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Borno Massacre: Garba Shehu justifies Presidency’s comment blaming farmers
BY NICHOLAS ABE
The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has justified his earlier comment that the 43 farmers slaughtered by Boko Haram in Zabarmari, Borno State, at the weekend, did not get clearance from the army to access the rice farms, effectively blaming them for their deaths.
“Much of those areas have been liberated from Boko Haram terrorists but there are a number of spaces that have not been cleared for the return of villagers who have been displaced. So, ideally, all of these places ought to pass the test of military clearances before farmers or settlers resume activities on those fields,” Shehu had told BBC World Service on Monday.
Asked whether he was blaming the farmers for going to the area, Shehu said: “Not exactly but the truth has to be said. Was there any clearance by the military which is in total control of those areas? Did anybody ask to resume activity? I have been told by the military leaders that they had not been so advised and certainly, therefore, it was a window that the terrorists exploited.”
Shehu’s ill-thought out comment was rightly perceived as insensitive to the memory of the brutally murdered citizens by a good number of Nigerians who expressed their disgust on Twitter, to the total lack of conscience by the presidential spokesman.
“Garba Shehu blames the dead Borno farmers, says they didn’t get clearance to farm; Army blames Borno people, says the people sabotage them; Lai Mohammed blames “global partners” for not selling weapons, though we have guns to shoot protesters. When will this Govt blame itself? @DrOlufunmilayo queried in a tweet on the trending hashtag, #Garba Shehu.
Another contributor tweeting from the handle @Mohnice, said: “President Buhari closed borders and asked people to go back to farm, now he sent Garba shehu to start blaming the same people for not getting clearance from army before going to their farms This is pathetic to the highest order!!! There is God.”
For @Abdulhamied_AA: “Garba Shehu should be ashamed of himself by now and he should be sacked by bringing shame on the front door office of Buhari. His speech is the most irresponsible statement I’ve heard so far. He’s indirectly justifying the killings that claimed several lives. Garba You’re evil.”
Youths Against Oppression @YAO_Nigeria raised a call for action: “With the alarming rate of bloodletting under @MBuhari regime & the animalistic utterances from Garba Shehu, there might be no one left by 2023. Waiting till 2023 is suicidal! we must begin to take collective actions now as citizens as these (this) regime want to drive us into extinction.”
But Lil_momed @mohd_hub laced the seriousness of his criticism with some humour: “Dear, Garba shehu please where can I get clearance form? I want to go to market.”
READ: Is Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, a mole?
The presidential aide, obviously not seeing anything wrong in his earlier comment blaming the farmers for their woes, followed up with a defence that only succeeded in getting him deeper into the hole, later in the day.
He said in a statement on his Twitter handle: “Today, I found myself leading the trends in the social media for the wrong reasons.
“The State of Borno is essentially a military zone up till now that we are talking and much of what people do; much of where they go are governed by the exigencies of security.
“Routinely, traders, administration officials and even UN agencies get the green light to go to many of the areas to avoid trouble.
“Information from security agencies says that the Zabarmari marshlands are infested with land mines and movements in around those areas subject to military oversight.
“No one is delighted with the massacre in Zabarmari and there is nothing anybody will gain by playing blame games.
“The question I tried to answer on BBC was: did the security sign off on the area as being free of mines and terrorists? The honest answer is, no.
“I’m human with tons of compassion and empathy, and could not have said that the victims deserved their fate for ignoring security clearance.
“I was merely explaining the mode of military operations in the war zone of the Northeast. There are areas that are still volatile that require security clearance which is intended to put people out of harm’s way.
“When tragedies occur, questions arise in terms of how something happened in order to avoid future recurrence. Informing the military of our movements in an area of volatility and uncertainty is intended to preserve public safety.
“Explaining why something happened doesn’t mean I have no sympathy for the victims. I was just explaining the military procedures on the safe movement of the people and not supporting the death of the victims.”