by James Sambo

The residents of Agase, a suburb of Gboko in Benue, have fled their homes for fear of reprisal attacks from Boko Haram insurgents, checks by news correspondents have revealed.

Most of the residents had fled their homes following the trailing of Ali Jalingo, a Boko Haram kingpin, to a house in the area.

According to reports, Jalingo was traced by security operatives from Abuja to Agase but they were unable to arrest him.

Some of the residents said that they were awakened around midnight on Sunday by gunshots and sound of a bulldozer pulling down the building where Jalingo lived.

They panicked and hid themselves under bed covers for fear of being hit by stray bullets, as sporadic shots from the security operatives reverberated in the area.

An octogenarian, Aese Adua, said that her apartment was destroyed by bullets.

“I was woken up around midnight on Sunday by some unusual noise in the neighbourhood; I could not come out because of my age but my instincts told me something was amiss. I had to relocate my bed from its position to another corner of the room and I was surprised to see part of my room riddled with bullets,” she said.

Adua claimed that she had never seen Jalingo “even for one day but I always heard movements in the house and I also know that the occupants are young people.

“Since I cannot speak English or Hausa, I had no interaction with them at all,” she added.

Another resident, Kumaga Kande, said that the bulldozer which demolished the house where the suspect lived, pulled down part of his kitchen.

However, some young men in the neighbourhood said that Jalingo, who reportedly lived in affluence, was quite unassuming.

Retired Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Tsav, called for a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to the escape of the suspect.

“It is strange that the Boko Haram suspect was arrested but escaped, what were the security agencies doing when the suspect escaped?”

The former police boss stressed that what happened to former Police Commissioner Zakari Biu should also be applied to the security officers who were in charge of Jalingo.