Adamawa: ‘With Seven Blown Up Bridges, There’s No Escape If Boko Haram Strikes Again’

THE Nigeria military might have trounced the dreaded Boko Haram sect in the northern part of Adamawa State. For residents of Bazza, Michika and Madagali, however, the arrival of the rainy season is another enemy they will have to contend with.

Majority of the people displaced from these towns have returned home. But with all seven bridges from Bazza, Michika to Madagali bombed by the insurgents, last year, the showers will be greeted with mixed feelings.

The people will be cut off from the state capital and neighbouring towns, as well as access to foodstuffs and other supplies. “We from Bazza, Michika and Madagali are facing another trouble that bears similar pains as that meted out by the insurgents.

When the rain comes, we will not be able to go out of these areas because there are no bridges. And if Boko Haram strikes again, the military cannot come to our assistance because there are no bridges by which they can cross those big streams.

We are in another trouble,” said Mr. John Zira, a commercial driver based in Michika. One Mrs. Hannatu Solomon said if government does not make reconstruction of the bridges top priority, the three towns would be disconnected from the rest of the state and the lives of the residents would be in danger.

She called on the government of Alhaji Umar Jibrilla Bindo to ensure the military constructs temporary bridges before the rains intensify.

The Catholic Bishop of Yola Diocese, His Lordship Dr. Stephen Dami Mamza, who spoke on the bombed bridges, lamented what he described as Adamawa State government’s insensitivity to the plight of the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) that have returned to their homes.

The Bishop who was in Bazza, Michika and Madagali to donate drugs to the people expressed disappointed that since the IDPs came back, the state government has not provided them with adequate assistance to restart their lives.

“The Adamawa State government has failed woefully in its constitutional duty of providing services to its people, especially at critical periods like the present situation in the northern part of the state,” Mamza said.

The Bishop urged Alhaji Jibrilla Bindo to reduce the hardship facing the IDPs, whose ancestral homes were destroyed by the insurgents. The cleric, who bought three truckloads of drugs, donated one to each of the towns.

He said: “It will not cost the government too much money to provide funds for the military to construct temporary bridges to enable people from these areas move from one village to another and also access the state capital.

If the insurgents attack during the rainy season, how will the military come in to rescue the people without bridges? How will the people escape without bridges?”