ISWAP Ambush: How ‘Cancelled Pass’ Led To Death of Colonel Eze Elemele, Assistants

Fresh revelations have emerged on the circumstances that led to the death of Colonel Kenneth Eze Elemele, a captain and three other soldiers of the 29 Taskforce Brigade in Borno State on Wednesday.

Colonel Elemele, the army captain, and four other soldiers of the brigade were said to have been ambushed by members of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP).

The insurgents killed all the officers except for a soldier who reportedly ran into the bush during the attack.

The attack occurred in the Jakana area of the state while the colonel and his team were on transit from Damaturu in Yobe State to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

A family source who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed that Elemele had been billed to travel out by air on the day he and his team were ambushed and killed by the ISWAP-affiliated Boko Haram insurgents.

According to the family source, the slain colonel had booked a flight to jet out of the state to attend the graduation ceremony of one of his daughters who graduated from the Air Force Secondary School in Iyana Offa, Ibadan, on Friday, July 19.

He was said to have fallen victim of the assailants due to the alleged cancellation of his pass which prevented him from embarking on the trip.

“He had already booked a ticket out so that he could attend his daughter’s graduation ceremony,” the source said, adding “He was supposed to be flying out that day…his pass was cancelled”

The source said the family suspects an alleged frame-up in the circumstances that led to their son’s death, adding that they suspect that Elemele and his team’s movement was allegedly communicated to ISWAP.

The family is said to also be questioning how it is possible that the army colonel would traveling across the terror-ravaged north-eastern states with just four assistants.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army is said to have written to the late colonel’s widow, Mrs Lucy Elemele, to formally inform her of her husband’s death.

The Army had also confirmed the sad incident in a press statement on Friday.

Isa Ado, the Deputy Director of Public Relations of the Operation LAFIYA DOLE, had said: “A Colonel and a Captain as well as three soldiers on transit from Maiduguri to Damaturu ran into an ambush staged by the fleeing terrorists from the Jakana axis, which led to their unfortunate death.”

Elemele, an indigene of Obite near Omoku in Ogba Egbema Ndoni LGA of Rivers State, is survived by his wife and four kids.