Chibok Community Wants Strong Govt Action Against Recurrent Terrorist Attacks

The Kibaku Area Development Union, an umbrella body for the Chibok community in Borno State, has called on the Nigerian Government to redouble its efforts on taming the tides of violent attacks by Boko-haram terrorists on the agrarian community.

The community shot to global limelight when 276 school girls were abducted from their school dormitories in 2014—one of the most ruthless attempts by the terrorist group to debase Western education.

Of the abducted schoolgirls, 164 have since returned while 112 remain missing.

Despite the 2014 trauma, the community has often been under raids by the terrorists with Nigerian Army resistance amounting to little effort to fight the bloody battles.

The community had consistently raised alarms over what it feared as being targeted for ‘annihilation.’

In a statement on Monday by Allen Manasseh, its Media Director, the union said communities in Chibok Local Government had been attacked for more than “69 times with 299 deaths” since 2014 with no “appreciable efforts and promptness in response to distress calls from the government”.

When the Chibok girls abduction happened, many including President Muhammadu Buhari criticised the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration for its slow response to the rescue of the school girls.

Buhari, in his 2015 manifesto, made squashing Boko-haram insurgency and curbing insecurity as one of his top priorities.

Five years gone, Chibok people and many Nigerians believe the president had not delivered on his mandate as Boko-haram insurgency continues to extend to the northwest as against his administration’s claim of conquering the terrorists.

“Many abducted aside the 112 Chibok girls, are still missing (since 14th April, 2014), destruction and looting of our properties, more especially food stuff,” the community group said.

“Amongst our communities that were attacked, some severally and serially with no resistance or precautionary measures by our government includes: Chibok town, Bwalakila, Takulashi, Kwople, Kwaranglum, Kautikari, Gatamwarwa, Thlaimakalama, Mifa, kakilmari, Bwaftari, Kwada, Kaumutahyahi, Kuburmbula, Mifa, Paya yesu Bila Maburdar, Yimirmugza, Mbulabam, Gagilam, Piying, Mboa-Kura, Ntsiha A,B,C, and many other locations too numerous to capture in a single statement.”

The group said though it appreciated the efforts of the Nigerian soldiers, but noted that “their numerical strengths and promptness to respond and ensure extermination of the terrorists have not met our expectations”.

It demanded an overhaul of the security architecture Nigeria is employing to fight the insurgency so that return to normalcy would be achieved in due course.

“We are therefore constrained to demand for more efforts and possible review of the strategy in the prosecution of the war on terror,” the union said.

“We do experience escalation of terrorism on our people and we have had enough and now calling as never before on the Government to ensure that our people are protected and our properties saved.”

“We cannot be farming against threats to our lives only for the insurgent to freely come and loot our agricultural commodities and kill innocent poor rural farmers, yet the Presidency is mute about our predicaments.”

The group called on the president to salvage the security situation in the Chibok community and the northeast in general, adding that his presidential mandate should be geared towards ramping up security in the country.

It reminded the president of the 112 missing Chibok, saying that “no update” had been heard from the Nigerian Government.