FORMER Military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd), has commended Borno's Vigilance Youths Group (BVYG) for complementing the efforts of men of Joint Task Force (JTF) in the manhunt for fleeing Boko Haram members in Maiduguri metropolis and its environs.
Speaking in the Hausa service of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Monday and monitored in Maiduguri, Gen. Gowon said: "It is only when communities along with their youths provide such vigilance and monitoring support that the current security challenges could be overcome in restoring peace and protection of people's lives and property in the country."
The youths which continue to hunt for Boko Haram terrorists, use sticks, cutlasses and knives since early this month in the "stop and search" operations at strategic locations of Maiduguri, the state capital.
The ex-military Head of State, however, noted that the Federal Government was doing its best in restoring peace in the affected 12 states in the North.
He said: "These patriotic youths that have sacrificed their lives without arms in the manhunt for Boko Haram insurgents are doing the right thing in the right direction in ending the Boko Haram insurgency Borno, Yobe, Adamawa states," noting that the destruction of lives and property occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency is alarming.
Meanwhile, over 250 members of the BYVG yesterday took full control of the "stop and search" operations of the JTF and Police at strategic locations of the Maiduguri metropolis.
The youths' takeover of the 'stop and search' operation, according to chairman of
BYVG, Abubakar Mallum, is aimed at assisting security agents identify, arrest and handover members of the Boko Haram sect.
Mallum said: ''Our involvement in the manhunt of these killers was based on the belief that we would be able to identify insurgents faster and easier than the soldiers on patrol in their vehicles," adding that there are nooks crannies which could not be accessed by JTF patrol vehicles, while the suspects use the same routes to escape arrests.
"We organised ourselves into different groups, took positions and conducted searches on vehicles at strategic locations of Maiduguri."
The Guardian