A large crowd of Borno residents, on
Wednesday, booed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.),
as his convoy drove from the Maiduguri International Airport to the
centre of the city. Buhari, upon returning from a five-day
trip to Ethiopia for an African Union summit, paid a condolence visit to
the North-Eastern state, following a Boko Haram attack on Sunday.
As his convoy moved to the city at 1:30pm, he was booed by residents, who lined up along the airport road. At the airport, the President did not shake hands with some traditional rulers, who came to welcome him. During previous visits to Borno State,
Buhari received a warm reception from residents of the state, which is
regarded as one of his strongholds.
In the last presidential election,
Buhari had his widest margin of victory in Borno State, where he polled
836,496 votes out of 955,205 votes that were cast, which constitutes a
margin of over 85 per cent. His closest rival, Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party scored 71,788 votes. On Wednesday, the people, who were
dissatisfied with the upsurge in Boko Haram attacks in the state, lined
up along the airport road and shouted in Hausa Bama so! Bamayi!,
meaning “We don’t want,” “we’re not interested.”
There have been sustained attacks by
insurgents on roads leading to Maiduguri in recent times. On Sunday, no
fewer than 30 travellers, including children and women, were burnt to
death by insurgents, who invaded Auno, 20 kilometres to Maiduguri. Two weeks ago, two persons were
slaughtered by Boko Haram and their frozen fish carted away. The victims
slept in a truck because they could not meet the 5pm deadline when the
military usually shut the Maiduguri gate. On January 6, the insurgents attacked
Gamboru in the state, with no fewer than 30 persons killed after an
improvised explosive device exploded on a bridge.
Also on January 18, one soldier and four
Boko Haram terrorists were killed during an attack on an aid facility
in the Ngala area of the state, where at least 20 internally displaced
persons waiting for assistance at the facility were killed. Also on January 20, many residents were
abducted in two confrontations between the military and Boko Haram
insurgents on the Bama-Gwoza highway.
A day later, eight soldiers were reportedly killed during a battle with the Boko Haram insurgents in Kaga, Borno. The insurgents had disguised and moved
in a police vehicle towards a military base, before opening fire on
unsuspecting soldiers near their trench. But Buhari, in an op-ed in a United
States-based magazine, Christianity Today, had last week stated that
since he assumed office in 2015, the insurgents had been weakened by the
armed forces. The President’s comment came on the
heels of criticisms by prominent Nigerians and groups, including the
Christian Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Supreme Council for
Islamic Affairs, who expressed concern about increasing insecurity in
the country.
We can’t travel out of Maiduguri – Residents
Some Maiduguri residents, in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Wednesday, explained why the President was booed. They said the people of the state were
fed up with the President’s failure to restore peace to the state after
five years in government. One of them, Abba Yusuph said, “The
President was elected and equally re-elected on the grounds of providing
security and pushing Boko Haram out, up till now that has never been
done. “We asked for the change of the service
chiefs, the President did not accede and we are locked inside Maiduguri
as if we are prisoners. “We cannot travel outside the town
without fear. We just have to pray that we are not killed on the road
while the insurgents keep moving closer on Maiduguri. There is hardly
any family that has not lost a loved one.”
Buhari, at the Palace of Shehu of
Borno, Alhaji Abubakar El-Kanemi, sought the cooperation of residents
of the state for the military to win the war against the insurgents. Addressing traditional rulers and other
prominent Borno indigenes at the palace, he said, “The cooperation of
your people with our troops and other security agencies by providing
credible information could end insurgency not only in Borno but other
states of Yobe and Adamawa.” With the brief advice to Borno monarchs,
Buhari proceeded to the Government House, from where he went to the
airport to take his flight to Abuja at 3:30pm.
Before the President spoke, the state
Governor, Babagana Zulum, had urged him to deploy troops in Boko Haram
hideouts in Sambisa Forest and Lake Chad region. He said the insurgents launched their
attacks from their hideouts in the forest and Lake Chad, as well as some
of the caves at Mandara Mountains in the Gwoza Local Government Area. The Shehu of Borno, Alhaji El-Kanemi,
pleaded with the President to help the people of Borno State as they
were suffering from the problem of insurgency. He said the Federal Government needed to assist the state more in the area of security to ward off the threat of the Boko Haram.
Nigerians are tired of Buhari’s excuses – Junaid
There were diverse reactions to the cold
reception the President received in Maiduguri. An elder statesman, Dr
Junaid Mohammed, in an interview with The PUNCH, said the booing of the
President by residents of Maiduguri was a sign that the people were
getting tired of excuses. He noted that the action of the people
didn’t come to him as a surprise because the people’s feeling of
disappointment with the performance of the service chiefs and other
managers of the nation’s security system was conveyed by resolutions
passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly.
CAN seeks military probe of road closure
On its part, CAN called for an investigation into the military closure of the road where 30 people were killed on Sunday. In a statement by Adebayo Oladeji,
Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to the CAN President, Dr
Samson Ayokunle, the association sympathised with “families of the
bereaved, the people of Borno State, our Muslim brothers and sisters.”
Source:
Punch
