Zulum resorts to liquid fertilisers

Boko Haram terrorists have killed three farmers working on their farmlands in Gajeri village, Konduga Local Council of Borno State.

The bodies of the farmers, who were killed on Wednesday, were recovered on the fringe of Sambisa Forest.

Confirming the incident, yesterday, in Maiduguri, the Theatre Commander, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), Maj-Gen. Christopher Musa disclosed that the slain farmers had deep machete cuts and bullet wounds on their bodies.

He added that the terrorists, who rode on motorcycles, demanded food items before they could continue with their nefarious activities in Borno communities.

According to him, when the farmers could not meet the demand for food, the bandits shot them.

The insurgents also reportedly butchered two farmers, who survived the gun attack, with cutlasses.

Modu Aisami, a survivor, lamented that one of the farmers escaped with gunshot wounds.

He disclosed that terrorists were suspected to have burst from Gazuwa community in Bama Council.

Troops of 21 Armoured Brigade, Bama, in collaboration with Civilian JTF, on August 2, 2022, stormed a Boko Haram camp and neutralised scores of terrorists.

The OPHK sustained strategic counter-terrorism operations have fuelled “hunger and starvation” in the various Boko Haram camps in the Sambisa forest and the Lake Chad region.

“The operations have forced them to resort to attacking villages and farms to get more foodstuff, money, and medicines among others,” said Musa.

MEANWHILE, following the Federal Government’s ban on Urea and NPK in the North East, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has resorted to liquid fertilisers.

According to him, unlike other states in the region, Borno was unable to procure and distribute fertilisers, as Boko Haram use them for making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

While monitoring farming activities in four local councils, yesterday, Zulum disclosed: “There was an existing ban on fertilisers by the Federal Government through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).”

The governor, a professor in irrigation farming, interacted with small-holder farmers, asking them how their problems could be addressed for increased productivity.

“We were unable to procure and distribute Urea and NPK fertilisers to our farmers,” he said, explaining that there was an existing ban on them in the state.

He, therefore, noted that it would not augur well for the state government to procure and distribute fertilisers, unlike in the neighbouring states of Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe.(The Guardian)

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