Police arrest IDPs over Maiduguri protest

The Borno state police command has arrested some internally displaced persons (IDPs) who staged a peaceful demonstration on Sunday.

The protesters demanded to return to their respective communities in Bama.

The IDPs under the umbrella of Bama Initiative for Human Development (BIHD), a non-governmental organisation, opted to trek from Maiduguri, the state capital, to Bama, a journey of 75 kilometres.

Muhammad Hassan, the group’s chairman, said his people opted to return to their communities in view of the prevailing peace in the state.

Hassan said about 70 percent of the reconstruction and rehabilitation projects had been completed in Bama.

“We have been in Maiduguri for more than three years without meaningful means of livelihoods. The condition of our people is pathetic,” he said.

“The elongation in the process of returning displaced persons to their homes is moving at a snail pace and we have been exposed to unbearable conditions.

“We can no longer send our children to school; many have died of hunger and starvation. Most of us live in host communities and no one is supporting us.”

The police, however, discouraged the demonstrators from embarking on the journey, citing safety reasons.

Damian Chukwu, the police commissioner in the state, said the group did not notify the command of its plan to return to Bama.

Chukwu said there is the possibility of the protesters being attacked by Boko Haram before getting to their destination.

“The police have a duty to protect you and we will not allow you to gather people and expose them to danger in the name of home return. I will not allow anybody to commit suicide,” Chukwu said.

However, things took another dimension when the police went after key members of the group.

Kachalla Kyari, secretary of the group, one of those invited by the police, described his arrest as “a price for leadership”.

“The police have arrested me. They also arrested my chairman. All this is as a result of our protest,” he told TheCable.

“This is the price of leadership. We know where the directive came from. The arrest was made when we came to know the whereabouts of earlier arrested members of the association.”

Bukar Kyari, a family member to of the secretary, appealed to the police to stop being used as a “tool by the government to undermine democracy”.

Kyari said his brother and other people were only exercising their constitutional rights and did not violate any law of the land.

TheCable could not reach Victor Isuku, the command’s spokesman, as at the time of filing this report.