Police stop Bama IDPs from trekking back home
The Police in Borno State yesterday trailed and stopped hundreds of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who abandoned their various camps with a mission to trek to their native home town.
The angry IDPs from Bama Local Government Area of the state who constituted the larger population of the displaced persons currently taking refuge in official and unofficial IDP camps in Maiduguri, have always complained of overstay, and were determined to go although they had no permission and no arrangement for their safety from relevant authorities.
Bama was overrun by Boko Haram militants on 1st September, 2014 and in March 2015 was recaptured by the military; and since September last year, the town has been under reconstruction, being carried out by the state government.
Our correspondent gathered that on Saturday an emergency meeting was held by some representatives of the IDPs who have been agitating for the return of all displaced persons from Bama town and environs.
A source said it was resolved that all the IDPs should come out and relocate to Bama yesterday by 9a.m. to occupy the houses that were already reconstructed by government.
“It has been observed that the fear of insecurity will keep us for yet another unknown number of years languishing on expectation that things will be okay very soon but how soon?” the source said.
He called on all their counterparts who wanted to stay behind as well as friends and well-wishers to pray for them for the journey.
As planned, hundreds of IDPs from Bama town, who heeded the call to trek back home regardless of any permission or proper arrangement from either Borno State Government or the military, converged bearing placards and banners the state with texts: ‘We are returning to our home,’ and ‘3 years of displacement is not a day.’
However, before they could start the trek towards Bama, a town 70 kilometres from Maiduguri, a team of policemen led by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Damian Chukwu, visited, urging them to seek proper arrangement from relevant authorities.
“Allowing you to return to Bama is like allowing you to commit suicide,” the Police Commissioner told leaders of the IDPs, adding, “You can manageably move up to Konduga, but from Konduga up to Bama, there’s no way you can get to these places without being escorted by full security.”