10,000 flee Baga, Doro, others

Over 10,000 residents of Baga, Doro, Mile 4 and about 10 villages, all in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno fled their homes over the last one week, following the capture of their communities by Boko Haram insurgents penultimate Friday.

The executive chairman, Borno State Management Agency (SEMA), Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, told newsmen at Monguno yesterday that 7,000 of the fleeing farmers and fishermen had moved to Monguno while 2,900 have proceeded to Maiduguri where they have been shared to IDP camps in the metropolis.

These figures, Daily Trust on Sunday however learnt, excluded those who fled to Yobe and those still in the bush making their way to Maiduguri and Monguno.

Up to yesterday morning, those fleeing from Baga, Doro Mile 4 and other communities, are entering Monguno in droves, most of them through bush paths.

The Borno State government has shipped in 30 trucks of food items and other emergency relief materials to Monguno which, according to Governor Kashim Shettima, who went to commiserate with them, has over 250,000 people, mainly internally displaced persons in about 12 camps.

According to Lawan Mohammed and Hassan Salihu, Director and Joint Secretary of Monguno Local Government Jamaatu Nasril Islam respectively, said three days after the insurgents invaded the communities, they attempted invading Monguno, but troops repelled them.

Last Wednesday, SEMA urgently shipped in 12,000 loaves of bread to Monguno which Daily Trust on Sunday reliably gathered were diverted and sold at open markets.

A large percentage of the loaves, it was further learnt, was immediately retrieved and SEMA is directly distributing it.