The massacre on the 28th Nov, 2020 of over 110 rice farmers in a Borno state village by Boko Haram militants had yet again bared the country’s security inadequacies and governments’ inability to provide resolute leaderships in prosecuting this war. The latest killing occurred in Zambarmari village of Zambarmari Mafa local government council. The scale of the killings and indeed the audacity with which insurgent groups operate in the region attract national, regional as well as international condemnations.
According to reports, the villagers lived in constant fear of attacks by the jihadist groups fighting for supremacy in control of the areas. The insurgents collect taxes from farmers to attend their farms or to fish, impose very strict Islamic sharia laws on the populace and are actively expanding territories it designated for Caliphate. Lands from cameroun, Chad, Niger and Nigeria where the jihadists started.
A village source detailed account of what actually transpired. According to him a lone jihadist on rampage invaded the community days before the massacre, extorting cash and other valuables from the people. He succeeded in forcing the people together and ordered that villagers cook him meals before he would leave with the loots. The villagers quickly organized themselves, overpowered the terrorist and matched him with his rifles to a nearby police station.
This act of bravery by Zambarmari community was touted in nearby towns and villages long being imtimidated and killed by the jihadists. Since the insurgency started farmers attend farms in groups for fear of attacks and this time particularly called for heightened vigilance. Zambarmari village farmers emboldened by arrest of the lone jihadist gathered in larger groups to attend their rice farms that were due for harvests.
The poor farmers were subsequently ambushed in their farms by the jihadist terrorists who outnumbered them. The farmers were captured, tortured severely before being hacked to death with axes and machetes. Most were tied down and had their throats slit. The few that managed to escape the massacre remain in shock of witnessed gruesome murder of colleagues, women and refugees. There are refugee camps set up by humanitarian groups following jihadists carnage in the areas, killings and abductions which includes the missing secondary school girls. The terrorists’ territorial grabs had unfortunately caught up with the camps in the state.
There are two factions of Boko Haram terrorists operating in the region. One led by Shekarau, who started the terror campaign. The group had carried out several bombings including suicid attackss, killing of civilians, abductions, forced marriages and rapes.
The other faction has no defined leaderships yet, but its closely affiliated to ISIS another terror group operating in the Middle East and North of Africa. It has more foreign mercenaries though both factions are competing for savagery and brutality.
It is not yet clear which faction carried out the attacks in Zabarmari as none had claimed responsibility.
It is baffling however, that Nigeria with large military, well trained force, huge budgets and expertise in keeping peace around the world cannot halt these attacks.
The security forces seem fatigued in prosecuting this asymmetrical warfare further against an unconventional side: a terrorist group.
Reports by;
Ame-Chi B. Nebo