Officials in Nigeria acknowledged on April 13 that so-called bandits and the terrorists known as Boko Haram have formed a united front to attack trains and highways leading into the capital Abuja.
Though the union of the two criminal groups has been suspected for a year the chief spokesman for the government, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and his defense ministry counterpart Gen. Bashir Magashi confirmed the suspicions at a press conference in the president’s compound in Abuja.
“What is happening now is that there is a kind of unholy handshake between bandits and Boko Haram insurgents,” Mohammed said, according to media reports.