Gaidam, Yobe Governor Begs for GSM Services

Ibrahim Gaidam, governor of Yobe State has called on the federal government to restore GSM services which were cut across the state following the declaration of emergency rule by President Jonathan in April.

Yobe is one of three states currently without GSM service because of the state of emergency declared by the President.

It would be recalled that cellphone users in Yobe, Borno, and Adamawa states are “inconvenienced” by the cutting off of GSM network services for months now in a strategic means of preventing the Boko Haram terrorists from “communicating and fleeing” from their suspected hideouts and training camps located in various parts of Borno State.

But Gaidam said yesterday that criminals who attacked a secondary school in Mamudo town in which 22 pupils and a teacher were killed last Saturday were seen by the people a few hours before the attack, but could not report their suspicious movement to the Joint Task Force (JTF) because there was no GSM service.

Gaidam spoke yesterday when Maj-Gen. Collins Ariahu, chief of Research and Development (DHQ) who led a team from the Defence Headquarters to Mamudo to assess the attack, paid him a courtesy call at the Government House in Damaturu, the state capital.

The governor, however, called on the JTF operating in the state to review its strategies, saying entire area suspected to be harboring militants and insurgents should be combed.

He said: “The JTF is doing a good job in Yobe, but a change of strategy is necessary. We must do everything necessary to clamp down on criminals before they perpetrate their heinous acts.”