3 years after, victims of Bauchi crisis beg for govt support
By Olaide Ayinde/Ahmed Kaigama
Some victims of Yelwa Tsakani’s 2022 crisis in Bauchi state have called on the state government to come to their aid and fulfil its promises.
Some of the victims, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Thursday, said that without the government’s intervention, it would be difficult to recover their lost properties.
They urged the state governor, Bala Mohammed, to fulfil his pledge to the victims of the civil and religious crisis that occurred in the community on March 27, 2022.
They told NAN that the crisis resulted in the loss of one life, the destruction of approximately 11 houses, and extensive damage to other properties, leaving many families displaced, traumatised, and without shelter.
‘’During your visit to the affected community, Your Excellency gave a heartfelt assurance of support, including a commitment to rebuilding the destroyed homes and helping the victims recover. This gesture brought us hope and reaffirmed our trust in your leadership.’’
One of the victims, Mr John Haruna, attested to the fact that the governor promised to help them in getting their lost properties back, adding that he asked them to give accounts of what they lost in the form of houses and everything inside before the tragedy.
“He said he would see what he could do to help us and actually promised to fix everything for us.
“We gave them everything as demanded from us and later on, he came and gave us food items like rice, corn, millet and also gave us things like blankets and mats.
“That is all we received from the government but to talk about the issue of the houses that were razed along with the properties inside, we have not received or gotten anything in that regard.
“I will like to use this opportunity to plead with the governor to help us look into the matter because many of us that were affected could not afford to reconstruct their houses up till now.
“Although I have done some renovations and moved back to my house but not with the properties lost, I know that some other people could not afford to renovate not to talk of getting their lost properties back,” he said.
Another victim, Ismail Haruna, noted that the governor would revisit the promises he made to them on their plight if he can read it again on the pages of Newspapers.
Also, Mr Obed Bulus, who corroborated the fact that the state government only gave them grains and some clothing materials, said it had not compensated them in terms of what was lost to the crisis.
“The governor promised us that he will help us before the next rainfall in 2022 and we waited for so long but we didn’t see anything and we had to give up.
“We don’t know whether the press can help us get to the governor to hear our prayers for him to revisit the situation and help us,” he said.
Efforts by NAN to speak with officials of the State’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, proved abortive as of press time.
Ms Adama Ibrahim, the Public Relations Officer of the ministry, said she could not comment on the move of the Ministry towards addressing the situation.
She added that the Commissioner for the Ministry, Hajiya Hajara Wanka, had travelled out on an official assignment, and pledged to respond as soon as possible.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz
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