The All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) has beseeched the Nigerian government to tear down the Sambisa forest and its environs.
This request emerges after the massacre of a reported number of 43 civilian farmers by suspected members of the Boko Haram insurgency terrorist group in Zarbamari, Borno state. The farmers were reportedly enroute to work at a rice field at Garin Kwashebe when they were ambushed.
The UN has described the incident as “the most violent direct attack against innocent civilians this year.”
The Sambisa forest has stood as a shelter capacity and threshold for the terrorist group since their emergence in Nigeria in 2011. They have since maintained that as a shelter to conduct their operations for over a decade.
The AFAN national president, Kabir Ibrahim, in a statement released on Monday said,“ it was common knowledge that the insurgents have turned the Sambisa forests and others into a safe haven.”
“Against the backdrop of the nearly 12-year old Boko Haram insurgency in the North East and the incessant banditry and kidnapping in the North West, it is our informed opinion that the forests of Sambisa and Rugu etc. will have to be bulldozed for any lasting peace to prevail in these regions of Nigeria which contribute to the food system immensely.”
Compelling the government to act sooner than later, the association said,
“The time to take action is now otherwise we will all die from the dehumanizing pain of hunger in these regions because the farmers cannot produce the required food for even subsistence.”
While commiserating with indigenes, the group also requested that nearby residents should be mobilized, saying,
“The Security forces should make announcements for all persons living in the immediate vicinity of the forests to relocate because there will be air and ground raids as well as complete chemical defoliation of the forests.
“This will be followed by bulldozing of sections of the forest immediately afterwards.”
They also asked for the sensitization of climate activists towards their demands.
“The continued threat to lives and livelihood of the people living in these areas far out ways the presumed effect of climate change after defoliating the forests.”
“We believe the Climate Activists will sympathise with us especially if we turn some of the cleared areas into farmland as it is evident that the farm plantations will also mitigate the feared climate change arising from the obvious deforestation,” they said.
