Boko Haram Releases Photo of 3 Abducted UNIMAID Staff

Taibat Shittu/

Boko Haram, on Friday, released a photo purported to be that of three staff of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), who were among those abducted during an oil exploration to the Lake Chad Basin, on Tuesday.

Newsmakers had reported that five lecturers from the University of Maiduguri were in the exploration team, but only three have been accounted for.

The three, who were among the 48 corpses of victims of the Boko Haram ambush brought to Maiduguri, on Thursday, were identified as Dr. Joseph Millitus, Dr. Manaja Uba and Idris Njodi.

The others include 18 soldiers, 15 Civilian JTF, four NNPC drivers and eight yet-to-be-identified persons.

But the army had claimed in a statement, on Wednesday, that all those abducted during the ambush by Boko a Haram terrorists had been rescued and corpses of nine soldiers and one civilian that died during the operation had been recovered.

The statement by army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, said: “On receipt of the information, the Brigade mobilised and sent rienforcement; search and rescue party that include the Armed Forces Special Forces and guides that worked and pursued the terrorists throughout the night.

“So far, they have rescued all the NNPC staff and recovered the corpses of the Officer, 8 soldiers and a civilian who have been evacuated to 7 Division Medical Services and Hospital.

“The team recovered 4 vehicles one of which include a gun truck mounted with an Anti-Aircraft Gun, 2 white Hilux taken away from NNPC staff and 1 blue Hilux belonging to CJTF. The team also recovered large quantities of arms and ammunition, several spare tyres, many jerry cans of containing Petroleum, Oil and Lubricant, assorted drugs, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) making materials, reflective jackets and a Motorola handheld radio, among others. The team also neutralized many of the terrorists.”

Relations of some members of the exploration team had, however, raised the alarm over their relations that were still missing.

A relative of one of the two missing university staff, identified as Yusuf Ibrahim, said, on Thursday, the family had not received any report about his condition or whereabouts.

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