As Residents Flee Maiduguri…Transport Operators Smile to Banks

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Borno, Headlines, State News Saturday, July 16th, 2011

Transport operators are making a killing in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. As tens of thousands of people flee the embattled city, the operators have hiked their transport fares. The losers have been those trying to relocate to safer zones from a city now under siege.

Though banking activities have been curtailed following challenges from Boko Haram, our correspondent noticed that the transporters make adequate use of the regulated period of banking in the city – 10am to noon – to deposit their cash on a daily basis.

A middle-aged woman, Adama Mohammed, who was travelling to Kano with her two children, told our correspondent that “we slept in this Kano Motor Park and this morning rain beat us. We are waiting for a trailer because we can’t afford taxi or bus fares which have risen from N1,500 to N2,500.”

She added that her children had not eaten and that they had to rely on alm. “By the Grace of Allah, if we could get trailer this morning, we will travel to Kano. I have only N800; I will beg the public for the rest of the N200 as they said the trailer drivers are demanding for N1,000 to Kano, “she added.

A trailer driver, Alhaji Aminu Abubakar, who brought cement to Maiduguri, said he and other good Samaritans were trying to assist the fleeing residents as most of them had no money, adding that in some cases they even transported women and children free of charge.

A bus driver, who did not want his name in print, told leadership weekend that since people started fleeing Maiduguri last week, they had made a lot of money as passengers continued to besiege the motor parks across the state, adding that he sympathised with the condition of some women and children and had to come to their aid.

Although the volume of traffic had reduced, transport fares were still on the high side. Mallam Mustapha, a bus driver who was travelling to Jos, said he was still getting a lot of passengers, especially those travelling to Jos, Kaduna and Kano .

The Boko Haram crisis seriously affected business in Maiduguri just as the Igbo, who dominated the spare parts market in Maiduguri, have locked up their shops, some of them relocating to the neighbouring states of Yobe and Adamawa.

A spare parts dealer, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, who was trying to lock his shop told leadership weekend that he was putting his shop under lock and key on the grounds that Maiduguri was no longer safe for business. According to him, he will soon relocate from Maiduguri, as he has already evacuated his family to his home town in Anambra State.

Almost all the banks in Maiduguri, operate for only two hours (10am to noon) as some banks were targeted by the Boko Haram members. The Monday Market in Maiduguri operates for only a few hours. Shopping plazas, malls and big supermarkets remain closed for fear of the unknown.

Meanwhile, an early morning bomb blast yesterday occurred at Bulunkutu Roundabout, Kano Road in Maiduguri, Borno State, injuring five policemen.
Confirming the incident to journalists on the phone, the spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Col. Victor Ebhaleme, said the bomb was targeted at a police patrol vehicle which was on routine duty in the area.

He added that the bomb, which exploded at about 7.30am, injured five policemen who were immediately rushed to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) for treatment.

Ebhaleme also stated that some arrests had been made in connection with the incident, saying that the suspects arrested were being interrogated. He added that anybody found to be innocent would be released immediately.

But an eyewitness, who did not want his name in print, claimed that there were sporadic shootings by the policemen who arrived at the scene of the incident immediately after the explosion that damaged some vehicles that were passing by when the incident happened.

Also, Amnesty International and 22 human rights organisations in Nigeria have condemned the human rights violations allegedly being perpetrated by security forces in the state in response to attacks by the sect. In a statement jointly signed by the groups, they security forces for unlawfully killing dozens of people.

The statement reads in part: “Amnesty International and human rights organizations in Nigeria call on President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately stop the security forces from carrying out further human rights violations and set up mechanisms to investigate these killings and publicly declare that anyone found culpable for the killings during operations in northern Nigeria will be brought to justice.”

The organisations also condemned the recent bombings carried out by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria where more than 140 people have died in these attacks since January, including members of the security forces. They said, “the president must make public the commission of inquiry report into the Boko Haram crisis of 2009.”

Meanwhile, the Borno State caucus of the National Assembly yesterday protested military deployment in the state against the Boko Haram sect.

The senators added that the use of brute force could not curb the Boko Haram menace.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the caucus, their spokesman, Senator Maina Maaji Lawan (ANPP, Borno North); said that the only solution to the problem is “unconditional amnesty for and dialogue with the group” that has thrown the state capital and some parts of the country into panic in the last couple of months.

Lawan, who was with two other senators and three members of the House of Representatives from the state, said the federal government needs to rethink its strategy for bringing an end to the Boko Haram menace the same way it resolved the the Niger Delta crisis, which he said was not by military operation but by dialogue and the amnesty programme.

With Lawan at the press briefing were Senators Ali Ndume (PDP, Borno South) and Ahmed Zanna (ANPP, Borno Central) as well as House of Representatives members Amina Khadi (Jere), Mukhtar Aliyu (Biu) and Kyari Gujubawu (Maiduguri).

Lawan said: “If the United States with all its technology and superior arms power was forced to engage in dialogue with the Talibans, we could see that brute force cannot be a solution to this situation.”
Urging President Goodluck Jonathan to order the immediate withdrawal of the military from Maiduguri and its environs, Lawan, who is the immediate past Senate minority leader, said the federal government should “honestly and purposely and sincerely engage in dialogue with the Boko Haram people”.
While commiserating with the victims and families of “innocent citizens that lost lives and properties in the unfortunate incident”, the lawmakers urged all relevant government agencies especially the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to provide relief materials to the affected victims

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