Reps faults the police for allegedly using tear gas on IDPs in Borno
House Committee on IDPs, Federal House of Representatives has condemned the alleged use of tear gas by the police on Internally Displaced Persons who were protesting against food deprivation in Maiduguri, Borno State.
The IDPs have been lamenting over food shortage across various camps in the country, but adequate provisions still were not made to cater to their needs. To bring awareness to to the situation, IDPs at the Teachers Village Camp in Maiduguri decided to organize a protest to bring the attention of appropriate authorities to their plight.
But instead of heeding to their concerns, the police was called to disperse them. It was in this process that the police allegedly opened tear gas on them.
The Reps expressed disappointment on the incident and called on those in charge of the IDPs welfare to attend to their needs and refrain from diverting supplies meant for them to other use.
“Sadly, massive consignments of these food and non-food items procured with state resources are now either at varying stages of expiration or are being shared to highly-placed politicians for use as campaign tools in the countdown to our general elections,” they stated.
“It is on record that the authorities concerned have continued to deprive the starving and desperate IDPs of food and non-food items whose everyday complaints, pleas, and outcries only fell on the deaf ears of insensitive officials charged with their care.”
They further advised that the government should be more diligent in ensuring that the IDPs and destitute in the country are not unfairly treated.
