Dapchi: What hurts us most – Parents of slain girls

The pains of parents not knowing the whereabouts of a child especially when whisked away by armed men to unknown destination can only be imagined. It is more heartbreaking when a return is not assured or in one piece.  That was the horrifying experience Malam Adamu Jumbam and his wife, Habiba, went through since their […]

The pains of parents not knowing the whereabouts of a child especially when whisked away by armed men to unknown destination can only be imagined. It is more heartbreaking when a return is not assured or in one piece. 

That was the horrifying experience Malam Adamu Jumbam and his wife, Habiba, went through since their 14-year-old daughter, Aisha and other girls were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents at Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi in Yobe State, on February 19. It was more agonizing for the couple when Aisha, a Senior Secondary II student, was reported killed by the insurgents.

Habiba said it is very hard for her to convey how she felt about the sad news of my daughter’s death. “Only those who have passed through similar experience can understand what I meant,” she explained.

“In fact the insurgents had given us the hardest torture that one can ever pass through. Because, the entire family was happy when the first news reached us that the insurgents stop and dropped one of the school girls in Bumsa village and, they were about to bring the girls to Dapchi. We all rushed there to receive her. But the joyful story turns sad. Her friends told me that she died from suffocation and heart attack,” the sobbing mother told Daily Trust on Sunday.

She said the girls told her that her daughter was not in good condition when the insurgents picked them and cramped them into a truck and began the hectic journey.

The father, Alhaji Jumbam, with tearful eyes spoke glowingly about his late daughter. “I have 18 children but none of them is as obedient as she is. I have to scold before she disciplines her younger ones. The last time I saw her was when she returned to school. She wrote letter telling me to get her from the school because she was sick. I told her mother that may be she was home sick. I replied to her that her sister got admission into the school and she would join her on Monday. It saddens me each time I remember that I couldn’t grant her wish before she died.”

He said his daughter’s friend told him how the insurgents cramped them into a truck and covered them with trampoline and Aisha started bleeding from her nose because of congestion and died close to Bumsa village.

Adamu said the girl told him that the insurgents stopped in the bush and conducted a burial for the five that died and continued the journey.

For Malam Alhaji Inuwa who also lost his daughter, the 16-year-old Falmata had a premonition that someone in the family would die.

“She called me that she had a treble nightmare and that someone has died in the family. She was panicky over it. I went to the school and pacify her,” he said.

Inuwa, a school teacher in Bayemari, said he got to know that his daughter demise when three of her closest friends told him separately that his daughter was the first to die.

“I went to check if my daughter was among the group of released but one of them told me that she was the first to die and was collaborated by the others. That was how we accepted the destiny,” he said.

“The only consolation is that, I was told that they were buried in a dignified way but, it hurts me so much when people in the town received the insurgents warmly,” he said.

The father of another girl that died, Mohammad Muhammad, said his 13-year-old Aisha, who was in SSI blamed the federal government of being adamant over the death of their children.

According to him, no government official has come to condole any of them and the perpetrators of the crime went scot-free. 

Her mother of the deceased, Salma, told our correspondent that Aisha washed all my clothes and said that was the last. She said when she visited, Aisha suggested for money to take a photograph but told her to wait until she return home.

“Aisha pleaded with me to send her two brothers to bid her farewell. I scolded her for making such comments and left. I still can see her waving at me with a broad smile on her face as I left the school,” she said.

Malam Mohammed Adamu Doro is another father of another girl that died. “I was touched when her colleagues came to me crying that she was dead. I and her mother visited her two days before the insurgents struck,” he lamented. 

He described the incident as shocking and unfortunate. “This not different from a thief that broke into your house, steal your goods and comfortably return them,” he said.

Doro said “As a Muslim, I accepted it as destiny and in good faith but government should know that as citizens, we deserved to be protected and with honor.”

But for Leah Sharibu, a SSII student, it was gathered that she was still held captive for refusing to denounced her faith. Her mother, Mrs Rabecca Sharibu told Daily Trust on Sunday that she cannot stop grieving until our daughter returns, because if they do, they have given up on her. 

“She is everything to me. Whenever she is on vacation, I don’t have problems. She does all the house chores, and takes care of me too,” she pointed out.

According to her, due to the incident, she has removes her brother from a boarding school in Nguru to avoid similar experience as she said she no longer have confidence in the security of the country.

Mrs Sharibu noted that Dapchi has never experienced any Boko haram attack throughout the insurgency period. “But, this incident is an eye opener for parents to take security measures to avoid a repeat,” she added.

The distraught mother said her last moment with the daughter was on the last school visiting of the Sunday before she was abducted on Monday. “I took to her cooked food and chin-chin (snack). She fetched a little and asked me to keep the remainder until the next visiting,” she said.

On how she got to know that her daughter was held captive, Mrs Sharibu said her released school mates told her. “One of the saw me and said, Mama, Leah was held captive at the Boko Haram enclave for refusing to recite Kalmatu-shahada [Oath for allegiance to Islam], she explained. She pleaded with the insurgents to have mercy on the girls and release them unconditionally.

Leah’s father, Mr Sharibu Natan, said he was very happy when he received news that the schoolgirls have been released but later turns out to be a dashed hope when his daughter was not among them.

“I call on Dapchi people to continue to stand by me on this, because they have been treating me like their own. I came to this town as a bachelor and got married here. I appreciate their efforts and asked for more support to ensure that my daughter return to us safely,” he said.

It is sadness and joy for parents of the abducted Dapchi school girls since the incident of February 19. For those whose children are released, it is all smiles. But for those still in captivity, it is a hopeful waiting and for those whose daughters had died, it is a painful close of chapter of a seeming bright future for the youngsters.