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Influx of aliens, a time-bomb in Adamawa State

One of the prominent groups that added their voice to the call for caution on the state government to nip in the bud, the incessant…

One of the prominent groups that added their voice to the call for caution on the state government to nip in the bud, the incessant cases of influx of immigrants is the Adamawa Elders Forum. The group has alleged that foreign grazers from the North East sub-region were periodically imported and resettled on farm lands that belong to indigenous farmers by the Nyako-led government in some parts of the 21 local government areas of the state.

As if that is not enough, at the tail end of last year too, other concerned stakeholders and commentators mainly from the state, equally issued press statements, lampooning the authorities over the same allegation. This last group went a step further to allege that, the current government, knowing fully well it’s waning popularity among the people, ahead of the just concluded national Voter Registration Exercise by INEC, resorted to importing foreign nationals from Niger, Cameroon and the Republic of Chad who are oblivious of the happenings in the state to come and register as voters, and subsequently cast their votes in favour of the PDP governorship candidate in the April 2011 general election.

They are to also serve as thugs and ballot box snatchers, using dangerous assorted weapons they allegedly brought with them from their countries of origin.

It is against this background that the state’s governorship candidate on the platform of  the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Engr. Markus Gundiri at a recent press conference in Yola expressed concern with the way and manner INEC officials allegedly registered foreigners around boundary communities in Adamawa state. Though he commended INEC for timely resolution of the initial hiccups associated with the DDC machines nationwide, he, however, lamented over media reports that indicted INEC on the manner some Cameroonian and Nigerien citizens in the border communities who relocated to neighbouring villages in Adamawa through the influence of the powers that be, got themselves registered in the just-concluded voter registration exercise.

Personally, my worry in all these is the insensitivity of the authorities to the security of lives and property of the people they claim to protect. Although it is obvious, the Adamawa government cannot come out publicly to accept responsibility for these lapses as alleged, but why the long silence on the part of the federal government and her relevant agencies? Are the authorities waiting for the time bomb to explode like the sectarian, political and reprisal attacks before they react? This is unacceptable.

I do not think the present government in Adamawa, especially, is fair to its citizens. This observation is necessitated by the fact that since its sojourn in 2007, her citizens expected that the administration would be responsive and responsible to the collective aspiration of its supposed electorate.

But alas, what they are getting instead is a government that is not living upto expectation. If not so, how can it explain the alleged importation of foreigners? What can the government show as footprints on the sands of time so far?

As you read this piece, foreign nationals in their hundreds who claim to have relocated from some states in the North West zone of Nigeria, are currently dispossessing farmlands of traditional farm owners in Guyaku, Pirkasa and other surrounding villages of Gombi LGA. When this writer visited some of these villages to see things for himself, he noticed truck loads of foreign nationals who claim to be Nigerians that have obtained the state government’s approval to relocate from their former abode in Kebbi, Zamfara and Sokoto states to a new location in Gombi LGA.

According to media reports monitored in Yola recently, due to the involvement of these nationals in the just concluded voter registration exercise, its outcome may not be authentic. This means the forthcoming election may not be free and fair as envisaged by Nigerians. That aside, it is also my considered opinion that before the stage is set for ethnic and communal clashes between local farmers in Adamawa and imported aliens, it is most appropriate for the authorities to wake up from their slumber and act fast.

Wabundani can be reached on E-mail: [email protected]

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