Garkida: Residents still in fear, a week after attack

On January 2nd, this year, residents of Michika town in Adamawa State were attacked by insurgents at around 6pm which left many with no choice than to flee to the mountains for safety. Tragedy again struck at Garkida, a village in Adamawa last week Friday leaving many to again flee to the mountains for safety. […]

On January 2nd, this year, residents of Michika town in Adamawa State were attacked by insurgents at around 6pm which left many with no choice than to flee to the mountains for safety.

Tragedy again struck at Garkida, a village in Adamawa last week Friday leaving many to again flee to the mountains for safety.

Musa Yak Garkida narrating his experience to Daily Trust Saturday  said he survived by a whisker when he saw vans near his house presuming they were military vehicles. He then realized something was amiss as the occupants of the vehicle had beards and wore incomplete military camouflage.

“I became suspicious and my heart started to race. My body trembled because I knew I could be shot, I instantly went back into my house. As soon as I stepped into the house, I ran to the fence and jumped over it and ran towards the bush.

He narrated that a few minutes later, he heard gunshots and then an explosion. He said he ran faster towards a mountain when the explosions continued. “I reached the mountain and I saw other people already climbing. We remained there till the following morning when we got the news that they had gone.” he narrated.

Barely, a week after the Katsina attack, residents of Garkida town fled to the mountains following early warning from a village about the advancement of Boko Haram fighters towards the town in a manner that suggested a plan for a major attack.

Last week Friday would be the third time insurgents would attack the town since 2014 when they first took control of the area from the Nigerian government before its liberation in 2015 by the military with support from local hunters and other vigilantes groups.

Looking down from their hiding place in the mountains, some curious residents watched the long convoy of a dozen vehicles, most of them Toyota Hilux vans conveying fighters armed with sophisticated weapons including anti-aircraft guns and rocket-propelled grenades as they calmly closed in on their target destination.

Helezi Yakubu Shekara a fleeing resident from Garkida told Daily Trust Saturday  that watching the fighters move into the town was one of the worst experiences in his life. He said moments after he heard sounds of explosion and gunfire.

“We heard different types of frightening explosions as the terrorists burnt houses and looted shops in Garkida. We thought the town would no longer exist after the attack until we returned in the morning to find out that only some buildings were attacked although the destruction was massive.” he said.

Residents said, the sounds of explosion and gunfire lasted for hours while they stood helpless, not knowing what to do next.

In the ensuing violence, the insurgents were said to have over powered the military, police and members of vigilantes who exchanged gunfire with them before burning the police station, police barracks, churches,  several houses, including those belonging to the chairman, North East Development Commission, retired General Paul Tarfa, retired Col. Andrawus Sawa and a politician, Emmanuel Bello. They also torched a community health centre as well as the General Hospital.

Another resident, Ama Paul said she and her three children together with other residents slept in the mountains to avoid death or abduction at the hands of the insurgents who invaded the town.

It’s almost a week after the incident and most of the people interviewed have expressed concern over the late response of soldiers stationed in the town even after receiving a prior alert ahead of the attack, stating that reinforcement from Yola arrived about the time when the insurgents withdrew.

However the 23 Armoured  Brigade in Yola, in a press release said the troops had repelled the attack in which a soldier died and another sustained injury.

The statement noted that the gallant troops deployed in Garkida had successfully intercepted the insurgents, killing many of them, urging members of the public to report any suspicious movement in the area as the military remained committed to the protection of  lives and property..

A veteran journalist from the town, Andrawus Tarfa told Daily Trust Saturday that “the  house of Gideon Tarfa, one of the hunters who fought the insurgents was torched. Then the gunmen burnt EYN church and Glo mast. They attacked the hospital, burnt the pharmacy, the accident and emergency unit and stole the scanning machine. They also set two ambulances ablaze. From there, they looted drugs from the  Rural Basic Health Centre, ransacked Garkida Development Area secretariat before setting it ablaze. All the chemist shops in the town were looted or burnt. They looted foodstuff also,” he said.

He, however, said normalcy had since returned to Garkida with the presence of additional troops since the attack in which three soldiers reportedly died and a teacher was abducted.

“Then they attacked the residence of General Paul Tarfa, setting part of the building ablaze. They torched the residence of Colonel Andrawus Sawa and that of his late brother, Bitrus Sawa. They set the Living Faith Church and  Anglican Church ablaze and burnt the residence of Chief Emmanuel Bello. They set ablaze the police station and barracks. They also attacked the military base.” Andrawus said.

Daily Trust Saturday also learned from Andrawus Tarfa that Mr Tarfa was abducted noting that he had earlier fled when the attack was going on but returned to check on his family and ironically bumped into the insurgents.

In a chat with Daily Trust Saturday, an elder statesman, a second republic senator, retired Col. Sawa whose house was torched, said churches and property belonging to Christians were targeted by the insurgents, alleging that the attack was religiously inclined.

“I was in Abuja when I heard about the attack, so I called a serving general who confirmed that Garkida was under attack and that he was arranging for reinforcement. I kept calling to get updates until no one picked my calls anymore because they had all ran away from the town. In the morning, one of my brothers told me that my house had been burnt”, he said.

He expressed shock that  all the houses destroyed belonged to Christians while property owned by the few Muslim elites were spared because the insurgents had religious motive which would not augur well for the unity of the country, saying as Christians,  the community wished that  insurgents would one day repent and jettison violence.

Accusing some top traditional rulers of  complicity in Boko Haram insurgency as indicated by their utterances, the retired soldier said Nigeria could not defeat Boko Haram until their sponsors and sympathisers were identified and unmasked, alleging that recently a top traditional ruler warned that fighting Boko Haram was a fight against God.

Col Shawa, therefore, commended the Nigerian army for sending reinforcement to the town to face the militants while they invaded Garkida, saying without that the destruction would have been worse.

From Madagali, Michika to other areas along the corridors of Sambisa Forest and the border with Borno State, locals always run to the mountains during attacks for survival.

The affected communities in Adamawa are located along the border with Borno which is the epicentre of Boko Haram  and these areas formed part of the territory controlled by Boko Harm between 2014 and 2015 until its liberation by soldiers.

Maimu Koppa, a resident of Madagali noted that the proximity to Borno and Sambisa forest exposed several communities in northern Adamawa to persistent attacks as rampaging terrorist cells from Sambisa area always found it very easy to cross to the villages on Adamawa side.

Meanwhile, Koji Dauda from Michika also noted  that some of the young men who joined Boko Haram at the peak of the insurgency in 2014 were still hiding in some deserted villages along the Adamawa-Borno borderline and often launched attacks on soft targets to steal food, medication and other supplies.

At the beginning of the major military offensive in Sambisa, authorities in Adamawa expressed fear that terrorist escaping from the forest might find state as convenient passage to other places advising residents to be watchful and report suspicious persons. Adamawa also shares the longest border with Cameroon.

The insurgents recently killed the chapter chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lawan Andumi whom they abducted during an attack on Michika. They also attacked Koppa village on the same day, just some days after a failed attempt to attack Bakin Dutse settlement in Madagali.

In the past year or more, the insurgents attacked several villages including Bakin Dutse, Kirchinga, Koppa, Bitiku, Sabongari and Shuwa, displacing residents and forcing farmers to limit their activities to the fields located near settlements for fear of Boko Haram.

Garkida, originally a missionary town in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State is located along the border with Borno State, the epicentre of Boko Haram insurgency in a forested area that extends to Sambisa Forest, making the town easily accessible to the militants from their camps. Garkida town is predominantly Christian and a home to top military officers and civil servants.