The Defence Headquarters, on Monday, denied the report released by the United Nations that no fewer than 110 civilians were slaughtered by Boko Haram terrorists during Saturday’s attack on farmers in the Jere Local Government Area of Borno State.
The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche, who appeared on Channels Television’s morning show: Sunrise Daily, maintained that only 43 rice farmers were murdered contrary to the UN’s report.
According to him, as of Monday morning, 43 corpses were recovered from the incident scene in the Zabarmari area, adding that the troops counted the corpses together with the locals and 43 deaths were recorded.
Daily Trust had reported that death toll recorded from the incident has now hit 110 according to the UN’s report – a situation that has renewed calls for the sack of service chiefs.
Speaking further on the programme monitored by our correspondent, Enenche explained that he contacted the field commandants to give him the synopsis of what happened, noting that search for more remains of victims is still on.
He said, “I knew it (the issue) is going to come up particularly because it is coming from the United Nations and not a source that does not want to be identified. This is a source that has identified itself that a 110 specifically (were murdered).
“They gave me a synopsis of what happened. When the governor was to go (to the scene) and after they had recovered the dead, the troops had to move in there and they counted 43. Of course, some people ran into the bush and they started coming back and trickling in.
“As at 2pm yesterday (Sunday), I called them and they got back to me at about 7 pm yesterday, still counting, looking if they will recover (more corpses). We call it Exploitation after Action Review.
“Probably we may count up to the figure he (Kallon) gave in the future but as it is now, what we have counted with the locals is still 43 and we are hoping that we don’t get beyond that. This is the real situation. I did not sleep, we had to follow it because this is very relevant coming from the United Nations.”
