An Associate Professor in the United States and social critic, Dr Farooq Kperogi, has questioned the explanation that Borno State farmers needed military clearance to go to their farms when the military and their personnel are not safe from Boko Haram.
Kperogi on Tuesday lamented that the Boko Haram terrorists had claimed a record number of the lives of soldiers in the last two years, more than since 2009 when the insurgency started.
On Twitter, the professor wrote, “The Boko Haram has murdered more soldiers in the last two years than at any point since 2009, yet the government wants farmers to get clearance from the same military (that also isn’t safe from the Boko Haram) before going to their farms.
“It is like seeking clearance from the police to avoid being kidnapped even when the police are themselves routinely kidnapped and released only when they pay the handsome ransom. Plus, this undercuts the government’s propaganda that Boko Haram does not control an inch of Nigeria. If you need clearance from a vulnerable military before you go to the farm, you are conquered.”
when d police are themselves routinely kidnapped and released only when they pay handsome ransom. Plus, this undercuts d gov’t’s propaganda that Boko Haram doesn’t control an inch of Nigeria. If you need clearance from a vulnerable military b4 you go to d farm, you’re conquered.
— Farooq Kperogi, Ph.D (@farooqkperogi) December 1, 2020
The Boko Haram terrorists’ killings have resumed in recent times with the latest violence being in Zabarmari area in Borno State where 43 farmers were killed at a plantation in Kwashabe village, about 20 kilometres north of Maiduguri.
The insurgents were also said to have also destroyed the rice plantation after slaughtering the farmers.
The Defence Headquarters had claimed only 43 people were killed, but a source told SaharaReporters that the death toll rose to 81 as 38 more bodies were recovered by search and rescue teams on Monday.
The killing of the rice farmers has attracted condemnations with some Nigerians calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the country’s service chiefs and overhaul the security architecture of Nigeria.
