Governor of Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, led relatives and residents to bury the 43 farmers slaughtered by the Boko Haram insurgents.
The funeral held at the Zabarmari area of Borno early morning on Sunday, according to a statement from the state government.
The statement was titled, ‘Zabarmari: Zulum leads horrified kinsmen to bury 43 farmers killed by Boko Haram’, on Sunday.
The victims lived in Zabarmari, a farming community in Jere Local Government Area, famous for rice cultivation and local processing.
They were attacked on Saturday, at Koshebe village, a place in Mafa Local Government Area.
Zulum, during his visit, was told that the death toll was yet to be fully ascertained.
“Your Excellency, as you have seen here, 43 corpses were buried, but others have not been retrieved from the scene of the incident. Nobody can tell you the exact number of people killed. Some of the victims are still missing,” a resident was quoted as telling the governor.
Zulum, who subsequently addressed the bereaved community, said people were living in “very difficult situations”.
The statement quoted the governor as saying, “It is disheartening that more than 40 citizens were slaughtered while they were working in their farmlands. Our people are in very difficult situations, they are in two different extreme conditions, on one side they stay at home they may be killed by hunger and starvation, on the other, they go out to their farmlands and risk getting killed by the insurgents.
“This is very sad. We are still appealing to the Federal Government to ensure the recruitment of more of our youths in the CJTF and hunters into the Nigerian military and the Civil Defence so that they can form part of the agro rangers that will protect farmers. We need many boots to protect farmlands and our youths understand the terrain. We will not lose hope because we have to remain optimistic about ending the insurgency,” Zulum said.
