Weeks after Boko Haram attack, Borno community suffers in darkness

Residents of Maiduguri and neighbouring communities in Borno have been without power for two weeks.

The blackout came after Boko Haram terrorists blew up supply lines from the national electricity grid.

The electricity tower was destroyed on January 26 in the Mainok area along the Maiduguri/Damaturu Road.

With motorised boreholes relying on electric power to operate, business and daily life have been severely disrupted in Maiduguri, a resident said.

“Now, we don’t have water, most of these motorised boreholes rely on electric power to operate,” the resident told Sahara Reporters.

“It’s now over two weeks and we don’t know when electricity will be restored, we are really suffering.”

The attack was said to be the third time within three months that the insurgents would be plunging communities in Borno into darkness for days by blowing up transmission lines.

Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have killed thousands and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria.

The Nigerian army has repeatedly claimed that the insurgency had been largely defeated and frequently underplays any losses.

In the past months, soldiers have been targeted by the insurgents, laying in ambush for them.

The Boko Haram insurgency has caused over 30,000 deaths and displaced millions of individuals, mainly in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states.

The terror group wants an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria.