Over 200 market women in the North-East have been kidnapped, raped and, in some cases, killed by Boko Haram insurgents since January 2021, the Forum of North East Market Women said on Saturday. Expressing sorrow that they had been out of business as a result of insecurity in the region, the forum appealed to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), to expedite action against the insurgents as some of its displaced members had fallen into drug use.

“We also wish to kindly appeal to the Federal and State governments to urgently initiate programmes that will rehabilitate victims of drug abuse, especially women in the North-East,” the FNEMW said in a statement by its Chairperson, Mariam Bulama; and Secretary, Zainab Gadzama. They also lamented the activities of Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, claiming that “our sources of livelihood have been taken away as a result of the insurgency.”

The statement read, “The situation has assumed an alarming dimension since January 2021, with 200 or more of our members kidnapped, raped and even, sometimes, killed on their way to the local markets in search of daily bread. “We have been going through these pains for some time now but the dimension the insurgency has taken from January to date is extremely alarming. Worse still, some members of security agencies have taken over our core fish business. This act of hopelessness has led so many of our women to turn to drug addiction for temporary succour.

“No part of Borno, Yobe or Adamawa, apart from their capital cities, is safe as of today and we wonder why there is silence about the atrocities being carried out here by the terrorists. We strongly feel that some powerful forces in charge of security in the North-East are deliberately compromising the war against the adversaries.”

Source: The Punch