Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect, yesterday set ablaze a middle-aged man in neighboring Maiduguri, Borno State capital. The victim was said to have been burnt in his residence, owned by one Usman, and located around Polo area of the city.
Narrating the incident, a resident in the area who preferred anonymity told reporters: “The attackers came at about 2am. Dogs were barking seriously when they arrived and everybody around the area woke up because of the way the dogs were barking. I think the attackers decided to force their ways into the compound through the gate since they could not scale the fence.
There fence had barb-wires on it. “Having sensed danger, the victim was said to have located an opening in the ceiling in one of the rooms and hid himself there. After several threats, and the family could not produce the man, the attackers evacuated the wife and children and set the house ablaze with the man, still hiding in the ceiling,” the eye witness claimed. Meanwhile, there have been conflicting claims over the fate that befell the victim, with some residents claiming that the man might have been a victim of a botched business transaction. “May be he had problem with somebody over issues of loans or business because he works with Nigeria Agriculture Insurance Company,”