The North East Civil Society Forum has condemned Saturday’s massacre of 43 rice farmers in Zabarmari area of Borno by insurgents.
The farmers mostly from Zabarmari community of Jere Local Government Area were killed while harvesting their farms in neighbouring Koshebe village.
A statement by Chairman of the forum, Ambassador Ahmed Shehu, tasked Federal Government to wake up to its responsibility to protect lives and properties of citizens.
“The civil society strongly condemned this dastardly act on innocent citizens. The minimum a government can do is to protect its citizens, anything short of this is failur. This is one attack too many,” Shehu said.
He noted that the Sultan of Sokoto had already pointed out the disturbing insecurity situation in the north when he described the north as the most insecure region in the country where bandits and insurgents are operating with impunity.
“And now 43 people were slaughtered with no fault of theirs and as usual nothing tangible will come out as response.
“The highest response will be statement of condemnation and letter of condolence and one-off support with no strategic plan to mitigate future occurrences.
“The civil society condemns the act and will consult widely and respond appropriately,” Shehu said.
