Borno Farmers Massacre: Military Debunks UN Report, Says 43 Farmers Killed

By Oasis Magazine

The Military High Command has debunked the report by the United Nations that said 110 farmers were killed by Boko Haram in Saturday’s massacre in the Jere Local Government Area of Borno State.

Coordinator, Defence Media Operations,
Major Gen. John Enenche, who was a guest on Channel’s Television Sunrise progrmame on Monday
insisted that so far only 43 corpses were recovered from the scene of the incident at the Zabarmari area of the northeastern state.

ALSO READ : Borno: Buhari Says Beheading Of 43 Zabarmari Farmers By Boko Haram Is Insane

It would be recalled that the terrorists were said to have tied up the farmers, who were working on rice fields, before slitting their throats.

Gen. Enenche added that the troops counted the corpses together with the locals and 43 deaths were recorded.

“I knew it (the issue) is going to come up particularly because it is coming from the United Nations and not a source that does not want to be identified. This is a source that has identified itself that a 110 specifically (were murdered)”, he said.

Disclosing that he personally contacted the field Commanders on ground, Enenche said, “They gave me a synopsis of what happened. When the governor was to go (to the scene) and after they had recovered the dead, the troops had to move in there and they counted 43.

“Of course, some people ran into the bush and they started coming back and trickling in.

“As at 2pm on Sunday, I called them and they got back to me at about 7pm yesterday (Sunday), still counting, looking if they will recover (more corpses). We call it Exploitation after Action Review.”

According to him, the search for more remains of victims is still on but emphasized that 43 corpses were retrieved from the scene as of today (Monday).

He continued, “Probably we may count up to the figure he (Kallon) gave in the future but as it is now, what we have counted with the locals is still 43 and we are hoping that we don’t get beyond that.

“This is the real situation. I did not sleep; we had to follow it because this is very relevant coming from the United Nations.”

The massacre of the rice farmers has resulted in public outrage both by Nigerians and the international community.