Worried over the state of Internally Displaced Person (IDPs), the United Nations Security Council has appealed to humanitarian agencies to up the ante of assistance in the Northeast Of the country.
But on the sidelines of the visit Sunday, the Executive Chairman of the Borno State Emergency Management (SEMA), Engineer Ahmed Satomi, did the unimaginable. He allegedly assaulted a female staff of the International Organisation for Migration, Amina Yakubu Gana.
The drama occurred at the Teachers village IDP Camp in Maiduguri, Borno State, as an Internally Displaced Person (IDP), a young man, was lamenting the excruciating hunger that was the lot of IDPs in the State.
Sources said the IDPs were very angry that they had not been fed for about two weeks, only for food to be brought because a UN delegation was visiting.
Satomi told everyday.ng on phone that he was livid when a young man allegedly recruited to embarrass the SEMA had the temerity to say he preferred Boko Haram to NEMA (Nigeria Emergency Management Agency) and Borno SEMA.
“He said he preferred Boko Haram to what NEMA and SEMA staff were doing to them at the IDPS camps,” Satomi said, adding that he believed that an international NGO staff conspired with the young man to address the press, where he allegedly slapped the IOM staff.
Satomi, who said he lost both his parents to the insurgent activities of Boko Haram, in addition to the nearly displaced two million Nigerians, denied slapping the IOM staff as alleged but admitted pushing her.
Admitted Satori, “When I was shouting to the guy (who was addressing the press) which camp, where are you (based) she came in to stop me and I pushed her (and told her), leave me alone!”
Ms Gana was not available for official comments, but it was gathered the IOM had slammed a no-interview order on her and other staff until official channels were fully explored to resolve issues related to the alleged assault.
Channel Television reports that the team from the United Nations Security Council called on humanitarian community to step up operations in the north-east Sunday during a visit to Maiduguri to obtain first-hand information on the ongoing crisis in that area.
Head of the delegation, Ambassador Mathew Rycroft, said the council was shocked by the number of people affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.
He added that the people who have suffered in the hands of the terrorists are suffering a second time by the effect the humanitarian.
Prior to arriving at the Borno State capital, the delegation had visited Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic.
In an earlier visit to the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in Chad, Ambassador Rycroft had offered partnership to the MNJTF.
He stated the council’s satisfaction with the achievements of the task force, as the delegation was given a detailed brief on the activities of the MNJTF.
Rycroft noted that with the role being played by the force, there is evidence that mandates would be achieved.
The visits, together with the visit to Nigeria, would help the Council obtain a better overview of the crucial security and social issues facing the Lake Chad region.