in about 46 camps in and around Maiduguri, to liberated communities within the state may have been put in jeopardy. In fact, it may pit the governor against the IDPs.This is because elders, camp managers, and households in the IDP camps have expressed fears that the plan could turn out to be a double tragedy for them, going by fresh waves of attacks and killings by insurgents sweeping through the state.
The renewed apprehension comes against the backdrop of the killing of over 81 farmers by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in Koshebe village in Zabarmari while harvesting their rice fields last Saturday. “Returning IDP household farmers and other returnees need to be protected and spared from any type of terrorists’ activities in the state.”It would be recalled that the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Publicity, Lanre Obadiah, recently said that the topmost priority of Governor Zulum was to return all IDPs to their communities and close the 46 camps in May next year.
The CAN president called on the government to think out of the box and take adequate steps to bring the terrorists to their knees, rather than finding excuses to justify the failure of governance, saying a situation where farmers are being taxed by the terrorists and bandits before they are allowed to work on their farms is unprecedented and must be stopped by the government before it is too late.
“The mass burial without a full-scale war is unprecedented and unacceptable. We are pained to observe that killings and kidnapping of people are no longer news in the country and no one is immune from it. He added that all the people of the state want is absolute proactive measures and not reactions and condemnations after attacks and killings.
The widow listed three conditions that could make her and her children return to include clearing Mandara Hills and Sambisa Forest of all terrorists, while the Bama/Gwoza/Mubi road is secured and protected against any attack by insurgents, adding: “Our farmlands and fringes of the forest should also be cleared and secure from Boko Haram attacks.”
A member of one of the civil society organisation in the state living in Maiduguri, who did not want her name in print, claimed to have driven to Zabarmari last Sunday to speak with some of the families of the deceased. She said: “The farmers’ association decided that to protect themselves, it was better for them to go in groups to harvest their crops.“From my discoveries, child soldiers were used this time around to perpetrate this heinous act.
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