Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu has said that farmers who were killed by Boko Haram last week did not have military clearance to be on the rice farms.
Dropping the statement on a BBC interview, Shehu added that people need to know what it is like in the Chad Basin area. Although much of this areas according to him have been liberated from Boko Haram terrorists, there are a number of spaces that have not been cleared for the return of villagers who have been displaced.
"The government is sad that this tragic incident has happened", he continued. "43 or thereabout of innocent farmworkes, most of them had their throats slit by a heartless band of terrorist. People need to know what it is like in the Lake Chad Basin area.
"The military is not present on every inch in that area. Even if the people are ready to go back, some of these ares have been mined and mine clearance has to be carried out.
"So, ideally, all of these places ought to pass the test of military clearances before farmers or settlers resume activities on those fields.
Shehu also said "Visiting certain places in the north-east, which has come under the weight of Boko Haram insurgency for more than 10 years, is 'a window that the terrorists have exploited".
