Our communities are deserted – Speaker

The Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Abdulkareem Lawan said yesterday there is no single soldiers or civilian living in Guzamala LGA, which has its headquarters in Gudumbali, located approximately 125 kilometres north of the state capital, Maiduguri.

He said there was the urgent need for the federal government to deploy more troops to secure the northern part of the state to enable thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) return home.

Lawan stated this while responding to a delegation of Guzamala Youth Forum and Students Association led by its chairman, Babagana Alkali, in Maiduguri.

He noted that it became imperative to lend his voice and the world deserves to know the reality on the ground that Guzamala, Marte and Abadam local government areas have no people living in them.

“I became very emotional this morning when listened to the leader of the delegation. As your representative, I have no other option rather than to say it the way it is.

“Guzamala local government is not far away from the state capital; we have two district heads and 16 village heads all of them are taking refuge here in Maiduguri.

“We also have 170 settlements in Guzamala but as I am speaking to you now, there is no single soul, there is no single military or any other security agencies living in the entire territory of Guzamala LGA.

“There is no civilian in Abadam; there is military at the local government headquarters (Malam Fatori) guarding the land but there is no single civilian living there. Most of the people in Abadam had fled to Niger Republic and Monguno town.

“It is the same thing when you go to Marte. There is no single civilian in the entire community but the troops are guarding the headquarters. So, I am appealing to the government to deploy more troops to the northern part of the state. I will like to urge the federal government to urgently look into this insecurity we are facing in the state,” the speaker said.

He, however, thanked the military for their sacrifices in the region and urged them to scale up their onslaught against insurgents in the Lake Chad area.

Earlier, the chairman of Guzamala youth expressed concerns over prolonged insecurity situation and pointed out that the indigenes were tired of staying at IDP camps and pleaded with the speaker to amplify their plight.