Group claims Buhari lied on conquest of Sambisa Forest as Adamawa Gov threatens to close IDPs in the state
A group, the Wailing Wailers, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to be sincere about the claims on the capture of the Sambisa Forest and the fight against insurgents. The Wailers, in a statement said the President’s claim was not exactly true. The group noted that just few days after the victory announcement, a suicide bomb incident claimed several lives.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Sani Ringim, the group admonished Buhari to be sincere with the state of things regarding the insurgents group.
Meanwhile, the Adamawa State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Jibrilla, has alleged that Boko Haram fighters fleeing Sambisa Forest were attempting to infiltrate his state. He disclosed this at security meeting in his state where he was represented by the Deputy Governor, Engr Martins Babale. The governor alleged that the fleeing terrorists were trying to infiltrate some communities in the state so as to continue with their evil plots.
According to the Governor: “the insurgents are on the run from ground zero which has been defeated, and they are running to hide in communities of the state to continue their nefarious activities of killing innocent people.” He called on all residents of the state to watch out for strange faces among them.
The governor also disclosed that he would close all Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps in the state in January 2017 and relocate all IDPs to their various places. He expressed displeasure with the continuous existence of IDPs in camps in the state.
“We will take steps including encouraging them to settle in villages; we will collaborate with all stakeholders to make sure that between now and January 30th, everyone has left the camps,” he said.
Full statement of the Wailers: “We were elated by the news that the deadly and notorious hideout of the dreaded Boko Haram Terrorist has been cleared by the men of the Nigerian Army. This news is indeed a sign of great relief for many Nigerians, especially the Nigerian Wailers who want the good people of this country to enjoy genuine peaceful coexistence under a democratic Nigeria.
“Ordinarily, we would have issued a Press Statement to this effect since days ago, to expressly congratulate the President for this laudable achievement in the dreaded Sambisa Forest.
“Unlike the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who went ahead to salute the President, we were restrained by the lack of independent source to corroborate the government claims.
“More so, that some things were not so clear to us, and needed more clear explanations from the presidency, which of course were not forth coming.
“As the news broke out that Sambisa has fallen and as such insurgency has ended, we were happy even without any credible source of verification and independent confirmation. But unfortunately, the next day, the same defeated Boko Haram detonated Bomb that claimed the lives of many Nigerians in Borno State.
“Our expectations were that for the Presidency to have put out such information declaring the fall of Sambisa and an end to Boko Haram, there should be no more Bombing. We have become very skeptical of Buhari’s administration by virtue of its antecedents.
“From the start of this government, there have been a lot of controversies, which revealed the government’s preference for half-truth, Propaganda, blatant lies and misinformation as clearly indicated in the N180m budget set aside for their social media thugs who are fond of spreading lies in their dealings with Nigerians.
“These are why we are critical of anything the Buhari administration says about any progress they claimed to have made. Recall that When Buhari came to power, he told the whole world that he met empty treasury which was later proved to be a clear lie to Nigerians.
“The same empty treasury was where Buhari doled out huge sum as bail-out to States, especially the APC controlled states. But, we know this was compensations for the billions spent on Buhari’s election from these states’ resources. Monies they should have put to good use to serve their people, but was diverted to support Buhari’s election in 2015
“The same Buhari told Nigerians that the last administration did not buy any arms for the fight against Boko Haram; that also turned out to be a very big lie. The countries where arms and ammunitions were purchased came out to say that the last administration did bought arms with evidences
“Till date Buhari has not answered the question of which ammunition were the armies used and are still using to fight against the Boko Haram or whether they are using their bare hands to fight? In the 2015 budget, which was implemented by Buhari and the 2016 budget, there is no trace or evidence that Buhari purchased any new arms and ammunitions. That is since he resumed office on May 29th, 2015. But he is fond of misinforming Nigerians that our armies were dying because of lack of ammunition. So, if he now claimed that Sambisa has fallen, which ammunitions did the army used to achieve that feat or did Sambisa fall by the use of sorcery powers?
“Recall that two separate videos of army officers starving of foods, waters and medics were circulated few days ago online.
“If that was the reality, does anyone think with such conditions, the army will be able to face the Boko Haram? Again, we were made to believe that the kidnapped Chibok girls were camped in Sambisa Forest. The expectation was that all the girls should have been rescued upon the fall of Sambisa Forest.
“But that is not the case today, which poses a big question on the FG’s claims. At one time, same Buhari who said the girls had been dispersed came up later with another claim that they are still held captive by the Boko Haram in Sambisa forest. The double tongue is also a source of worry for us as a group. The press Statement issued by the Presidency claiming end of Boko Haram and fall of Sambisa was later recalled and reversed, when Boko Haram bombed Maiduguri few days later.
“We are now asking if President Buhari and his ruling APC are unsure of the true state of happening on the issue of Boko Haram insurgency and Sambisa or they are being mischievous just to have an achievement recorded as the year gets to the dead end?
“President Buhari was quoted by news media in 2014 to have said that Boko Haram should not be killed. He went further, as quoted, saying that “the war against Boko Haram is a war against the north.
“This could only suggest that President Buhari might not be unaware of the creation of Boko Haram, by all his public remarks.
“Interestingly, Boko Haram members once named him as their representative in the amnesty and dialogue panel constituted by the last administration. We are also aware of the famous line of President Buhari “The Dog and Baboon will soak in Blood if he is not declared winner of election
“We are calling on President Buhari to be sincere on the issue of Sambisa and the purported end to Boko Haram menace in Nigeria. A genuine victory against Boko Haram is a victory for all Nigerians, but the President must be honest to let Nigerians know the true position, efforts being made, and progress so far in ending the scourge.
“There were accusations that President Buhari has gagged the Main Stream media from reporting the activities of Boko Haram. But he must know that, under reporting their activities will do no good to Nigerians, because we have heard in the news that in addition to Sambisa, the terrorists have set up other camps around Bauchi, Kaduna and other Northern states.
“The government must be open and transparent to allow citizens to collaborate with the security forces when and where necessary.
“Nigerians should not be made to celebrate a mere relocation of Boko Haram insurgents from one location to another when in the true sense the ugly scourge is still very much active in Nigeria, when Shekau has not been captured, Chibok girls has not returned, the issues of many factions of Boko Haram that spread all over the North has not been resolved, e.t.c.
“We are desperately hoping for an end to all the internal security threats such as Boko Haram, Fulani Terrorism, Niger Delta militancy and other forms of security threats around the country. But the President must be sincere in all his effort towards ending them.
“We don’t want sponsored newspapers and TV adverts reporting of ending them, while in reality Boko Haram, Fulani Herdsmen that went on rampage days ago to massacre the peace loving Southern Kaduna People and other insurgence are still on their killing sprees and wasting the bloods of innocent Nigerians.”