Boko Haram militants are obtaining petrol by force from motorists regularly plying routes that lead to Kusur, Burko, Zurgur, Damokwarwa, Gumsa, Dargo and Dilari villages in the southern part of Gaidam local government area of Yobe State, security and local sources have revealed.
Daily Trust gathered that the militants, who travel freely on banned motorcycles in the area, usually ambush motorists, empty their fuel tanks, and although they offer money for such fuel, motorists usually reject it because of making fuel available to the militants under any guise is an affront on a prevailing warning by the security agents which the motorists avoid at all costs.
One of the motorists who gave his name as Goni, said he was intercepted by a gang of armed militants that collected ten litres of petrol from his car tank and offered him N2, 500 per four litres. “I was on my way to Kusur when the insurgents suddenly appeared on four motorcycles, they were all armed with rifles. I packed and they drew two 4-litre gallon of petrol from my car tank. They offered to pay N2,500 per gallon but I refused to collect the money. One of them threw the money at me and they fled,” he said.
A top security officer, who spoke to Daily Trust in confidence, said they were aware of the situation and measure had been taken to reduce fuel circulation in the area to further starve the insurgents of fuel.
“We made it a rule that no vehicle shall be sold more than 25 litres of petrol in Gaidam. We made a swift operation recently where we discovered the insurgents’ hideout in Kadari bush, killed 15 and recovered arms and 12 motorcycles,” he said
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