Baga is in Kukawa local government area of Borno state, North-east Nigeria. The town is renowned for its commercial activities such as farming and fishing, because of its proximity to Lake Chad. Baga is approximately 196km from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. Doron Baga or Baga is one of the biggest revenue earner for Borno state government.
However, Baga as of 2013 had experienced a major setback in its commercial activities (farming and fishing) due to the fight between Nigerian military and Boko Haram terrorists, resulting in the death of over 185 innocent people and the destruction of properties.
In January 2015, the town was attacked and captured by Boko Haram, including the military base of the Multi-national Joint Task Force (MNJTF) as the town was burnt down and reduced to rubbles and over 2000 people were massacred.
Again, on December 27, 2018, Baga military base was attacked by Boko Haram, killing 10 people. Reportedly, the attack was an attempt to take over the town by Islamic States in west African Province (ISWAP) fighters, ia Boko Haram faction operating in the northern part of Borno state under the leadership of Abu-Musab.
However, the Babagana Zulum administration came on board with 10-points agenda, with security as the major priority. Prof. Zulum during his inaugural speech in 2019, said his administration would accord maximum attention to the security of lives and property as well as food security programs.
Governor Zulum said, “We will not sleep until Borno fully regains peace by the grace of God.” This indicates that Zulum is working tirelessly to ensure that peace is restored to Borno state. But this seems to be a difficult task for the governor as he set up a committee to return all internally displaced persons (IDPs) back to their ancestral homes. In the process, Zulum was attacked several times by suspected ISWAP fighters.
The Borno state governor had accused the Nigerian Army of being responsible for the attack on his convoy in August, 2020 while on a trip to Monguno and Baga towns to distribute food to IDPs.
He said, “You (soldiers) have been here for over one year now, there are 1,181 soldiers here; if you cannot take over Baga which is less than 5km from your base, then we should forget about Baga. I will inform the chief of army staff to redeploy the men to other places that they can be useful.”
Governor Zulum also said what happened to him was a complete sabotage from the military. “It is a complete sabotage. I cannot end my interview without clearly stating what happened yesterday. As far as I’m concerned, there were no Boko Haram yesterday. It was a serious shooting by the Nigerian Armed Forces while ‘residing’ in Baga. The situation is very embarrassing.”
Many people are of the opinion that the military has keen interest in controlling Baga town because of its economic viability. Some even claim that the military are engaged in farming and fishing activities within the town, making millions of naira as profits.
In September 2020, Governor Zulum’s security convoy was attacked by ISWAP fighters, killing at least 15 security operatives while on their way to resettle Baga communities in Kukawa. The governor condemned the attack on his convoy, saying “I can’t be frightened by attacks while serving my people.”
Zulum also said, “I will go to Baga again and again and by Allah’s will, we will resettle Marte town in October and in sha Allah we will then move to resettle people in Abadam.”
This clearly indicates that Zulum will not rest on his oars until all IDPs are relocated to their ancestral homes as promised.
Some believe that returning of IDPs to their ancestral homes is the beginning of sustainable peace in Borno. For instance, Monguno, Bama and Gwoza are now living peacefully and people are going about their normal businesses, since they returned, but the fact is that the military, Nigerian government and even the displaced people have to work in unison to be able to restore peace and proper resettlement.
Mohammed Hassan,
Department of Mass Communication,
University of Maiduguri
