BOSHA Speaker, Rt Hon Abdulkarim Lawan
Sam Kaye
The Speaker of Borno House of Assembly, Rt Hon Abdulkarim Lawan has cried out over the inability of the Nigerian Military to restore civil authority to his ancestral council area Guzamala.
The speaker also expressed sadness on the fact that in spite of the exploits of the security services in sector three of the war theatre, thousands of his people hitherto displaced by insurgents for the past ten years are yet to return to Guzamala council area because of fear of being killed by insurgents still choking the general area.
Abdulkarim who also hails from Guzamala vented his regrets on Wednesday during the celebration of June 12 democracy at the Ramat Square in Maiduguri, the state capital.
He maintained, that although relative peace has been restored in many parts of the state, in which, in which Governor Babagana Zulum with support from members of the House of Assembly and other stakeholders, are providing dividends of democracy Guzamala council Area has been left out.
With insurgents still choking the general areas of Abadam and Guzamala council areas, the towns and villages in them would continuously be denied all the opportunities in the ongoing reconstruction, as they continue to witness ‘zero- projects’ for over a decade.
This reporter recalls that Governor Zulum inaugurated a resettlement committee on 4th July 2022 to reconstruct and resettle the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Gudumbali town which is the headquarter of Guzamala council area but till this day, the area is still desolate.
Governor Zulum had charged the Nigerian Army to recapture the town to enable the ongoing rebuilding and resettlement process, but because there was no infrastructure the insurgents always took advantage and returned to the place.
Still lamenting, the Speaker went on, “I have been appealing to the Federal Government and the military time without numbers to restore civil authority in Guzamala council area, but all my pleas to the military and other security agencies have failed woefully.
,”As long as we appreciate the good efforts put in place by Governor Zulum and the cordial working relationship which exists between the Executives, Legislature and the Judiciary in transforming all hitherto liberated communities in Borno, especially in the area of construction of roads, schools, hospitals, houses, provision of Agricultural inputs, Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement of our displaced people, poverty alleviation, jobs creation among others, the people of Guzamala and Abadam councils have recorded zero-project for over a decade due to its inaccessibility by civilians.
“Even Kukawa local government area where there are presence of civil authority, there is no presence of military or any security operatives in Kukawa Council headquarters, and that is why the resilient people living inside Kukawa town were served with a warning or threat letters recently by ISWAP terrorists to vacate the town or risk their lives.
“As we celebrate the 2024 Democracy Day, I want to reiterate my appeal to the federal government under the leadership of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Military authorities to restore civil authority in Guzamala Council and other inaccessible areas, so that our displaced people taking refuge in Niger Republic or those living in host communities of Maiduguri metropolis and Gajiram, Monguno local government areas should go back to their ancestral homes and pick up the pieces of their lives “. Speaker Lawan stated.
Earlier in his address, the Acting Governor, Umar Kadafur informed the gathering that a committee set up under the Chairmanship of the Commissioner for Local Government and Emirate Affairs, Sugum Mai Mele, and the Multi National Joint Task Force, MNJTF are working round the clock to restore normalcy and relocate back displaced people of Guzamala to their ancestral homes.
Government will expedite action to resettle all Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs back to their communities before the end of its tenure.
He also noted that, in the spirit of the Democracy Day, 10 prisoners were pardoned, even as the state government is doing everything possible to restore the relative peace in the entire state and continue providing infrastructural development across the 27 local government areas.