Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has cleared the air over his statement on the death of farmers killed by Boko Haram in Borno state on Saturday.
Shehu said that he is also “human with tons of compassion and empathy”, adding that his explanation on the killing of the Borno rice farmers by Boko Haram terrorists in the Zabarmari area of Borno State does not mean he has no compassion.
In a statement posted on his Twitter handle on Monday, the President’s aide, who was part of a Federal Government delegation to Borno today over the tragedy, explained that he did not blame the victims for the unfortunate incident.
The statement read, “Today, I found myself leading the trends in the social media for the wrong reasons.
“The State of Borno is essentially a military zone up till now that we are talking and much of what people do; much of where they go are governed by the exigencies of security.
“Routinely, traders, administration officials and even UN agencies get the green light to go to many of the areas to avoid trouble.
“Information from security agencies says that the Zabarmari marshlands are infested with land mines and movements in around those areas subject to military oversight.
“No one is delighted with the massacre in Zabarmari and there is nothing anybody will gain by playing blame games.
“The question I tried to answer on BBC was: did the security sign off on the area as being free of mines and terrorists? The honest answer is , no.
“I’m human with tons of compassion and empathy, and could not have said that the victims deserved their fate for ignoring security clearance.
“I was merely explaining the mode of military operations in the war zone of the Northeast. There are areas that are still volatile that require security clearance which is intended to put people out of harm’s way.
“When tragedies occur, questions arise in terms of how something happened in order to avoid future recurrence. Informing the military of our movements in an area of volatility and uncertainty is intended to preserve public safety.