Some 43 rice farmers killed on Saturday by insurgents at Koshebe village in the Jere Local Government Area of Borno were buried on Sunday amid wailing and tears by residents of the community.
Armed men, suspected to be members of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, attacked farmers in what appeared to be a reprisal for the latter’s effrontery to disarm and arrest a gunman.
Governor of Borno state, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, Sunday morning led top government officials, kinsmen and other residents still in shock for the funeral of 43 farmers slaughtered by the Boko Haram insurgents in Zabarmari.
Mourners heaved 43 corpses into nine mass graves, with each one containing an average five corpses of the slain farmers, after an Islamic funeral attended by many tearful mourners.
All the apparels used in covering the corpses were drenched with blood from the necks, a sign that they had their throats slit.
Speaking at the burial of the farmers, Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno, said that residents informed him that the death toll could be as high 70 because some of the farmers were still missing.
Zulum addressed the bereaved community saying; “the carnage affects all of us and every human with conscience. I am told some persons are still missing. We have been discussing with the military since yesterday, Insha Allah the remaining people will be traced soon.
He also advised that Nigeria and some of its neighbouring should forge closer cooperation to defeat the insurgency, which has wracked Nigeria for over a decade. He pleaded with the Federal Government to recruit more indigenes of the state into the military and other security agencies to combat the insurgency.
