Corpses litter Borno villages

Boko Haram

The residents of Borno State have raised fears of possible epidemic in parts of the state with the high number of corpses littering some villages, which were attacked last week by the Boko Haram insurgents.

Leaders of the affected communities have already raised the alarm about possible epidemic because the people have not been able to bury the corpses because of the presence of the insurgents in the villages.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting of stakeholders of affected areas in the Gwoza Local Government Area, held in Maiduguri, the district head of one of the wards under siege, Lawan John, who was compelled to relocate to Maiduguri, said that 109 people had so far been buried since the attacks started.

“Corpses still littered our villages because we didn’t have access to the villages as the insurgents were still hanging around,” John said.

According to him, many of their people are trapped in the mountains and hills and they are without food to eat for days.

“They rely on people from Pogu village, who go there to give them food; and right now there is no food left in the village,” the district head added.

He said in some of the villages, the insurgents were still moving around on motorcycles and shooting anybody who attempted to descend from the mountain.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people have been displaced within the last one week following the incessant attacks on communities in the Gwoza Local Government Area by the Boko Haram insurgents.

More than 150 persons were recently killed in different communities in the area with hundreds of house razed by the rampaging insurgents that stormed several villages in Gwoza local government.

Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, representing Southern Borno district in the National Assembly, who called the meeting of the stakeholders of area, lamented that his people were made to go through untold hardship and that over 1,000 persons had been displaced.

Speaking on behalf of the stakeholders to journalists, Ndume said killings and burning of property had continued in some of the villages, including Gavva, Agapalagu, Chikide, Dushwale, Ngoshe and Ashigashiya.

“We are here to salvage the condition of our people. As a quick solution, we have sought for military intervention in six wards in Gwoza East that are currently under siege and as I am speaking to you now, there is no military presence in these areas except in Pulka, but we have been pressing on the security agencies to salvage the situation,” the senator said.

PUNCH