Suicide bomber killed, another arrested in Maiduguri

An attempt by two suicide bombers to wreck havoc a day after Christmas has been thwarted as one of the suspects was killed and the other arrested by security personnel.

While emergency workers have evacuated the remains of the female bomber, Nigerian soldiers took the other away for interrogations.  S
Spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), North-East with an office in Maiduguri, Abdulkadir Ibrahim confirmed the incident saying that “emegency workers were immediately drafted to the scene at Kasuwar Shanu, a market in Maiduguri where cattle and other domestic animals are sold.”
Meanwhile, Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has described the outgoing year as one that witnessed a major breakthrough in the  fight against the Boko Haram insurgence.
The governor, who said there was no Christmas and New Year gift to the people of Borno State better than the fall of the Sambisa Forest which served as headquarters of the Boko Haram fighters.
Shettima spoke at the official re-opening of Maiduguri-Gubio- Kareto-Damasak and Maiduguri -Monguno-Baga roads  leading to the northern part of Borno State
During the ceremony attended by the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, the governor also described  the year as his best in the last five years, since he assumed the mantle of leadership.
His words: “I would want to start by declaring that since I became the governor of Borno State in the past five years, this is the best Christmas season I have witnessed.”
He added: ‘’ this is the best December I have witnessed and the year, 2016 is my best year so far, as governor of Borno State. 2016 is for me, Nigeria’s year of victory and Borno’s year of Hope and Resurrection. It is in this 2016 that we began to have access to major towns like Gwoza, Bama, Dikwa, Monguno and Damasak following their liberation by our gallant armed forces.
“It is in the year 2016 that major highways began to be re-opened. It is in the year, 2016 that we accelerated our major reconstruction of liberated communities; it is in the year 2016 that IDPS began to return to communities; it is in the year 2016 that we recovered some of our daughters abducted at Government Secondary School, Chibok in 2014; and fellow Nigerians, it is in the year 2016, that the Federal Republic of Nigeria established it’s supremacy over the Sambisa headquarters of the Boko Haram.
“For government and the good people of Borno State, there is no better Christmas and New Year gift that is more precious than the conquering of Sambisa Forest by our sufficient military,” Shettima said.
He paid glowing tributes to President Muhammadu Buhari, service chiefs, officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces for their different roles in the fight against insurgency.
“Many persons made sacrifices, including giving up their lives for us to have peace and for these roads we are about re-opening, to be freed from the control of insurgents” Shettima noted.
Buratai,  who also  spoke during the ceremony,  cautioned his men  against extortion of motorists who would ply the road.
He also advised against inducement of soldiers, maintaining that troops are well taken care of by the Army Command.