Stand and defend your communities, be courageous and resilient, Governor Zulum urges Dikwa residents
By Madu Mohammed, Maiduguri
The Borno state Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum had on Friday paid a sympathy and resilience building visit to Dikwa town of Dikwa local government area of the state 4 days after Boko Haram attack on the town.
with an appealed on them not to leave their ancestral homes.
The governor who performed the Jumaat (Friday Prayers) in Dikwa urged the residents to be resilient as Maiduguri can not accommodate over 500 thousand people from Dikwa alone talk less of Gubio, Monguno, Damasak among others towns.
While addressing the residents of the area at the Dikwa Central Mosques, shortly after the prayers and Dikwa motor park separately, Governor Zulum said ” Dikwa is your ancestral home, you should not allow anybody to send you leaving. It is surprising that over 500 thousand people, only 20 people with 6 gun trucks can chase you away from your ancestral home”.
“Dikwa is a big town, if you leave, Maiduguri will not accommodate you, so you should stand up and defend your communities. You have over 300 members of the CJTF in this town but they are all useless,, as they can’t defend your people “, he added.
He said ” after the sttack, i was in Abuja, where i met President Buhari and he assured me that he will not allow the repeat of the ugly incident and that no inch of our teritory will be allow to fall in the hands of the insurgents”.
He urged them to continue to be prayerful for the restoration of peace and always stand and raise up, stand and defend their communities and assured them that more areas will be open up for them to have acess to their farmland..
Governor Zulum also visited the headquarters of the Nigerian Army Super camp 9, 81 Task Force Division, some parts of the Shehu of Dikwa palace, Primary Health Facility, Modu Kaza and Alhaji Bashir IDP camps,UN humanitarian hub were burnt down.
Speaking in an interview with journalists in Dikwa shortly after the inspections, the governor promised to rebuild all the structures burnt down by the insurgents.
Our correspondent gathered that 9 pregnant women delivered while fleeing along Dikwa Ajiri road. Three aged women were said to bunt to dead at the Modu Kaza IDP camp.
A resident of Dikwa, Ibrahim Bulama said ” the insurgents who came in 6 gun trucks painted with mud at about 5;30pm on Sunday look control of the town for 17 hours until they left on Tuesday at about 10!30 before leaving they gathered people by the road side and preached to them and even distributed money to teenagers and aged people.”.
” The insurgents who also gave money to some kids who direct them to the houses of humanitarian aid workers abducted four workers belonging Inter source”he added.
It could be recalled that the insurgents attacked Dikwa 4 times in recent times with first on 30th January 2021, 20th February, 1st March and 2nd March, 2021. .