BORNO: Whoever said we didn’t get military clearance is ignorant, insensitive — Zabarmari Head

THE Village Head of Zabarmari, Zaanna Bukar, has said  blaming the massacre that happened in the village on November 28, on the farmers for not getting clearance from the military, is not just insensitive, but reeks of ignorance.

Bukar said this in reaction to the comment made by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in the wake of the killing of 43 rice farmers in Zabarmari, Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists.

The village head, who claimed to have been living in the Zabarmari for the past 53 years, noted that the settlement used to be a calm and peaceful place before the incursion of terrorists into their territory.

The father of 17 children revealed this in an interview with Punch newspaper.

He said the residents of the village don’t allow people of questionable characters to live with them.

“Military clearance you say? Well, whoever made that statement is ignorant of happenings around this village. If you do a fact-check on Zabarmari, you will discover that we have been living in peace and tranquility despite the challenges of insurgency around us,”, said Bukar.

He added, “Though we have had instances when the terrorists burnt our farmlands, killed some of our brothers and even stole our cows, which we use for farming and transporting our produce, but we have never had any security threat that would make us seek security clearance to go about our daily activities, except of course, when the Army is going on patrol or they feel it is not safe, they will tell us to hold on for them to go clear the bush before they can let us go to the farms, but if not so, we have never been stopped from going to our farms on the ground of security clearance.”

Bukar said 45 youths, mostly within the ages of 13 and 28, were slaughtered and their heads completely severed from the body on Saturday.

He, however, added that another 34 bodies were recovered and brought to the village for burial during subsequent search after Saturday.