By Ife Osemedua
It was a gory sight at Zabarmari Community in Borno State on Sunday, November 28, 2020, as the bodies of 43 farmers who were beheaded by members of the Boko Haram terrorist group were buried.
Boko Haram had horrendously beheaded the farmers in Koshebe village, a place in Mafa Local Government Area, not far from Maiduguri, the state capital.
Governor of the state, Prof. Babagana Zulum, led relatives and residents of the community in performing the funeral rites of the slain farmers which held at Zabarmari on Sunday morning, according to a statement from the state government.
A resident who briefed the governor about the incident, said, “Your Excellency, as you have seen here, 43 corpses were buried, but others have not been retrieved from the scene of the incident. Nobody can tell you the exact number of people killed. Some of the victims are still missing.”
365Daily gathered that the incident happened on Saturday night, same day the residents of the state voted to elect local government council officials for the first time in 13 years.
According to a source, the farmers were killed by the dreaded sect while harvesting their crops, eliciting widespread condemnation across the nation.
Addressing the bereaved community, Zulum said people were living in “very difficult situations”, as they have no safe place to hide from the onslaught of terrorists.
“It is disheartening that more than 40 citizens were slaughtered while they were working in their farmlands.
“Our people are in very difficult situations, they are in two different extreme conditions, on one side they stay at home they may be killed by hunger and starvation, on the other, they go out to their farmlands and risk getting killed by the insurgents.
“This is very sad. We are still appealing to the Federal Government to ensure the recruitment of more of our youths in the CJTF and hunters into the Nigerian military and the Civil Defence so that they can form part of the agro rangers that will protect farmers. We need many boots to protect farmlands and our youths understand the terrain. We will not lose hope because we have to remain optimistic about ending the insurgency,” Zulum said.
President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, expressed grief over the killing of the farmers, describing the act as insane.
“I condemn the killing of our hardworking farmers by terrorists in Borno State. The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings. My thoughts are with their families in this time of grief. May their souls Rest In Peace.”
President Buhari also said the government had given all the needed support to the armed forces “to take all necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory.”