‘Insurgency: We trekked several hours from Mubi’
Sunday Trust spoke with some of the displaced persons from Adamawa and Borno states who are taking refuge in Kaduna. Speaking to our reporter, a nursing mother, Fadimatu Gambo narrated how she abandoned her matrimonial home 30 days after giving birth in Mubi, a major town in Adamawa State, and trekked for two days with […]
Sunday Trust spoke with some of the displaced persons from Adamawa and Borno states who are taking refuge in Kaduna.
Speaking to our reporter, a nursing mother, Fadimatu Gambo narrated how she abandoned her matrimonial home 30 days after giving birth in Mubi, a major town in Adamawa State, and trekked for two days with her three-year-old twins. A young man, who simply identified himself as Buba, also disclosed how he abandoned his mother in Gwoza, Borno State and fled without shoes.
“Less than 30 days after I gave birth, Boko Haram attacked Mubi town. I was forced to trek with my three-year-old twins, together with my husband and my younger sister for one night and one full day without eating or drinking water. We started trekking into the bush, not knowing where we were going to.
“We crossed one river twice. We continued all night until sunrise when we got to a Fulani hut and asked for water. It was there we said the early morning prayer.
“The people were many, and we kept on trekking. When we approached Mararraba junction we heard the sound of motorcycles and all of us lay on the grass with the children. We later continued, but when we saw two motorcycles under a tree we changed direction and joined another group of people. And we reached Kurmi, a village without shops or traders, not even hawkers. There was not even a pure water to buy.
“It was when we got to a town called Kwambula, a town of the Kilba tribe that we bought pumpkin. We continued trekking until we got to a town called Makera. It was there that we got a motorcyclist who took us to Kal’a at N500. We reached Kal’a in the evening, and there was no car or motorcycle for us to continue the journey.
“We slept in the mosque at Kal’a and bought food in the morning. There was no commercial vehicle there, so we continued trekking until we saw a motorcyclist who pitied the children and gave us a lift to a town called Fadaman-Rake. From there we paid N1000 and begged him to take us from Hong to Gumbi.
“Unfortunately, the tyres of the motorcycle got punctured and we continued trekking until we saw another okada who listened to our plight and gave us a lift. I left my husband and younger sister.
“At Gumbi, the people were also running for their lives. There was no woman on the first road I negotiated as they had all fled to Yola.
That was when we decided to go to Yola. In Yola we discovered that people were also running out of the town,’’ Fadimatu Gambo said.
Asked how many days it took them to arrive Yola from Mubi she said, “We trekked for a whole night and most of the day. We spent two days to reach Yola. We were not thinking of food, and even the children did not ask for food. But because I am a nursing mother, I was exhausted, and they did not wait for me. I rested under trees and later struggled to catch up with them. The poor and old were left in the towns and villages.’’
Concerning Vintim, the hometown of the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, Gambo said, “It is a bit far from Mubi. But, as we got close to the toll gate I saw three helicopters in a row. That was around sunset. They came back through the same route the following day after the sunset prayer. I think they spent about 30 minutes in Vintim. I don’t know what took them there, but some said they came to pick his family members.
Sunday Trust also learnt that some of the displaced persons have lost their parents and other relatives. Asked the whereabouts of her father, a 13-year-old girl, Salamatu Muhammad said, “When they invaded the town we all separated. I have since parted ways with my father and some of my younger brothers and sisters. My mother took us to the bush from Mubi to Maiha and my brother picked us up in his car to Yola, Kano, and lastly, Kaduna. We have an extended family, but only seven of us are in Kaduna.
“When we entered into the bush we didn’t know where we were going, we just knew that we were moving. We continued moving until we got to a place called Pladiga. We walked till daybreak. It was the following day that my elder brother came and took us to Yola in a car. We spent two days there and moved to Kano, and finally, Kaduna. I don’t know where my daddy is at the moment.
“When we call my father’s number it doesn’t go through. I jumped over many corpses and many sick people from Mubi.”
She said some had been crying and asking of their family members while others are too traumatised.
Also narrating their ordeal to our reporter, another displaced person simply identified as Abdulmalik, 10, said, “We were on our way home when we heard gunshots. We started running and didn’t go home again. We decided to run for our lives. We ran to Gumbi, from there we moved to Kaduna. My father is in a village, but we are here with our mother.
“I and my sister trekked to Gumbi. We spent one night in the bush. We walked both day and night without food. It was when we got to a certain village that they gave us food to eat. From there we left for a place where we boarded a vehicle to Kaduna.”
Jamila, who lives in Kaduna, had gone to Mubi to see her sick father at the invitation of her mother. She also narrated her ordeal.
“Following the attack, we were forced into a dangerous forest where we spent three days. Luckily, after trekking for some days we eventually got a truck and the driver agreed to help us at N1, 000. I sold my mobile phone to pay our transportation fare. There was neither food nor water. They conveyed us to a village in Cameroon where we slept. The following day we were conveyed to another village and later moved to a border between Nigeria and Cameroon. We crossed a river and later boarded a car that took us to Jakilamba and eventually found ourselves in Yola. There I called my mother who sent me some money to transport myself back to Kaduna.
“My sick father is in a village called Kabila (Kauyen Kabila). I called him yesterday and I was told he is doing fine,’’ she said.
Jamila described the suspected insurgents she saw at a checkpoint as young boys who looked like the Fulani and Burgo, adding, “They were shooting sporadically and killing people.’’
At the displaced persons’ camp in Kaduna, Sunday Trust gathered that the displaced persons are almost left to their fate as no government at any level had come to their aid.
“No government at any level has come to visit us, let alone give us any form of relief material. However, we are grateful to Pastor Yohanna Buru for his gesture,’’ Bashar, 17, told our reporter.
Donating food items to the displaced persons, Pastor Buru, the coordinator of Peace Reconciliation and Revival Foundation had said, “I am a Christian and a Nigerian, and we have to be our bothers’ keepers. The Boko Haram attack does not discriminate between Muslims or Christians. I am calling on Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero and other individuals to come to the aid of these vulnerable children at Sabon Tasha and Millennium City in Chikun Local Government and other places. Nigeria belongs to all of us.”
Also presenting the sum of N100, 000 to the displaced persons, the coordinator of Malam Nigga Skills Acquisition Centre, Rigasa, Alhaji Lawal Yusuf Muduru, called on government, corporate bodies and wealthy individuals to help, even as he said there was the need for peace in the country.
Also speaking, national chairperson of the Women’s Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Mrs. Mabel Oyin Sowoolu said, “We want practitioners of the two religions to abide by their religious teachings, which centre on peace.”
However, presenting relief materials at Rigasa, the North-West zonal comptroller of the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), Alhaji Musa Elallah said the federal government was doing everything possible to enhance the overall welfare of the people. He called on them to be law-abiding.