Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has disclosed that he has survived no fewer than 40 attacks by insurgents in the state.
The governor made this disclosure on Tuesday at a briefing with State House correspondents shortly after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
‘I was attacked more than 40, 50 times,’ said the governor while responding to questions from the reporters. ‘I know the magnitude of this problem.’ he added.
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He went on to lament the impact of the over one decade-long insurgency which he said has gravely affected the livelihood of the people of the state.
‘We have estimated a total number of over 50,000 orphans and widows; these are official figures, the unofficial figures are more than these, and we were able to cultivate not more than three percent of our total arable land because of the insurgents.
‘And right now, the whereabouts of not less than 10 percent of the people of Borno State is not known to all of us – at all. This is a very serious matter,’ Governor Zulum lamented.
Recently, military authorities said troops have intensified onslaught against the members of the Boko Haram sect and the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the North East.
This, according to them, has forced the insurgents to flee from their hideouts with hundreds of them surrendering their arms to the troops.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK