Police confirm Boko Haram attack on Borno APC gov candidate’s convoy

Borno State Police Command has confirmed the Boko Haram terrorists’ attack on Thursday on the convoy of Mustapha Gubio, the governorship flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Borno State.

Vanguard had earlier reported the attack.

In an interview with the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Keneth Daso, on Friday said the incident took place along Gubio-Kareto-Damasak highway in the northern part of the state.

Damasak is about a 156km drive from Maiduguri which had witnessed a series of Boko Haram attacks.

The convoy was en route from Damasak to Maiduguri after paying a thank-you visit to members of the APC for their support which led to Gubio’s emergence as the consensus candidate in the party’s last primary elections.

ASP Daso said, “Yes, the convoy of the gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Engineer Mustapha Gubio, came under heavy attack around Kareto community at about 2:30pm, but was swiftly repelled by a combined team of our security forces including Police, soldiers, NSCDC, DSS, CTJF and vigilante groups.”

He continued, “The terrorists laid ambush with planted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) targeting the convoy and also fired several Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) but they were repelled with no casualty recorded from the side of the security forces or civilians.”

Meanwhile, our correspondent gathered from sources that a Police armoured vehicle in the convoy was damaged during the encounter.