The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has denied a report claiming that 15 worshippers were killed in an outskirt of Chibok Local Government Council of Borno State on Sunday.
Mohammed Kanar, the zonal coordinator of NEMA in the northeast, was quoted in media reports confirming the attack on the Eklisiyar Yan Uwa (EYN) Church at Kyachi, a village situated between Damboa town and Chibok.
But NEMA in a statement yesterday by its spokesman Yushau A. Shuaib said: "Though some of the reports claimed a source from NEMA provided the information, the agency not only contacted the same officer who denied it in its entirety, it also assigned a special team to investigate and verify the allegation which was later found to be unsubstantiated and untrue."
Shuaib said the NEMA team also discovered that two people were killed by unidentified gunmen around the area on Sunday and that their bodies had been deposited at a hospital. He said the victims were a security man and a bystander.
"Like other similar attacks, the agency could not classify the victims as Muslims or Christians because most of the attacks in that North-East axis are non-discriminatory between religion, tribe or section of the victims. This could be deduced from the caliber of personalities including retired military generals, traditional rulers, politicians, public officers, businesspeople, security personnel, traders, students among other that were victims of such attacks.
"It is necessary to point out that NEMA would never release figures of casualty in whatever form without concrete evidence and certification from relevant authorities including the medical personnel and security agencies," he said.
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