Special assistant to Jigawa state governor, Muhammed Badaru Abubakar on community development and social inclusion, Hamza Mohammed, was on Monday mobbed by angry residents while on an assessment tour of the areas flooded in Hadejia local council area of the state.
Mohammed was mobbed together with some officials of the State Emergency Management Authority (SEMA).
Hadejia local council area, engulfed by heavy flood for years, is now a no-go-location for government officials as aggrieved residents plan to mob them over alleged government negligence of the area.
The residents lamented that despite the reoccurring flood, the state government has not made provision for remedial measures neither has it established inter-agency or inter-government collaborations to curtail the menace.
The angry residents also chased away journalists taking footage of the flooded areas, lamenting that this has been the normal practice without any corresponding positive effect on their communities.
Mohammed said the attack on him and other SEMA officials followed the devastating effects of the flood on the communities.
He said “the people are aggressive because they lost virtually all their livelihood as a result of the flooding however, the government are up and doing to mitigate the effects of the floods on the riverine communities.”
“We are community workers, the incident is bound to happen. This, however, will not deter us from assisting the people. The government has set up committee to ascertain the numbers of houses and farmland destroyed by the flood,” Mohammed said.
Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Sani Ya’u, said one of their vehicles got damaged following the incident at Tsamiyar Kuka Community in Hadejia.
“The SEMA’s vehicle was escorting the governor’s aide with other colleagues while assessing the damage, however, some residents turned violent and started attacking the government officials.
“The hoodlums damaged the side glass of the vehicle’s passenger side. However, no one is injured,” Ya’u said.
