Expdonaloaded News; Boko Haram: Displaced persons resist plan to relocate them to Jigawa

No fewer than 40 buses brought by security men to relocate about 1,400 victims of Boko Haram insurgency from Edo State to Jigawa and Kano states returned empty at the weekend, as the victims resisted relocation.The displaced persons said they preferred to remain in their present location at Uhogua community in Ovia North East Local Government Area of the state where they were being cared for by the International Christian Centre, insisting that whatever the Federal Government had for them as Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) should be brought to them.

“Let them help those that are still suffering; those hiding in the mountains. We that have been rescued should be left here. They should bring the help to us here,” one of the victims said.
They told the security men that they had started a new life in the camp and that rather than taking them to ‘unknown’ place, they should be catered for where they were presently.
Indeed, it was both pathetic and emotional sight when security officials from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), police and Department of State Security Services (DSS) attempted to evacuate the victims last Saturday
Many of the victims broke down in tears when they were informed of the move and insisted that they would not leave, even as some of the security officials also broke down in tears after listening to some of the stories of the victims.
Commenting on the development, the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Maimuna Momodu, said she was not aware of any plan to relocate the victims but was told by the security officials that the instruction to relocate them was from the Presidency.
It was learnt that the decision to relocate the victims came from the Presidency, following plans to get a correct data of the IDPs across the country.