Army Retakes Chibok …Anxiety As Emergency Rule In N’East Ends Thursday …Female Suicide Bomber Hits Bauchi

The Nigerian army said yesterday that  it had recaptured and “secured” the northeastern town of Chibok, where Islamic militants abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in April.
The army recaptured the town Saturday evening from Boko Haram militants,  according to spokesman General Olajide Olaleye   in a text message. “Mopping up ops ongoing. (The) town is now secured,” he said.
Leading elder Pogu Bitrus told our source the town was re-taken in a joint operation with local vigilantes known as the Civilian Joint Task Force, who back up the military in several parts of the northeast where Boko Haram is active.
He said the vigilantes fought inside the town while army soldiers stayed outside the town to mop up the insurgents trying to escape.
Boko Haram had captured the town on Thursday after a battle lasting several hours. Several inhabitants said the army had fled the assault, leaving the vigilantes to fight on their own.
Control of Chibok is crucial to the reputation of the army and the government, which have come under harsh criticism for their failure to rescue the schoolgirls.
The Islamists stormed the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the evening of April 14 and forced 276 students onto trucks in a mass abduction that caused global outrage.
Meanwhile, as the third tranche of emergency rule in the North-East ends on Thursday, November 20, President Goodluck Jonathan may seek legal and security advice on the options available to the government on the next line of action because of the increasing Boko Haram insurgency in the geopolitical zone.
According to findings, the president had on May 13 sought the nod of the National Assembly to extend the emergency rule in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. But the request was granted on May 20 by the two chambers of the National Assembly. By constitutional implications, the third segment of the emergency rule will end on Thursday.
According to investigations, the options available to the president are three. A senior government official said: “ These are ending of the emergency rule, another extension and a declaration of a total emergency with military administrators in charge of the three states. Let me make it clear that the constitution is silent on how many times the president can extend emergency rule in a state or any part of the federation. The three states may oppose extension of emergency rule. Also, with the crisis in the House of Representatives, it is impossible for the president to secure a fresh extension of the emergency.”
It was gathered that there were fears of a plot to impose a total emergency in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states.
A third source added: “We learnt that there is pressure on the president to declare a total emergency in the three states and appoint military administrators. This may, however, be resisted by the opposition because proponents of total emergency are mostly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Unless the president is tactical, the war against insurgents may assume political colour.”
The development has forced the presidency to be weighing options on the next step in the light of the ongoing seizure of more towns by Boko Haram and the counter-insurgency operations by the military.
A reliable source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The president is in a fix on whether to lift the emergency rule in the North-East or ask for more extension. Jonathan has up till Thursday to make up his mind on the fate of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. The governors of the three states had come out frankly to say that the emergency rule failed to address the Boko Haram insurgency.
“The president has to be ingenuous in designing ways out. This is why he will be seeking legal and military advice in the next few days. With 2015 election fast approaching, it will be difficult to conduct poll under emergency situation unless all the stakeholders reach a consensus. Yet, two of the states under emergency rule are being controlled by the opposition,” the source added.
Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution empowers the president to impose a state of emergency with the consent of the two chambers of the National Assembly.
Section 305(4) also mandated the governor of a state to ask the president to proclaim emergency rule in his or her state.
Similarly, a female suicide bomber blew herself up yesterday at a mobile phone market in Azare in Bauchi state  killing several people.
Residents said a man who had been seen with the woman at the market was killed by an angry mob.
“A suicide bomber came into the market as it was closing and blew herself up in the middle of all the merchants and their customers,” a witness said.
“”I saw at least eight dead. Several other people were injured She came in the company of two men and she detonated the explosives concealed under her dress,” .,” another witness, Alyu Habib said.
“The two men tried to flee but they were pursued and apprehended. One of them was lynched to death whereas the other is now in custody,” Habib added.
A third witness confirmed that one of the two men spotted entering the market with the woman “was killed by the angry mob”. He said the “explosion set the shops on fire” and firefighters were working to douse the inferno.
The attack near Azare’s stadium is the third bombing in the town in recent weeks.
Last week, a bomb concealed in a bag went off near a cash dispensing machine, killing several people. On October 23, a bombing near a bus station killed at least five people.

Manager, Environmental and Regulatory, Mobil Production, Mr Bolarinwo Famuyiira (right), conferring with Manager, Special Programme, Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency, Dr Frank Abamu, during the donation of refuse compactor truck to Rivers Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday. Photo; Chris Monyanaga