TheCable

Abubakar El-Kanemi, the shehu of Borno, says Boko Haram insurgents have killed 13 district heads in his emirate. 

The insurgency, which started about 10 years ago, has claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions in the north-east. 

While receiving a delegation of the senate committee on special duties that was in Borno state to assess the performance of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC), the monarch said the series of attacks over the years had led to the destruction of the state. 

“Gradually, they moved their operations from Maiduguri to local government headquarters and other towns within Borno. In the course of their operations, the emirate council lost about 13 district heads in addition to many ward heads, who were killed in their respective domains,” he said. 

“The activities of the criminal elements have not deterred our district and village heads from being proactive in reporting their activities to the security agencies.”

“I want to call for more funding for the commission to enable it to facilitate the reconstruction of destroyed communities and intervention programmes toward empowering all IDPs. The call became necessary in view of the huge destruction and losses incurred in the state as a result of the crises in the last 11 years.”

The NEDC was established in 2017 to help with reconstruction and resettlement in the north-east. 

Sagir Musa, army spokesperson, did not respond to a message seeking his reaction to the monarch’s claim.

In 2018 when President Muhammadu Buhari visited, El-Kanemi told him that Borno communities were still under the siege of the insurgents. 

He said nobody moves 10 kilometres out of the state without being attacked, and that farmers are being killed and kidnapped on a daily basis.