seems. There seems to be some change in the composition of the soldiers here. Most of them are 30 and above, truly professionals.
The incident of begging for tips from motorists has also reduced drastically. We just hope they have made adequate safety arrangements for keeping the liberated towns safe.
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