AS the purported offer of peace talks by the Islamist Boko Haram sect continue to generate doubts, violence flared up again, with attacks on police formations and places of worship in Yobe State Friday by gunmen suspected to be members of the group.
The Buni/Yadi Divisional Police Station in Gujba Council was attacked and torched in the early hours of the day, further reinforcing claims that the offer of dialogue might not have actually come from the hierarchy of the sect.
Buni/Yadi is 54 kilometres south of Damaturu, the state capital.
The gunmen, according to an eyewitness and resident of the area, Abdu Yunusari, broke into the armoury of the police station and carted away an undisclosed number of rifles and ammunition, after shooting three police officers dead.
He said: "We were shocked and terrified by the firing power of the gunmen and bombings as some of us were performing our dawn prayers in mosques.
"When the police station was burning, the gunmen also marched to three different churches and set fire them on fire, but no one was killed in any of the churches in Buni/Yadi."
Confirming the incident in Damaturu, the spokesman of Joint (Military) Task Force (JTF), Lt. Lazarus Eli, in a statement said: "In the early hours of today (yesterday), gunmen attacked the Divisional Police Station of Buni/Yadi in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State.
"Our men responded swiftly to the distress call from the area and beefed up security in the town to forestall further attacks and killings."
He said three police officers securing the Divisional Police Station were shot dead.
"The gunmen went away with some arms and ammunitions, after breaking through the armoury with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs."
On whether anybody had been apprehended in connection with the attacks, Eli said: "No arrests were made, either by the JTF or police, but our men are pursuing the gunmen, who fled towards the Damaturu-Biu-Gombe road in some vehicles and motorcycles."
The authenticity of last week's offer of dialogue by somebody claiming to be from the sect, naming some Nigerian, including former head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as mediator, has been in doubt, with rights activist, Mallam Shehu Sani, saying it was dubious.
Sani, who had in the past maintained some links with the group's leaders, was also wary of the speed with which the federal government welcomed the offer, even when it was not made through the usual person, its leader, Ahmed Skekau, or the usual channel.
Sani told The Guardian: "On the few occasions I had the privilege of being given the opportunity to facilitate peace talks, I found the government very stubborn and very stiff in its own disposal towards bringing this problem to an end."
But he acknowledged that there are people on the sides of government and Boko Haram who support a peaceful resolution of the security challenge, just as there are also those, on both sides, against any negotiation.
He said if the peace offer were genuine, it would have been preceded by a ceasefire, which is obviously not the case, with these continuing attacks.
