Boko Haram: Life In North East Is Hell, Says Borno Elders

A graphic detail of
the way of life in Borno and the entire North-
East since the Boko Haram menace begun
was painted on Monday by the Bornu Elders,
who described life under the stranglehold of
terrorist activities, as “seeing hell”.
Addressing a gathering of Northern Elders
Forum in Kano, Zanna Hassan Boguma, who
delivered a goodwill message on behalf of
Borno Elders Forum, declared that the entire
region is now engaged in full scale war from
enemy within.
Boguma stated that “we have been seeing
hell, our people are constantly decimated, our
towns and villages razed, properties destroyed,
schools and places of worship burnt, even
innocent travelers were not spared”.
The elder statesman said that from the
incessant attack that the axis had witnessed
in the last few weeks was a confirmation of
how vulnerable the entire region is.
He further disclosed that the region has been
reduced to a war zone with attendant
humanitarian crisis, stressing that this is the
time for the entire country to mobilize to stop
the carnage.
Boguma, who doubted the intention of the
perpetrators of this crime against humanity in
the region, was however quick to add that
“much as we know, the whole matter has
nothing to do with claimed intention of a
section imposing their will on the others, or
issues of sharia or making the country
ungovernable for the President or a religious
war as they want to look at it”.
Moreover, he accused the Federal Government
of lacking the political will to address the
crisis holistically, pointing out that Borno
Elders are surprised at the grave yard silence
of Government and its inability to implement
several report on the insurgency turned in by
experts engaged to do so by the same
Government.
The Borno Elders noted that the panacea to
the crisis was not in the hands of the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, or the
opposition, All Progressives Congress, APC,
insisting that the situation at hand was
beyond politics and pleaded with other parts
of the country to identify with them at their
time of distress.
“This catastrophe which has befallen us
should be the concern of all Northerners
irrespective of tribe, region, or creed. Those of
you who are residing far away should know
that other citizens needed your sympathy and
attention”, Boguma said, adding that “until
those who were named as supporters,
financiers, and allies to the Boko Haram were
brought to justice, until the political Boko
Haram were apprehended and prosecuted,
until the operations to contain this madness is
sincerely handled, lives of our innocent
villagers will continued to be sacrificed”.