Boko Haram: Civil servants, bankers desert offices in Yobe

THE Boko Haram sect and heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), along with over 16,000 civil servants in Yobe State have defied Governor Ibrahim Gaidam's appeals and directives on ceasefire and resumption of all workers and bankers to their duty posts in Damaturu, the state capital.
The appeals and directives were made on Saturday last week, in a statewide broadcast to the people on how to end the Boko Haram insurgency, while he also announced measures taken to compensate and re-settle victims of incessant attacks, killings and floods.
Gaidam, in the broadcast, had directed heads of MDAs to ensure that all civil servants report to duty as usual.
"As for leadership and members of the Boko Haram sect, we are appealing to them to put a stop to this conflict and come to the negotiation table, in order to restore peace and normalcy in our state and, indeed, the country as a whole," he added.
Despite the appeals, gunmen suspected to be members of the sect, however, torched the office complexes of Ministry of Religious Affairs and Yobe Pilgrims Welfare Commission, Government Secondary School, Damaturu and Yobe Line Transport Corporation (YLTC), including 13 masts of global system of mobile communications (GSM) firms and the house of mother in-law of Gaidam last week.
Nigerian Tribune observed on Friday that the IBB Secretariat Complex, which houses over 10 ministries and parastatal agencies in Damaturu, was deserted, as only a few vehicles and bicycles belonging to some security guards and messengers were sighted at parking lots.
At the ministries of Information, Homes Affairs and Culture, none of the heads of MDAs was at duty post, including the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Goni Fika.
However, a messenger and a security guard of the ministries of Youths and Social Development and Justice told the Nigerian Tribune that their superior officers could not report to duty, as most of them had fled or travelled to their homes towns.
Commercial banks and other financial institutions that were also issued the same directives also failed to open for businesses.
The banks, located on Damaturu-Maiduguri, Gashua, Potiskum and Gujba roads, were all shut, with a handful of security guards and policemen at the gates.
Even the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) located on the premises of the banks were not functional.