By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
In a bid to restore civil authority through the Nigerian Police in Malam-Fatori in the shores of Lake Chad, Governor Babagana Zulum has ordered nine Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) for police operations, some of which have arrived.
Malam-Fatori, which came under Boko Haram occupation in 2014, is headquarters of Abadam Local Government Area in northern Borno and has a number of communities sharing boarders with Niger Republic. Insurgents controlled the place for about six years, before the military liberated it, but so far, without civilian population.
Zulum, on Thursday in Maiduguri, inspected the first batch of three APCs, with more expected to arrive the state capital at a later date. He carried out the inspection in company of Borno’s commissioner of police, Mr Abdu Umar.
The Governor explained while assessing the APC’s, that, “while the Borno State Government procured nine of the armored vehicles, the Inspector General of Police approved the installations of arms and ammunition on them” since the state government has no constitutional powers to acquire such arms.
Zulum noted that, the APC’s will hopefully enhance operations of a special police unit towards the restoring civil authority in Malam-Fatori in order to compliment the Nigerian military.
The Governor had last month led residents and government officials to embark on the clearance of Malam-Fatori to pave way for the reconstruction of public facilities and private homes towards safe and voluntary resettlement of residents, who had fled to Niger Republic since 2014, in the wake of the Boko Haram attacks.
Zulum has in the last two years distributed about 1,000 surveillance vehicles to the military, other armed forces and volunteers in Borno’s ongoing peace-building efforts.
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