UPDATE: ISIS Claims Attack On Governor Shettima Of Borno, Killed 42 People In His Convoy

Published: February 14, 2019

Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, who was headed to a rally in northeastern Nigeria ahead of Saturday’s presidential election.

According to Reuters, ISWAP said it killed 42 people in the Governor Shettima‘s convoy on Tuesday evening when he was returning from a campaign outing near Dikwa. Some of those killed may have been beheaded, a military source told Reuters

We gathered that the insurgents ambushed the convoy, split it into two and attacked the one left at the rear behind.

Another source told AFP that two soldiers and two civilians were killed and an unspecified number of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) members were kidnapped. The source said:

“The bus they were travelling in got stuck in the sand while the driver was trying to manoeuvre and turn back towards Dikwa.”
“All the people in the bus were rounded up and taken into the bush. Another truck belonging to CJTF, which also got stuck, was taken away but the occupants were able to flee.”

Tomasz Rolbiecki, a Polish journalist who covers activities of Islamic and Boko Haram insurgency said the attackers claimed only “2 people and 4 vehicles” were captured.

Neither Governor Kashim Shettima, who is completing his second term in office and now campaign for a seat in the Nigerian Senate and the military have commented on the attack.

But Shettima’s deputy Usman Durkwa told newsmen on Wednesday that he heard the rumours of the attack. He said he was yet to confirm if it was true. Durkwa said:

“I am hearing it as a rumour,”
“I am yet to get a report on the attack of the governor’s convoy. They are yet to return from a campaign rally in Mafa, Dikwa and Gamboru, a border town with Cameroon.”

The spokesman for 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, Col. Ado Isa, said military formations around the affected area were yet to send in a report of the incident.