Emergency: Normal activities return to Damaturu

A State of Emergency was declared in Yobe, two months ago.

Business and other activities are now in full gear in Damaturu, Yobe, two months after the declaration of emergency in the state.

The Federal Government had declared a state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states to contain the activities of Boko Haram terrorists.

A correspondent who went round the state capital on Friday and Saturday, reported that activities at the markets within the city were in top gear as traders and customer were fully engaged in selling and buying.

Similarly, at the Central Motor Park along Potiskum Road, hundreds of passengers were seen boarding vehicles to various parts of the country.

Popular bus transport companies from around the country have also resumed operations from the city.

The Chairman of the Bus Section of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Usman Saleh, said he was happy that the situation in the state was normalising.

“In recent days, we have been recording influx of passengers travelling to different parts of the country and we sometimes run short of vehicles to convey the passengers,’’ he said.

He said that his members were not facing any problem with the security agents deployed to the state, adding that there was a mutual and cordial relationship between them and the security.

Mr. Usman said that the union understood that certain measures had to be taken to ensure that security of lives and property in the state and had been cooperating with the authorities to ensure smooth operations.

“Personally, I am in total support of maintaining check-points on the streets as well as the withdrawal of GSM services in the state as this will help check the activities of the insurgents,’’ Mr. Saleh said.

Also traders and customers who spoke at the Sunday market said that they were delighted with the remarkable improvement in the security situation in the state.

“We now operate fully and we do not entertain much fear of attack as we used to,’’ a tomato seller, who declined to give his name, said.

Similarly all the banks in the capital have fully resumed their operations as customers were seen in many banking halls transacting businesses.

Commenting on the security situation in the state, the Special Adviser on Information and Media, Abdullahi Bego, thanked the Federal Government for the declaration of the emergency, which he said saw to the deployment of more soldiers to the state.

He said that the state government would continue to assist the security agents to ensure the success of their assignment.

Also speaking, the Joint Task Force Commander in the state, Ibrahim Ali, said that the task force was able to achieve relative stability in the state since the declaration of emergency.

He said that there was no major encounter with the insurgents since the declaration of the emergency.

He thanked the people of the state for assisting his team with useful information which had led to the arrest of many suspects.

The state is still on a dusk to dawn curfew to enable the security agents curtail the activities of the insurgents.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it has embarked on the distribution of food items to people affected by the insurgency in the state.

The Agency’s Zonal Coordinator for North East Zone, Muhammed Kanarr, said in Damaturu that already it has distributed the relief materials in Damaturu, Potiskum, Bunu Yadi,Gaidam and Babban Gida towns, while distribution in Macina, Yunusari and Gashua will follow later.

Mr. Kanar said that item distributed included rice, millet, sorghum and beverages, adding that the distribution was targeted at women and children.

(NAN)