While Displaced Persons Starve To Death, Soldiers And Police Officers In Gun Battle Over IDPs Rice

There was a fracas between soldiers and policemen yesterday at the Government House in Maiduguri over rice being distributed to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

One policeman and scores of civilians awaiting their rice allocations were injured.

A witness, Adamu Saleh, told Daily Trust that trouble started when policemen tried to prevent some soldiers from taking away rice meant for the IDPs, insisting that the soldiers must come with duly completed allocation forms like every other person.

“Yesterday, so many soldiers came without forms and took away several bags of rice. They wanted to do same today when the policemen tried to prevent them. One of the soldiers threatened to use the heavy gun mounted on their truck on the policemen. Almost immediately, a soldier shot a policeman on the foot while the policemen arrested two soldiers and forced them into the Government House,” he said.

A joint statement signed by Colonel S.B Kumapaiye, the Commander, Army 7 Division Garrison, Operation Lafiya Dole and the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Aminchi Samaila Baraya, confirmed a fracas between a soldier and a policeman around the office of the deputy governor over a disagreement which led to the shooting of a policeman on his foot. The policeman, according to the statement, is responding to treatment and has been visited by the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Leo Irabor and the Commissioner of Police, Aminchi Baraya.

The statement said the distribution of rice to IDPs in Maiduguri and Jere metropolis which began on June 19 and was expected to take place at 28 wards of the two LGAs was overtaken by hoodlums who overpowered the committee and made away with many bags of rice.

As a result, officials shifted the exercise to two premises around the office of the Deputy Governor outside the Government House in order to ensure security while beneficiaries were identified and issued allocation notes to give them access to the distribution centers.

“The exercise had gone smoothly since Sunday with some wards covered, until the unfortunate development today (Thursday),” the statement said. It added that an investigation had started to ensure that anyone found culpable among the security men are made to face disciplinary measures.

Meanwhile, Internationally renowned charity group, doctors without borders, MSF says that about 200 refugees fleeing Boko Haram militants have starved to death over the past month in Bama, Borno State.

The MSF says that a catastrophic humanitarian emergency is unfolding at a camp it visited where 24,000 people have taken refuge.

The group added that many inhabitants are traumatised and one in five children is suffering from acute malnutrition.

MSF head of mission in Nigeria, Aid Ghada Hatim said, “Bama is largely closed off. We have been told that people there, including children, have starved to death.

“According to the accounts given to MSF by displaced people in Bama, new graves are appearing on a daily basis. We were told on certain days more than 30 people were dying due to hunger and illness.”

During its assessment, the MSF team said it counted 1,233 cemetery graves located near the camp which had been dug in the past year.

Of those graves, 480 were for children.

The group says, “This is the first time MSF has been able to access Bama, but we already know the needs of the people there are beyond critical.”

Since 23 May, at least 188 people have died in the camp – almost six people per day – mainly from diarrhea and malnutrition.

Hatim added that the charity group is treating malnourished children in medical facilities in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Meanwhile the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has confirmed the report.

The Northeast Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Mr Mohammed Kannar, said that it is working with other aid agencies to ensure that the victims are effectively taken care of.