President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the Boko Haram attack on Garkida in Adamawa State, extending his sympathy to families of the victims.
The president, in a statement by his Senior Special Adviser on Media and Piblicitu, Garba Shehu, last night assured the citizens that no part of Nigeria would be abandoned to its fate.

President Buhari said: “These attacks on soft targets by the terrorists are obvious signs of frustration because my administration has significantly weakened Boko Haram’s military capability to invade and hold Nigerian territory unchallenged.

“Our gallant forces deserve our appreciation for repelling the attackers but they must go beyond this point. They have our full support to go after the terrorists and have them pay a huge price. I want to assure the country that terrorists will continue to face the combined power of our military until they give up their mistaken ways.

“These occasional and episodic attacks on poor civilians by the terrorists are mere propaganda efforts to portray them as strong in order to fool the public into believing that they haven’t been militarily weekend by our gallant troops.”

President Buhari said since the coming of his administration, Boko Haram’s ability to invade and occupy Nigerian territories, let alone be able to hoist their flags, had been frustrated.

The President said that in the coming weeks, Nigerians would witness an aggressive campaign to rout Boko Haram once and for all.

“Security will continue to be well funded despite the competing needs of social services. I appeal to Nigerians to continue to support our troops in their gallant efforts to protect the citizens and secure the country,” Buhari added.

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists attacked Garkida community, torching the police station, church, and houses on Friday.

The community, located south of the Sambisa forest, had been attacked several, leading to loss of lives and property in the last six years.

Confirming the incident in Maiduguri, Wakchal Borgu, a resident, said: “The terrorists burst out from the Sambisa forest valley of River Hawul on mounted trucks and torched many of our houses and shops.

“As they continued burning our houses, we had to flee into the eastern hill and nearby bushes for safety.”

He said that two hours after the attack, a police station, church and an army general’s residence were also torched by the daring terrorists.

According to him, the pickup vans were used to loot food items and drugs, before setting the shops and patent medicine stores ablaze.

The Police Command Public Relations Officer, Sulaiman Nguroje, in SMS message yesterday, said: “Garkida
community is exclusively under military jurisdiction. We cannot confirm the weekend attack or comment on it.”

The Commander of 21 Armoured Brigade, Brig-Gen. Sani Mohammed, said one soldier paid the supreme price, while the other one was wounded while repelling the terrorists towards the forest.