UN withdraws ‘110’ casualty figure claim on slain farmers

The United Nations (UN) has retracted its initial casualty figure of farmers killed in Borno state.

On Saturday, suspected Boko Haram members attacked Zabarmari community in Jere local government area of the state and killed farmers.

Babagana Zulum, governor of the state, had said more than 40 residents were killed while they were working on their farmlands.

But the UN had released a statement, on Sunday, which quoted Edward Kallon, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, claiming that “at least 110 people” were killed in the attack.

The UN statement went viral and was published by major newspapers in the country.

In a statement on Monday, the UN clarified its earlier position, saying the figure was not yet confirmed.

Eve Sabbagh, UN’s head of public information in Nigeria, said the “110 casualty figure” was not properly sourced.

The UN had also published another statement, replacing the figure with  “tens of civilians”, while other parts of the piece remains the same.

“Please note the number of 110 civilians killed on Saturday’s attack is an unconfirmed number and the correct version of the statement by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator is the one published yesterday on Reliefweb and used on OCHA Nigeria’s Twitter account,” Sabbagh said.