Residents of Borno State have expressed concern over the federal government’s silence since the abduction of 42 primary and junior secondary school students in Mussa community, Askira Uba Local Government Area of the state.
The residents noted that the government had prioritised a similar incident in Oyo State, where pupils and teachers were kidnapped, while downplaying the abduction in the state.
Speaking exclusively with our correspondent on Monday, the Chairman of the Network of Civil Society Organisations in the state, Abubakar Suleiman, said the federal government is not fair to the victims of both incidents.
He said, “The federal government visited Oyo State with a high-powered delegation, including the National Security Adviser, Minister of Defense, Chief of Staff to the President, among others, with a helicopter and landed at the local government where the abduction took place.
“In the case of Borno, around 416 people were kidnapped in Ngoshe on the 3rd of May. There has not been any federal government intervention. We also had another incident on the 16 of May; 42 students were kidnapped in Askira Uba. There was no federal government delegation. This doesn’t demonstrate that the federal government is treating victims equally,” Suleiman added.
