In Borno, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have engaged in a verbal brawl over the ongoing resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The IDPs are being relocated from their Maiduguri camps to the headquarters of their respective local government areas.
In a statement issued by the State Publicity Secretary, Mr Amos Adziba, the PDP called for an investigation into the massive sums of money involved in relocating the IDPs.
In response to the PDP’s position, Alhaji Ali Dalori, the APC’s chairman in the state, described the PDP’s call as unfortunate and a lack of concern for the plight of the IDPs.
In a statement, the PDP claimed that the APC-led state government could not have spent N500 million to resettle inmates of the Bakassi IDP camp as claimed.
It claimed that the APC-led government was only using the issue of internally Displaced Persons to score cheap political points.
It went on to say that the people of Borno had become wiser to the reality on the ground, particularly the lack of electricity, high inflation, and unemployment as many businesses continued to close.
The APC chairman, on the other hand, stated that the PDP, which had been comatose in Borno, should join other stakeholders in supporting the IDP resettlement program rather than using its plight to play campaign politics.
“While people of all parties and faiths, including international organizations, applaud the government’s measures to combat insecurity, our brothers in the PDP, for reasons best known to them, have chosen to be petty by politicizing security.”
“I want to urge them to show patriotism as citizens of Borno, where we have chosen to work collectively for peace and progress by supporting the process and contributing to the IDPs, as other stakeholders at home and abroad are doing.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with empowering vulnerable people, especially IDPs who were given N100,000 per head of family and N50,000 for women in addition to food,” Dalori said.
According to NAN, the Borno government has resettled IDPs from three major camps as part of its commitment to close all major camps in Maiduguri by the end of December.