By Obi Nwakanma
On Wednesday, terrorists operating in Shiroro, Niger State,
massacred numerous people, including about 42 Nigerian soldiers and policemen,
and an unknown, unaccountable number of civilians at a mining site. Among those
missing, according to certain media reports, are some Chinese. Just for
context, the areas around the Shiroro Dam are where ISWAP fighters months ago
mounted their flag, claiming them as their territory.
*Buhari
The story of this attack seems to have very plainly justified their assertion of sovereign control over that part of Niger State, or any other part of Nigeria, where security reports indicate, to all intents and purposes, that the Nigerian authorities seem to have lost control.
According to media reports, these attackers came heavily armed and started shooting in the Ajata-Aboki area where the mines are located. What they are mining with the Chinese, nobody knows. But the soldiers in the nearby town of Erena, not far from the scene of the massacre, were alerted, and deployed. They fell into an ambush. In the firefight, about 32 soldiers were said to have lost their lives. Wrap your heads around this figure, dear reader, and it will slowly sink in: that what was destroyed is an entire battalion! How did this happen?
