Borno CAR returnees: Tales of deprivation, neglect

Desolation welcomed Alhaji Usman and I into the pilgrims’ camp of the Borno State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Agency at Mauranti 1000 Houses, Maiduguri as we drove in and parked at the frontage of the administrative block. The block was immersed in silence, in contrast to the beehive of activities it wears during Muslim pilgrimage season. […]

Desolation welcomed Alhaji Usman and I into the pilgrims’ camp of the Borno State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Agency at Mauranti 1000 Houses, Maiduguri as we drove in and parked at the frontage of the administrative block.
The block was immersed in silence, in contrast to the beehive of activities it wears during Muslim pilgrimage season.
We alighted and maneuvered our way behind the block and the few blocks of dormitories for intending pilgrims, before their airlift to the Holy Land.
On the direction of some ladies, we approached a dormitory which was, fortunately for us, just a few meters ahead.
I greeted to announce our arrival in the Islamic tradition, expectant of any of the male occupants there to emerge and attend to us, even if Alhaji Abubakar Abba Kassim, the chairman of the 284-member first batch of the returnees, was not around to do so.
Alhaji Kassim emerged in the company of Mustapha Mohammed, the chairman of the 40-member second batch, and a couple of male youths, welcoming us with smiles.
The smiles, however, seemed contrived to bury the grief and regrets afflicting the returnees since their repatriation home to Nigeria following their reported persecution in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2015 sequel to political upheavals there.
The pervading environment of their refuge at the Hajj camp itself glaringly expressed this affliction of grief, regrets and neglect on the part of the returnees’ ‘benevolent’ hosts, the Borno State government.
Apart from the very few torn mats and mosquito nets constituting the only available beddings disorderly spread around the dormitory, which would provide no comfort, there was nothing there to ensure human survival at its barest level.
For about a year now, Borno State indigenes repatriated from CAR have been wading through intense difficulties to feel at home, owing to the impression they give of the cruel wave of deprivation, neglect and indignity meted out to them by their ‘hosts’, the Borno State government and the entire Borno society.
What they described as the dire situation they transited into a few weeks after their arrival ‘home’ and, until recently, the scorching insurgency in their abode of return have chased many of them back to where they described as ‘more homely and secure’ CAR.
Those remaining at ‘home’, who feel anathematised by those they, hitherto, regarded as benevolent kinsmen, now complaining of suffering a more regrettable form of persecution than that which chased them out of CAR, feeling that they have overstayed their welcome in a place they had always revered and proudly acclaimed as their native home in CAR, which they described as only their country of sojourn for some business convenience.
With the 2016 Hajj season fast approaching, those remaining in the camp face being thrown out to prepare the camp for the intending pilgrims. This is imminent. God knows best where they would head for after being thrown out.
Kassim, the chairman of the first batch of the repatriated Borno State indigenes, who were dispersed out of the camp since January, 2014, narrated their journey to their current ordeal. “CAR is populated by a majority Christians and, minority Muslims. Leaders of the country were, therefore, always of Christian extraction until 24th March, 2013 when a Muslim, the current President, took over. Events that followed this change in the trend of leadership led to an uprising against the minority Muslim population in the capital, Bangui.
“Little did we know that plots were hatched to lift arms against us until we heard the first gunshot on December 5, 2013, and we were so frightened. Here we were, a small population, holed up in an abode majorly  populated by those who now believed they must persecute and execute us to build the political status they desired for themselves.
“We endured, in expectation of a swift rescue from our native country, Nigeria, especially seeing the mother countries of other fellow nationals already evacuating their own. We heard nothing of that sort from the direction of Nigeria through its embassy in Bangui. I took it upon myself to complain in the BBC Hausa Service over this lukewarm attitude of Nigeria towards the situation of its nationals CAR.
“Following my complaint, officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) arrived in Bangui preparatory to evacuating us. Between 3rd November, 2014 and 5th December, 2014, Nigerians were evacuated home.
“We, the first batch of Borno State indigenes, comprising 284 persons, arrived in Maiduguri on Wednesday, January 7, 2014. We mostly comprised families. We were settled here at the Hajj camp.
“On Friday, January 9, 2014, the state governor, Kashim Shettima, visited us. Observing our pathetic situation, he sympathised deeply with us and instantly directed that we be well-fed, well-clothed, stressing that we must be well catered for. On that directive, each child from infancy to 13 years was given N3000, each youth, N4000 and each adult, N5000 to sew clothes. Food items were supplied to us. For two weeks, we had no cause to complain.
“Meanwhile, security personnel came round and collected our data to confirm if we were indigenes of Borno State and the local government area each of us or his parents or grandparents hailed from in the state. This was in a plan to disperse us honourably and benevolently from the camp to join our kinsmen in our respective local government areas of origin.
“Dispersing us, according to the plan included that we be given N50,000 each without regard to age to enable us start life in a new environment. The state governor announced this himself. The state government officials came round on 27th January, 2014 and started disbursing the money to us, stressing that they wanted everyone to leave the camp immediately.
“However, up to this day (two weeks before reporting time) only about 120 of the 284 received the money, and these beneficiaries were all adults. None of our children and youth has yet been given. For example, in my household, only my wife were given. Up to this day, none of my five children has been given the money. I received reports from a group that only the adult men and women were given. Up to this day none of their 30 children has benefitted. No word was given to us on when the others would be given the money.
“They told us to share the remaining food items among us. On that 27th January, while they were disbursing the governor’s largesse to the adults, they were telling us to immediately vacate the camp with our families in the buses already parked there to convey us to our respective local government areas of origin. On that day, only about 30 of the 284 remained in the camp.
“When the governor visited us, he promised us employment, housing accommodation and things that would facilitate our proper settlement in our new environments. Up to this day, we have not heard anything regarding that. We have explored all avenues to see the governor to implore him to redeem his promise, but to no avail.
“Our abandonment in difficulties and the insecurity caused by Boko Haram have chased a large population of us back to CAR, Cameroon and Chad. They felt that they would be more comfortable there than in Nigeria, in spite of their fear persecution there. 
Mustapha Mohammed, the Chairman of the second batch of 40 returnees, told the story of his batch.
“We arrived at the Hajj camp on 5th October, 2015. We were told by the state officials who visited us on 17th February, 2016 that we would remain here for only a week, after which we would be given financial capital to start business. They promised this to us.
“Since then, no official has shown up here with regard to anything good, let alone the promised capital. We have been abandoned here without any food or water. Since that 17th February when they brought us food items, no more provisions have been brought to us. No security. In fact, Boko Haram once detonated a bomb right at the gate of this camp. Even our fellow Kanuri people chased us out of their vicinities whenever we go there to fetch firewood to cook the little food we get in alms.
“We went to the state Commissioner for Justice and the chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) four times to remind them of their promise to us and implore them to redeem the promise, but to no avail.
“Because of the difficulties we live in here, 12 of us have left with the intention of returning to CAR. We even heard that some of them are lying ill in the hospital. We are now 29, including a newborn child, in the camp.
“There was even a time when soldiers came and tried to chase us out to give space for the preparation of the camp of the 2016 Hajj season. By the special grace of God they left us, and they have not returned since then.
The chairman of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Engr. Fatomi Ahmed, spoke only on the second batch of the returnees. He would not comment on the complaints of the first batch.
“The so-called 40 returnees are not staying at the Hajj camp with the authority of the SEMA or the state government. They were only brought there by the immigration officials, and we were notified.
“When they wrote a letter to us, they said they were 40. But when we went there some months ago, we met only a man and seven members of his family. When we enquired about the others, we were told that they had dispersed into the town to fend for sustenance. Nevertheless, the Commissioner of Justice, Barr. Kaka Shehu Lamin, gave them N150,000 to go to town and rent an accommodation. We gave them food items that would last five months. We then told them that they had become ordinary citizens. We don’t owe them anything at all.”