Nine out of the 102 Gamboru-Ngala, Borno State IDPs reportedly abducted by Boko Haram terrorists while fetching firewood in the bush on Sunday, March 4, have returned home.
According to The PUNCH, Dr. Barkindo Mohammed Saidu, the Durector-General, Borno SEMA made this known on Sunday.
He said,“We have been reliably informed that nine out of the ‘missing’ IDPs traced their way back to the camp last Friday, March 8,”
He added that “Officials at Ngala have been instructed to mount an intensive and extensive vigilance to inform us about any trickling number returning.”
“You would have observed that the state government restrained all along from quoting any number because we know the IDPs very well because we are the ones managing their affairs; they are economical with the truth.”
Dr. Saidu explained: “We don’t believe the IDPs in this abduction narrative and the number of those they said were abducted; the IDPs are not trustworthy.
“There is no trust between them (IDPs) and government and between them and NGOs; there is even no trust among themselves; if it is about food and other essential commodities distribution, or they want to raise public sympathy for them among the public, they exaggerate numbers; if it is about anything they don’t want, like immunisation, they reduce numbers.”
He continued, “This is why we don’t even believe the abduction story and the numbers quoted.”
While media reports confirmed by locals that the young IDPs were abducted by the terrorists, with further confirmation by the UN, which condemned the abduction of over 200 IDPs, the Borno State government dismissed the abduction narrative, arguing that they only lost their way back home from the wilderness.
