Mr Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno state, came down hard on soldiers manning Damaturu-Maiduguri road in the state on Monday afternoon.

Zulum was on his way to Jakana, a community where Boko Haram insurgents struck on Saturday when he ran into a long queue of vehicles at one of the checkpoints.

The governor, who apparently had been briefed that the security operatives were extorting people, alighted from his vehicle and walked straight to where some of the soldiers were.

“I’m going to report all of you in this unit… nobody can tolerate this. Boko Haram is attacking people and you are here collecting N1,000 per car,” he said.

One of the soldiers tried to calm the governor down, saying he would look into the case but Zulum fired back, saying: “But we saw them.”

The Cable