Borno, Yobe, Adamawa residents groan under state of emergency

President Jonathan had on May 14, 2013, declared a state of emergency in the three states which has generated a lot of debates for and against the pronouncement. While some people described the declaration in Borno and Adamawa States as long overdue, that of Adamawa is said to be unnecessary.Now, residents in the states are […]

President Jonathan had on May 14, 2013, declared a state of emergency in the three states which has generated a lot of debates for and against the pronouncement.
While some people described the declaration in Borno and Adamawa States as long overdue, that of Adamawa is said to be unnecessary.
Now, residents in the states are groaning under an entirely new dispensation with heavy presence of armed military personnel, armoured tanks and carriers as well as artillery.
Weekly Trust gathered that in the three states, new methods of security checks have been introduced, restricted cell phone calls and residents are finding it difficult to adjust to the new situation with the imposition of curfew.
Besides, many businesses hadbeen paralyzed, pupils and students have practically abandoned schools with souring prices of food stuffs in many cases in the state capitals.   
In Borno State for instance, the proclamation was unique as it finally severed it from the rest of the world even as people in all strata found themselves in difficult circumstances.
Few hours after the declaration, life was forced to a standstill in most parts of the northern Borno, the stronghold of the Boko Haram as well as other parts of central Borno, including Maiduguri, where a 24-hour curfew was slammed.
Residents of  Gamboru, Mairi Kuwait, Bakin Kogi, Kasuwan Shanu, Ruwan Zafi, 202 Quarters, Dikwa Quarters, Low Cost,  Sinimari, 505 Housing Estate, Chad Basin Area, 303 Housing Estate and Baga road areas were unceremoniously told to remain indoors without any signal for them to make provision for food, water and other basic needs.
It was about the same time when doctors at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), embarked on a strike to protest alleged brutality by policemen who stormed the hospital to know why the corpses of their colleagues killed in Bama were not properly kept in the mortuary.
At the hospital, it was gathered that the angry policemen fired several gunshots, injured workers and smashed structures while already admitted patients were left to their fate with attendant loss of many lives.
For quite sometime, in northern Borno, it has not been easy movement for residents of Marte, Mobbar, Gubio, Guzamala, Abadam, Kukawa, Kala-Balge and Monguno, among others.
Residents in border communities who spoke to our correspondents using Cameroonian cell phones lines said the declaration of the state of emergency was like the end of the world, because of the presence of many heavily armed military operatives.
They made reference to the confrontation of April 16 and 17 2013, between the Joint Multi-National Task Force and Boko Haram in which over 200 people were reportedly killed and over 2,000 houses burnt which the Nigerian government is still contesting the casualty figure, saying it was outrageous.
In the ensuing confusion, it was difficult for journalists to independently confirm stories or get first hand version from victims while the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri rarely speak as statements on the situation in the three affected states are  issued in Abuja.
“This is the most challenging times for us, because it has not been easy reporting the ongoing confrontation between government forces and insurgents,” a Maiduguri-based journalist, Timothy Ola told Weekly Trust.
Weekly Trust reports that the imposition of 24-hour curfew on parts of Maiduguri as well as the complete grounding of telecommunications for many days had made reporting difficult for journalists.
Ola said  “we are reporting but with caution. The military are not joking this time around. It is no longer business as usual. They (military) have been emphasizing patriotism in our reportage and sometimes issuing subtle threat by words,” pointing out that though the Boko Haram crisis has been going on for over three years, the trend of reportage has completely changed.
“The work is extremely difficult with the shutdown of internet services and cell phone networks,” he said.
Another journalist, Abubakar Yusuf said this is a trying moment for the media and had to resort to all sorts of avenues and tactics to get and send information to their media houses.
“The world depends on us to tell them what is happening, but we have a lot of challenges. The JTF has blocked access to volatile areas and we cannot contact anybody by phone. In fact, a soldier pointed his gun at me when I attempted passing through Baga road. On many occasions, we have to device other means to get first hand information,” he said.
According to Yusuf, “the state of emergency came with an intense curfew which completely subverted freedom of information and the freedom of the people to be heard.”
Till date, though the curfew has been adjusted to last from 6pm to 7am in Maiduguri and 6pm to 10am in northern parts of the state, residents and locals are still finding it difficult to adjust to the new reality.
Massive exodus of locals, including women and children was the outcome of the gun duel between government forces and Boko Haram fighters who had already displaced Nigeria’s symbols of authority, including flags and the destruction of police posts, among others.
Weekly Trust gathered that trucks taking food supplies into Maiduguri, the state capital as well as communities in Nigeria’s border towns with Chad, Niger and Cameroon are mostly obstructed or blocked for days, an action which triggered food shortages and high prices.
Sources said most markets scarcely open or operate at a low key, because of fear of being attacked while schools as well as public and private establishments in affected areas are struggling to keep afloat.
Lawan Usman, a school teacher was philosophical about the difficult situation. “If not for the tireless prayers of people of good will, Borno State would have been history…it is not easy,” he said.
While some people reportedly sought succour in southern parts of Niger  and Chad and north west Cameroon, some people in villages in northern Borno said despite their travails, Maiduguri remains a safer haven.
A young lady, Gaji Umara said she chose to go to Maiduguri because that was the place her mum went after fleeing from Marte.
She told Weekly Trust that  “we have been suffering even before this war broke out. Before then, I and five of my sisters, two of my brothers and our mother were living peacefully in our town, Marte. However, about four months ago, we began to see strange persons whose number dramatically increased within a short period. We then heard that those persons were well armed and were going from house to house looking for young men who would assist them in their mission.”
According to her, they soon reached their house and asked after their father who had traveled at that time, but they insisted in knowing his whereabouts and were told he is in Cameroon where he does his business and takes him 4 to 6 months before coming back home.
She explained that when the people came the second time, they appeared with guns and other weapons and threatened to kill whoever tries to disobey their directives and said they selected their house among others by their leader where meals would be prepared.
Recounting their ordeal further, Umara explained that “the armed men told us not to worry, but insisted to go with our two younger brothers who are in their 20s. Then we sought to know where they were taking them to and they said not far away. Our mother fearlessly told the armed men that she was not comfortable allowing her children to be taken away, but the armed men said she shouldn’t be scared as they would be coming home everyday to be taking food for them.”
Later on, she said, they directed them to relocate to where they were living and that was when she realized that they were not armed robbers as thought but insurgents.
“The reason why they decided to let us go was that many women who were cooking collectively had been crying day and night, more so when we hear intensive gunshots. Their leader therefore told us that we should go back to our respective houses in Marte, but when we got back, we saw more armed men everywhere, apart from those we left in the base,” Umara pointed out.
Elsewhere in Maiduguri, residents are alleging highhandedness and extortion by troops though they acknowledged that the presence of soldiers has recorded cases of serial killings and other sundry crimes.
People living in Wulari Jerusalem area of the metropolis alleged that they are being unnecessarily harassed by troops attached to the Deeper Life Bible Ministry and Iman Malik Mosque respectively. A panel beater who does not want his name in print said soldiers are using arms to threaten civilians.
“In fact, one of them came to my compound and pushed my wife away and vowed that he will shot me if I utter a word.  I just remained silent,” he said.
Markus Hosea, a student of Ramat Polytechnic said he was going to school few minutes after 6 pm when he was arrested together with over 20 other people.
“After delaying us for an hour, they (soldiers) started calling us  one after the other demanding money from us. Some people gave N2,000, some N1,000, but if you have less than N200, you will be taken to the sector command,” Hosea alleged.
In Yobe State, the situation is different because not too many people were able to leave their residences and towns due to the new pattern of military operation in the area.
Some residents told Weekly Trust that the soldiers are polite, pointing out that some of them do not talk to the locals.
“In essence, the people who migrated did so because they wanted to,” a resident said.
Shu’aibu Zannah, a “refugee” in Gaidam said many villagers living in the Nigerien border town of  Maine Sorowa  had fled because of uncertainty  while few others are staying with their relatives in Gaidam and other adjourning villages in Yobe State.
“If anybody tells you that he was chased away by the military, he is not telling the truth, because most of us left even before their arrival. It was rumoured that when the soldiers came, they will kill people indiscriminately and as such, those who have relatives in Faranshi, in Niger Republic left and I decided to move my family down to Gaidam,” he said.
According to him, he and his family fled, leaving all their belongings in the village, taking along only a few things and trekking a long distance in the hot desert before reaching a point where they boarded a car to Gaidam.
Another person who arrived in Damaturu and does not want to be named told Weekly Trsut that the number of soldiers deployed at the border towns made people to flee indiscriminately.
According to him, people at the border areas of Nguru, Gaidam, and Machina said they still go about with their business activities as usual while markets, schools and government offices are all functioning, but noted that many residents however complained over the alleged scuttling of cell phone networks across the state.
It was gathered that many people, especially in Damaturu and other local government areas, have now resorted to travelling  many kilometers to neighbouring villages in Bauchi State to make pressing phone calls.
A resident in Damaturu said  “if it were in advanced societies, all these GSM companies would be sued, because they jeopardized peoples’ businesses for over a week now without explanation and they don’t even have the courtesy to explain why.”
Apparently angered by the endless carnage going on in Borno State, Governor Kashim Shettima recently said if the right thing was not done, the nation could be consumed by a revolution as angry Nigerian youths are bracing up to chase politicians out of power.
He stated this when he received members of the Senate Joint Committee on the Baga carnage at the Ggovernment House in Maiduguri.
According to him, “underneath the mayhem of Boko Haram, beneath the madness lies the underlying cause which is extreme poverty and destitution which have permeated all spectrums of our society.”
Shettima said “only and until we address some of these issues, believe me, the future is very bleak for all of us as the current crisis is just an appetizer of things to come. Very soon the youths of this country will be chasing us away.”
He further remarked that “the most important thing in Nigeria is all about the last election and the next election. That is the only thing that is agitating our minds. How we can perpetuate ourselves in power. How much we can steal, how many mansions we can buy in Florida, Dubai and London, these are what agitate the minds of the elite of this country, including you and I.”
Explaining a bleak scenario, a legal practitioner, Barrister Aliyu Musa told Weekly Trust that  “there is no single tertiary institution in the whole of northern Borno. No single company is functioning; there is no single road that is motorable and virtually all the local government areas have no electricity from the national grid.”
On the way forward, a civil activist, Aminu Usman said the two opposing sides must reach a compromise – sincerity of purpose by the government while the insurgents must appreciate     that  people have the right to chose the kind of life they want to  live.
The situation is not strikingly different in Yola, the Adamawa State capital as residents groan in the midst of heavily armed military personnel and restricted movement.
Though Weekly Trust gathered that prices of food stuff have been stable, residents had to adjust to going indoors early. The state government has also reduced the working hours to enable workers attend to other needs and return home on time.
Maimurna Ishaku, a resident of Federal Housing, Yola and a teacher in a primary school, said everything is going on normally as if there is no state of emergency in place.
Also, according to her, the prices of food stuff had remained stabgle, but the only concern is that  people had to adjust to the curfew.
As a result of the state of emergency and the curfew imposed, the Adamawa State Government has reduced official working hours in the state by one hour, to ease the difficulties civil servants have been experiencing since it imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew. The curfew which was earlier imposed  from 6pm to 6am now starts from 7pm to 6am daily.
A statement by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Kobis Aris, said workers would now close at 3pm stressing: “Sequel to declaration of state of emergency in the state by President, Commander-In-Chief and the imposition of 6 pm to 6 a.m curfew in the state, civil servants find it difficult to reach home before 6pm adding that governor  Murtala Nyako has approved that the state civil service official working hours be adjusted from 8:00 am to 3:00 p.m during the time of the curfew.