The Borno Police Command has yesterday deployed 400 officers for safe return and settlements of 120,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to Bama, four years after it was destroyed by Boko Haram. The deployment of policemen was announced Monday in Maiduguri by Damian Chukwu, the police commissioner at a news conference. He said the police officers are to provide fire power and protect all returning Bama IDPs that had commenced yesterday from the Dalori camp. He said Governor Kashim Shettima has launched the return of IDPs and ordered District and Wards Heads to be among the first phase of returnees. He said that the traditional leaders are to “physically identify” their people, before settling in their respective rebuilt homes in Bama. “Our officers and men are adequately armed to protect the returning displaced persons from Maiduguri to the rebuilt town,” he assured. He said that within this week, another batch of policemen will also be deployed to Banki, a border town with Cameroon.
