Borno farmers killed because they didn’t pay tax to Boko Haram

Lai Mohammed, minister of information, says citizens in the north-east are no longer paying tax to Boko Haram.

He revealed this while speaking at a meeting with the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigerian (NPAN) in Lagos.

He assured that insurgents no longer occupy territories in the country as the have been curtailed.

However, some residents of some parts of northeastern and northwestern parts of the country debunked his claims and categorically stated that they still pay tax to insurgents and bandits to have access to their farms.

The Minister said “Now, let’s put things in context. Before Mr. President assumed office, Boko Haram could stroll into any city, especially in the north, to carry out deadly attacks. Abuja, the nation’s capital, Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Damaturu, etc were regularly targeted,”

He went on saying “Motor parks, churches, mosques, shopping complexes were not spared. Today, that is a thing of the past. Suicide bombers used to
have a field day detonating their bombs and killing innocent people”.

“Today, that is no longer the case. Detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used to be a deadly tactic of Boko Haram. Today, that has changed”.

“Boko Haram used to occupy territory, deposing and installing Emirs and collecting taxes. That’s no longer the case. These changes are not mere happenstance. They are part of the successes recorded by the military, under this president.”

He further said “In the wake of the killing, there have been calls in some quarters for Mr. President to resign.”

“Well, let me say here that these calls amount to playing dirty politics with the issue of security, and it is cheap and irresponsible. The President was elected in 2015 for a four-year term and re-elected in 2019 for another four-year term, no amount of hysterical calls for resignation will prevent him from serving out his term.”

Mohammed also said calling on the president to resign every time there is a setback in the war on terror “is a needless distraction and cheap politicking”.

Mohammed said the insurgents are no longer having a field day because of the leadership of President Buhari.

There were however unconfirmed reports that the Boko Haram killed the farmers because they refused to pay tax to them.