Zabarmari killings: AFAN describes incident as disaster

· mourn slain members, sympathises with families 

The All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has described the recent slaying of farmers in Zabarmari, Borno state as portending disaster for the country’s food system while it sympathised with families of the victims and people of Borno state.

These were contained in a press release issued and made available to Food Farm News by the president of the association, Arc Kabir Ibrahim, in Abuja.

Ibrahim, in the release, sympathized”with the families of the departed souls and the Government and people of Borno State” and noted that with the incident “farmers are now very scared to go to their farms to do dry season farming.”

He described the incident as dangerous more so that the food system of Nigeria had been earlier adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change challenges including flood and drought, adding that the insecurity situation in the country had further worsened food situation in all the geopolitical zones.      

The AFAN boss who said it was common knowledge that the insurgents had turned Sambisa and other forests into a safe haven pleaded on behalf farmers for government to deal with the Insecurity situation in the north by defoliating and partly bull-dozing of the said forests.

He opined that with the part-destruction of the forests, there would be lasting peace in those places: “Against the backdrop of the nearly 12-year old Boko Haram insurgency in the North East and the incessant banditry and kidnapping in the North West it is our informed opinion that the forests of Sambisa and Rugu etc. will have to be bull dozed for any lasting peace to prevail in these regions of Nigeria which contribute to the food system immensely,” he said.

He called on climate/environmental activists to exercise understanding of the present situation, saying,  “We believe the Climate Activists will sympathize with us especially if we turn some of the cleared areas into farm land as it is evident that the farm plantations will also mitigate the feared climate change arising from the obvious deforestation. “

On how to go about executing the project, he said  the Security forces should make announcements for all persons living in the immediate vicinity of the forests to relocate because there would be air and ground raids as well as complete chemical defoliation of the forests, adding  “this will be followed by bull-dozing of sections of the forests immediately afterwards.”

Meanwhile, a presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu told British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC),  in an exclusive interview that  the farmers did not obtain military clearance.

He was quoted as saying that though the military was in full control of all of Borno  state, the farmers still needed to obtain clearance before going to their farms.

 Meanwhile, the United Nations has reportedly described the attacks as the most violent attacks against civilians in 2020.