Governor Babagana Zulum has directed security operatives to crack down on a notorious Marlian group believed to be terrorising residents in some parts of Maiduguri and Jere within the metropolis.
The Marlian group, which is populated by some youths associated with drug abuse, has gained notoriety for engaging in a wide range of criminal activities, such as extortion, robbery, drug and substance abuse, and acts of terrorism, including the killing of security operatives.
Governor Zulum, on Wednesday in Maiduguri, held an emergency security meeting at the Government House and thereafter, briefed journalists.
“I have summoned this emergency security council meeting to address the emerging security threat that is bedevilling the Maiduguri metropolis and parts of Jere Local Government, with a view to coming up with additional implementable strategies to guarantee the needed peace and security,” Zulum said.
“Intelligence reports before my office from different sources have indicated increasing activities of youth gangsterism operating in some parts of the state capital and Jere Local Government. This syndicate specialised not only in phone snatching in broad daylight, robbery and possession of locally made weapons, but has now graduated into the killing of innocent lives, including security operatives,” the governor declared.
Zulum, who was deeply concerned about the escalating violence, expressed the government’s determination to restore peace and ensure the safety of all residents.
“I want to assure the general public that the government of Borno State, under my leadership, will not allow such a matter to deteriorate. I have received assurances from the security operatives of their commitment to tame such dastardly acts, and our administration is ever committed to dealing with such matters within the shortest possible time,” Zulum said.