Borno State has become a theatre of sorrow and blood. In another orgy of killings, some extremists affiliated to the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorist groups attacked and killed 40 farmers on January 12, 2025. Many others reportedly escaped the attack but their whereabouts remain unknown. The insurgents were said to have rounded up dozens of the farmers who reportedly strayed off safe zones at Dumba in Kukawa Local Government Area (LGA) on the shores of Lake Chad and killed them.
The Borno State government has ordered soldiers to track and obliterate the terrorist group operating in Dumba and environs. The state governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, has assured that “the military will take the necessary steps to ensure justice is served. Those responsible for this heinous act will be hunted down.” He asked farmers and fishermen to operate within the safe corridors designated by the military.
The killing of 40 farmers in Borno State is one killing too many. In 2019, Boko Haram insurgents killed over 70 people at a funeral in Badu, Nganzai in Borno State. In 2020, the same insurgents invaded a farm in Zabarmari village in Jere LGA of Borno State and killed over 67 farm workers. In the same 2020, the terrorists attacked the convoy of Professor Zulum near Baga town on the shores of Lake Chad. They planted multiple improvised explosive devices on the road, killing at least 18 people, including soldiers and policemen. Earlier in February 2020, the insurgents killed no fewer than 30 people after setting several trucks carrying passengers ablaze in Auno in Borno State.
In 2023, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) killed no fewer than 30 fishermen and farmers who were on fishing and wood-cutting activities in Mukdolo village in Ngala LGA of Borno State. A similar attack at Firgi community in Gwoza LGA of the state left unspecified number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) dead in July 2024.
Earlier in February last year, insurgents had abducted hundreds of IDPs who ventured out of their safe area to search for firewood in Ngala LGA of Borno State. The same last year, suicide bomb attacks in Gwoza LGA of the state left scores of civilians dead and many others injured. Boko Haram often uses female suicide bombers to prosecute its war against the government and people of Nigeria. These are the same people who abducted about 276 schoolgirls from their hostel in Chibok, Borno State, in April 2014. Close to 100 of the girls are still in captivity.
Recently, some of these insurgents ambushed a military patrol in the same Borno State. They failed to accomplish their aim as soldiers killed 34 of them. Unfortunately, six soldiers also died in the confrontation. Experts estimate that over 40, 000 people have been killed and over two million others displaced by terrorist groups since the Boko Haram insurgency started in Nigeria in 2009.
These killings are prompted by nothing but a strange and evil doctrine. Boko Haram adherents believe Western education is a sin. Not only this, they derive joy in inflicting sorrow on innocent citizens whose only sin is struggling to eke out a living mainly through fishing or farming.
Incidentally, this wanton killing of farmers and fishermen will worsen the food insecurity which has ravaged many parts of Nigeria, especially the North. It will also impact on Nigeria’s performance on the global terrorism index. In the 2023 Global Terrorism Index, for instance, the country ranked 8th among the top 10 countries with highest level of terrorism in the world.
It is worthy to note that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) condemned the recent attacks in Borno. In a statement, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, said he was horrified by the mass killings. On behalf of the UN in Nigeria, Fall conveyed his deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wished the injured a speedy recovery. Those who perpetrated the act, he added, must be identified and brought to account in compliance with national and international human rights laws. The UN, he noted, remained committed to supporting affected people to complement government efforts. He called for enhanced security measures and urged parties to the conflict to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians from harm.
We also condemn the recent killing of farmers in Borno State and urge the government to take a more decisive action against insurgents in the North and elsewhere in the country. It should not only recruit more soldiers to fight the war, it should also equip them with sophisticated weapons to enable them defeat the terrorists.
Our security agencies should put in extra efforts to police our borders in order to prevent terrorists from neighbouring countries from infiltrating our country. Farmers and other citizens should refrain from straying into unsafe zones to avoid being victims of the murderous tendencies of the insurgents.