Representatives of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in one of the two IDPs camps in Adamawa State stormed the state capital, Yola, on Wednesday over alleged stoppage of food supplies to them by the Federal Government.
The IDPs who spoke to newsmen at the Mahmud Ribadu Square in Jimeta, said they had not received supplies from National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the federal government agency charged with supplying their food, in four months.
The IDPs representatives who travelled to Yola from their camp in Fufore, headquarters of the Fufore local government area which shares boundary with Yola South local government area, said they at the Fufore camp were over a thousand.
Adamawa’s other existing IDPs camp is in Makolhi, in Yola South local government area.
The spokesman of the protesting Fufore IDPs, Umar Bakura, said, “For the past four months, we have not received any food from NEMA. Among us are children, elderly people and orphans.”
He added that he and other leaders of the IDPs had complained severally to NEMA but got no result, and begged higher authorities for intervention.
“President Muhammadu Buhari should intervene; he should evacuate us back to our respective local government areas in Borno State,” Umar begged.
Umar had earlier explained that the IDPs in Fufore are Borno indigenes forced from their ancestral homes by Boko Haram insurgents.
Responding, the Operational Officer of NEMA for Adamawa and Taraba states, Midala Anuhu, said NEMA supplied food to the camp in December (2019).
He added however that the agency knew there was supply gap which it is working to fill.
“We have forwarded their case to our headquarters in Abuja and we are still waiting for the approval,” he said, assuring that supply would be made soon as approval is received.