From Tom Garba, Yola
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday assured the internal displaced persons (IDPs) staying in Malkohi Yola, Adamawa State that Boko Haram will be history before the next farming season.
While addressing the hundreds of the IDPs, President Buhari reiterated that the insurgents were not Muslims but hide under the banner of Islam to kill innocent Nigerians.
He disclosed this at the Malkohi IDPs camp where a suicide bomber recently detonated a bomb and claimed the life of eight people.
The President noted that his administration has resolved to make sure that the IDPs returned to their homes before the next cropping season by ending the Boko Haram menace bedevilling the region.
President Buhari said with the current successes recorded by military in the fight against insurgency in the region he believed that the IDPs, who are mostly farmers, will soon return to their farms in the next farming season
The President said his visit to the camp was to sympathize and empathize with the IDPs over the dead of their love ones in the suicide bombing.
He also lauded the military for their determination to overwhelm and clear all the enclaves of Boko Haram insurgents in the region.
However, the President in company with former Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Bisi Akande, Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai and Aliko Dangote, seven state governors and other dignitaries also attended the weddings of three daughters of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in Yola.
Atiku gave out his daughters in marriage on Friday immediately after the Juma’at mosque. The wedding, held at the former VP Yola residence, attracted dignitaries from far and near.
The Yola International Airport was busy as security operatives were seen cordoning off the streets of Yola to pave way for the dignitaries to get to the venue of the wedding.
In his remarks, Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Muhammad Sani Sidi, while addressing the President at the Malkohi IDP’s camp said so far they have received 15,754 displaced Nigerians who were forcefully expelled by the Republic of Cameroon and Central Africa Republic and about 10,000 were being expected any moment at the Sauda border in Mubi South Local Government of Adamawa State.
The DG NEMA lamented that the categories of Nigerians being expected were those living legitimately in those countries and those who fled there because of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Sidi also told the President that since the inception of the IDPs official camps in Adamawa, the management of the camps has recorded 315 deliveries, 68 deaths mostly children and aged persons. “We have also recorded 40 marriages among the IDPs across the camps. Presently we have 195 nursing mothers, 80 pregnant women and 75 unaccompanied children in the camps,” he added.
While lauding the President for his determination to end the insurgency in the region, he commended the Adamawa state Governor, Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow and the entire government machinery of the state for accepting and hosting IDPs from other states.
He also drew the attention of the President to the fact that it was the Malkohi IDP’s camp that a suicide bomber detonated a bomb killing 8 and injuring 36 including 4 staff members of NEMA who were on duty on the day.
According to him, “the constitution of the presidential committee for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the affected states – Adamawa, Yobe and Borno – by his Excellency Mr President under the chairmanship of Gen. T Y Danjuma (RTD) has opened up a new phase of reconstruction and rehabilitation of displaced person and has also change the humanitarian dashboard from emergency response phase to reconstruction and rehabilitation of the affected communities.
“We are therefore using this singular opportunity to call on all individual philanthropists and other donor agencies to support government efforts in the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase.”
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