A report has indicated that suspected terrorists in the North are relocating following the military airstrike carried out by the United States of America on Thursday night.
Community leaders told Punch that they noticed movements as the hoodlums migrated in small numbers after the Christmas Day attacks.
The leaders in Tangaza, Gudu and parts of Illela in Sokoto claimed that there had been signs of dislocation and movement among armed groups since the strike.
According to some of them, who spoke on condition of anonymity, some bandits were seen moving in small groups towards remote forest corridors, while others were believed to have attempted to cross into neighbouring border communities to evade aerial and ground surveillance.
A community leader in Tangaza said the airstrike “sent a strong signal” and forced criminal elements to abandon familiar routes and camps.
“People are cautious, but there is relief that their hideouts were hit,” he added.
The Chairman of the Traditional Council in Gwer West LGA of Benue State, Daniel Abomtse, also raised alarm over the influx of armed herders into some communities.
He said, “I felt their movement in my local government as well as in Agatu LGA. They have been running away from Sokoto to the coastal areas in Gwer West and Agatu with sophisticated arms and grazing openly. They are in my domain.”
While appreciating the US strike, Abomtse called on Trump to extend the operations to Benue, Kogi, Taraba, Niger and Plateau states.
“What President Trump has done is the best thing to have happened to the government of Nigeria. I commend him for dealing with the menace in the country, which began about 16 years ago,” he added.
Efforts by the aforementioned publication to get confirmation of Abomtse’s claims from the spokesperson for the Benue State Police Command, Udeme Edet, were unsuccessful.
Government officials in Sokoto State said intelligence assessments were ongoing to determine the direction and scale of bandit movement after the strike.