Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has cautioned Senator
Ali Ndume against making comments that will incite the populace against
repentant Boko Haram insurgents who are being reintegrated into the society.
The Governor, during a courtesy visit by the Senate
committee on army to the government house in Maiduguri, said the Senator has
been inciting in his comments which ideally shouldn’t be heard of from a
patriotic Borno citizen of the Senator’s standing.
“I only have one discrepancy with Senator Ali Ndume. I heard
him criticising the repentant terrorists and I felt that this should not have
come from someone from Borno. I called him to register my disappointment with
his comments. We know where we were before now. Ndume cannot go to his hometown
without security escort.
“Ndume’s hometown, Hambagda has been deserted for the past
seven years and no one is living there. 95 per cent of his people cannot go to
their farms till this moment. But the situation is different since we started
witnessing the surrender of the terrorists. Areas under cultivation have
increased by seven hundred per cent and farmers have had bumper harvests this
year.
“Whether we like it or not, we have to welcome these
repentant Boko Haram insurgents. Although some of them may not be genuine,
quite a number of them are genuine. Relative peace is gradually returning to
the state as such we should encourage them to surrender not incite the locals
against them.
“Out of the over 20,000 that have surrendered, about 5,000
of them are fighters. So imagine the destructions these fighters would cause if
they haven’t surrendered. Until now, two local government areas of Borno State
-Abadam and Guzamala, are still under the firm control of Boko Haram.
Some communities in eight local government areas including
Gwoza, Damboa, Bama, Chibok and a host of others still have elements of Boko
Haram insurgents,” the governor stated
Zulum said government will continue to explore avenues to
encourage the insurgents to surrender their arms for peace to return to the
state under his administration.
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