Borno State Government has described as baseless; the allegations levied by a member of the House of Representatives, representing Bama, Ngala and Kala-Balge Federal Constituency of the State, AbdulRahaman Terab.
The Reps member had alleged that his supporters from Bama who are among internally displaced persons taking refuge at some of the camps established by the State Government in Maiduguri are being starved of food and molested for simply aligning to his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Reacting through the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Information, Mohammed Bulama, the State Government expressed surprise that an educated person like Terab has chosen to make very childish allegations that he knows are without basis simply because apparent defeat stares him on the face ahead of the March 28 rescheduled elections.
The statement reads further, “It is surprising how a camp that has the active involvement of both the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency that is under a PDP led Federal Government as well as security agencies deployed by the Federal Government can deny food to someone that is affiliated to the PDP which produced the Federal Government of Nigeria that controls NEMA and security agencies.
“There is the likelihood that Terab doesn’t know the composition of those that play roles in the affairs of all the camps. The Borno State Government established the camps and it runs it but of course with the active participation of NEMA and security agencies.
“Terab must have thought he could score cheap political blackmail out of ignorance or deliberately ignoring the facts.
From what we know, Terab is one of those representatives of Borno citizens who are opposed to IDPS being allowed to vote during elections. For instance, during a stakeholders meeting organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Abuja barely two months ago, Honourable Terab was the shock of all participants at that meeting, clearly opposed to IDPs taking part at the elections even when most members of his constituency have unfortunately been displaced and constitute a good percentage of the APC.
“Apparently, Terab wasn’t preparing for re-election into the House of Representatives. He was thought to be warming up to contest the Governorship as candidate of the PDP until he was deceived, like many others like him, leading to the emergence of a contentious Governorship candidate.
“So, with the Governorship ticket lost, Terab had to fall back to the House of Representatives whereas he disconnected himself from that contest and he knows for sure that he doesn’t stand a chance of being re-elected. This is the only reason he has resorted to blackmail as a desperate strategy to create chaos and confusion.
“We are aware that like Terab, there are some of his kind, who are said to be holding meetings with a dubious plan of having the Federal Government take complete control of all IDPs with an intent of using or ignored the camps for whatever purpose that is political. Terab’s press briefing is part of their steps to lay basis for that. It’s surprising that those with that plan have forgotten that the Federal Government has no constitutional powers of taking over the control of Borno citizens or that of any State at all. It has never happened and it will not start with Borno. Besides, why didn’t they push for the Federal Government to take full control of the IDPs until now that we are approaching elections after Borno State Government has since day one, been very responsive in catering for its citizens as a matter of constitutional obligation?
“We advise Terab to please direct his energy to face based campaign and not a plan that is dead on arrival. I IDPs have problems; they should have spoken about them. NEMA, SEMA and security agencies are there in all the camps.
“It is really unfortunate that with all the problems Borno is facing, some citizens of the State have chosen to undermine the people of the State through different means all in the name of politics. They ought to remember that power comes from God while the people of Borno State are not fools.
“You cannot abandon the people in their hours of need and expect them to stand by you during elections. Citizens across Nigeria are far more enlightened than ever before. The unfortunate Boko Haram crisis has changed everything in Nigeria including how citizens think and their aggressive concerns who leads them.”
