Chibok residents raise alarm over recurring attacks, abductions

Residents of Chibok in Borno State have raised an alarm over recurring attacks in the area which has led to the killing of four people and abduction of 24 people, mostly girls.

The National President Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), Dauda Ndirpaya Illiya, while addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, said insurgents in coordinated attacks in January have looted 11 shops, burnt over 20 houses and destroyed two churches.

He said the recent attacks threaten the survival of the communities in the area as food and women cogent for the development of communities are targets of the insurgents.

“Since the mass abduction of our 276 daughters in April 2014, wherein we still have 110 of them still unaccounted for; Chibok has been for all intents and purposes abandoned by all layers of the government in Nigeria,” he said, adding that parents are still expecting the remaining abducted schoolgirls.

He said between 2012 and 2022, communities in the area were attacked over 72 times with more than 407 people killed and over 332 people abducted. He said 20 churches were also burnt and grain barns burnt or destroyed during the attacks.

“Chibok is a predominantly agrarian community and the whole year’s harvests have been lost to these sustained and targeted attacks posing serious food security concerns in the community,” he said. 

“Just this year alone, Kautikari was attacked on January 14 with five girls abducted and three persons killed. In sustaining their carnage, Piyemi, another big town in the Chibok area was attacked on January 20 with 19 persons (mostly girls) abducted and the vigilante leader killed. The town was practically razed and virtually recently harvested agricultural produce completely burnt down or looted,” he said.

While calling for synergy between security forces and the government, he urged the federal government to immediately set up Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Chibok to address the influx of the people into the community from affected places in the area.

The group’s Director Media and Communication Dr. Allen Manasseh said the residents have been supporting the government and security forces with the provision of intelligence and mobilisation of vigilante members.