Boko Haram: Disappointed Borno Residents Boo President Buhari

Some residents of Borno State on Wednesday booed President Muhammadu Buhari as his convoy made its way into Maiduguri, the state capital.

Buhari, who had been in Ethiopia since Friday for the African Union (AU) summit, headed straight to Borno to condole with the people over the latest Boko Haram attack.

On Sunday, about 30 people were killed in an attack at Auno, near Maiduguri.

As the convoy of the president made its way, some residents shouted in Hausa: “Bama so!” “Bamayi!”, which translates to “We don’t want; we’re not interested”, apparently referring to his visit.

Borno State is a stronghold of the president. During his previous visits to the state, crowds lined up on the streets, chanting “Sai baba!”

Commenting on the hostile reception that Buhari got on Wednesday, a Twitter user wrote: “If what I’ve been hearing from the people welcoming President Buhari to Maiduguri is all but to judge, then the people of Borno are not happy. Just an opposite of his earlier visits “Bama so” “Bama yi!” This is really serious. There must be a change of strategy in Fighting BH.”

 

One user said, Mansur Ahmed, said, “Kai, not so good for Mr Integrity @MBuhari. These people are not asking for too much, are they @NigeriaGov?”

Similarly, @SGezee, stated, “From this video here the power is really angry.”

Abubakar Mohammed also said, “We have to express our opinion because we want justice.”

Adamu Sadiq noted, “Our eyes are open. Now, this is a clear warning to the leaders (that) they should better take note.”

The PUNCH reports that Buhari has been known to be popular in Borno State.

In the last Presidential election, Buhari had his widest margin of victory in Borno State, where he polled 836,496 votes out of 955,205 votes that were cast, which constitutes a margin of over 85 per cent.

His closest rival, Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 71,788 votes.