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By Joseph Adahnu, Yola
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have staged a peaceful protest against the North-East Development Commission (NEDC), for flagging off housing projects 300 kilometres away from where they have need.
They thronged the project site, where on behalf the NEDC Governor Ahamadu Fintiri, flagged off the construction of 500 housing units, in Yola-South.
The protesters were however, chased away by armed security operatives to avoid embarrassing the visiting Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Sadiya Farouq.
Speaking with journalists, the protesters wondered why the housing project was sited in Yola and not Mubi, Michika, Madagali or any of the seven local government areas occupied previously by Boko Haram group.
Recall, in 2014, Madagali, Michika, Mubi North and South, Maiha, Hong and Gombi, were the seven local government areas annexed by the terrorists.
Following the occupation, houses and property worth billions of naira were destroyed by the terrorists.
The IDPs protested “no single house was destroyed by the terrorists group Boko Haram in Yola-South or any where near the state capital, why are they building houses for IDPs in a bush there.
“Even at that, why build houses for IDPs in this kind of bush, right at the foot of a mountain, occupied by bandits”, they queried?
There were insinuations that the housing project may have been diverted for political patronage, to favor the First Lady, Aisha Buhari.
Someone who claimed to be privy to the issues, said the site located on the foot of the hills of Sebore in the Yola-South local government area, is located near the abandoned family farm of the First Lady.
Our correspondent learnt that Sebore hills is now a den of a notorious kidnap gangs terrorising the state.
Some villagers around the Sebore area have also registered their displeasure with the project, saying, “they want to further exposed our area to kidnapping.
“Because, as it is, kidnappers would believe a lot of money has come to our area”.
Responding, the Managing Director of NEDC, Mohammed Alkali, said, “300 houses would be built in the state capital because of emerging influx of IDPs to urban the area.
“The remaining 200 units would be distributed to appropriate local government areas”, he said.
However, Adamawa state government agency for humanitarian affairs had revealed that over 90 percent of IDPs in the state have returned to their ancestral homes.
