The Speaker, Borno State House of Assembly, Hon. AbdulKarim Lawan, has faulted claims made by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and the immediate-past Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin that all the 27 local government areas, (LGAs) in the State have been liberated and fully under the control of military troops.
Lawan yesterday disclosed that the entire Guzamala LGAs where he hails from, is still under the control of Boko Haram sect.
Lawan, who spoke at Guzamala Concerned Stakeholders meeting in Maiduguri on their continued stay in resettlement camps and other host communities for several years, said, there is no existence of civil life in Guzamala, not to even talk of military presence in the Council Headquarters and its surrounding communities that are not dominated by armed Boko Haram fighters.
He said, although, he has been agitating for military presence in Guzamala to enable his displaced people take the advantage of Gov. Babagana Zulums move in Reconstruction and Resettlement, but to no avail, as Guzamala is still a no go area.
He further added that “even in the whole of the 10 LGAs in the entire Northern Borno, people only exist in the nine (9) council headquarters, but not in wards or villages, as most people from Northern-Borno, including their Imams, traditional rulers and stakeholders resides in Maiduguri and other host communities”.
The Assembly Speaker however appealed to the new Service Chiefs led by the new CDS, Gen. Leo Irabor, to put in their best to restore civil presence in Guzamala and its surrounding communities so that his people will go back and resettle to continue their normal lives.
