Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has expressed shock over the death of Sokoto indigenes at last Saturday’s massacre of rice farmers in Borno State by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.
Tambuwal, in a statement he signed and issued Sunday night in Sokoto, also expressed deep sympathy with the people and government of Borno State over the gruesome massacre, which he described as abominable, disgusting and disturbing.
He wrote, “It is with deep shock and displeasure that the government and good people of Sokoto State receive the sad and upsetting news of Boko Haram attack on scores of rice farmers in a village near Maiduguri.
“We are deeply concerned and worried that an unspecified number of our enterprising citizens, who had traveled hundreds of kilometers to seek their means of livelihood in the areas where the attacks took place, were also affected.
“This abominable, disgusting, and inhuman act is very disturbing.
“As we condole with the government and good people of Borno, with who we have consistently shared our sympathy and solidarity in weathering this horrendous trend of insecurity, we also commiserate with the families of the victims from our state.
“God willing we will collaborate with the government of Borno to ascertain the number of our citizens affected with a view to identifying them. In the same vein, we will support the families of the victims.
“I pray to Allah to grant all of the victims eternal rest and their families the fortitude to bear this heart-wrenching loss. I also pray for God’s intercession in bringing this spate of insecurity in the country at large to an end.”
Sadness enveloped Sokoto on Sunday when the news filtered into town that a large number of the victims massacred on a rice farm around Maiduguri, Borno State, were itinerant farmers from Sokoto.
Sources hinted that families of the itinerant rice farmers are apprehensive and unsure whether their relations are dead or alive as conflicting reports indicated that a large number of the farmers were gruesomely massacred, while several others sustained injuries.
The deceased had since been buried according to Islamic rites.
