By Ojomah Austin.
Following a severe flood that devastated Maiduguri the state capital, report has it that the flood, which resulted in significant loss of life and extensive property damage, also affected the old prison, leading to the evacuation of many inmates to the new maximum security prison in Maiduguri.
Reports suggest that some of these inmates, which few were said to be boko haram leaders may have escaped during the evacuation process.
During an interview with BBC, Gov. Zulum was asked if he was worried that some Boko Haram leaders might have escaped, He responded saying: “I’m worried, yes, I’m seriously worried. But you also have to bear in mind that Borno State Government has established what we call Borno Model of Rehabilitation that has allowed many insurgents to repent. Within the last two years, over 200,000 Boko Haram members and their families have repented and, I think, this has also yielded positive results in ensuring return of peace and stability to Borno State.”
Zulum decried how the state witnessed another calamity amid its challenging security situation.
“I can remember more than 300,000 people were killed in Borno State, thousands of classrooms were destroyed, hundreds of facilities were destroyed by the insurgency.
“We are just trying to get out of this problem and then now we witnessed another disaster-—a very serious calamity, another serious humanitarian crisis which the state governor cannot shoulder.
“There is no way we can provide food to millions of people in one or two hours. So, what we decided is to retreat and organise ourselves. The only way we can organise ourselves is to ensure that the affected victims are resettled in camps. Then we will take the support to the camps, otherwise many will die as a result of receiving food and non-food items in queues,” he said.