THE Abubakar Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram insurgents says the militants killed 78 farmers in Kwashebe Zabarmari axis of Jere Local Government Area of Borno State because the farmers arrested and handed one of its brothers to the Nigerian Army.
This is contained in a three-minute and thirty-seven-second video released by the insurgents to claim responsibility for the killings on Tuesday.
The group also warned that those arresting their members and giving out intelligence on their activities to the military will face the same fate if they did not desist from doing so.
“You think you can nab our brother and hand him to soldiers and live in peace,” a veiled man asked in the video.
“You think Allah will forget what you have done to our brother.”
“The third message is on those who notoriously nab our brethren and hand them to the military or give them a clue on us, you should know that, unless you repent, what happened to your people is awaiting you.”
The ICIR had reported on Saturday how about 43 rice farmers were brutally murdered on Saturday.
A BBC report says the deceased were attacked, tied and beheaded by the Boko Haram insurgents while they were harvesting rice on their farms.
However, the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, said in a statement on Sunday that the numbers of people that were killed were 110. He also added that many others were wounded with several women being kidnapped by the insurgents.
While describing that the incident was the most “violent direct attack against innocent civilians this year, he called that the perpetrators be brought to book.
President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement issued by Garba Shehu, his senior special assistant on Media and Publicity on Sunday, described the incident as senseless and insane.
He said the government has given all the needed support to the armed forces “to take all necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory.
Subsequently, the government has blamed international partners for the reason it is yet to successfully prosecute the war against Boko Haram insurgency in the northeastern region.
Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, stated this to newsmen on Monday in Makurdi
Mohammed said the Buhari administration has made an attempt to acquire a better platform to prosecute the war but it has been denied this support for some unknown reasons.
While stressing that there is a need for more global support to tackle terrorism, he stated that without adequate weapons, the nation will remain at the mercy of terrorists.
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