Investigating sxx abuse in IDP camps

THEY say that when a nuclear holocaust destroys the world, only the cockroaches will survive. This myth came into wide usage after the events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 where cockroaches were the only survivors following the United States atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. During the Cold War, anti-nuclear activists and scientists spread the myth far and wide as a cautionary tale of the atom bomb’s destructive potential. It was later established that cockroaches can only endure intense nuclear radiation but cannot survive at the long run. While verifying the mythical belief, the myth busters subjected German cockroaches to three levels of radioactive metal cobalt 60. The first was a baseline exposure of 1,000 radon units (rads) of cobalt 60, capable of killing a person in 10 minutes, and followed it up with 10,000 and 100,000 rad exposures. As a result of gradual destruction done to organisms on the cellular level, the myth busters monitored the radiated roaches for 30 days. After a month, half the roaches exposed to 1,000 rads were still alive, and a remarkable 10 percent of the 10,000 rad group was alive. The results confirmed that cockroaches can survive a nuclear explosion but only to a point, as none of the cockroaches in the 100,000 rad group made it through.

ALSO READ: Buhari, Saraki, Tinubu, Sultan, Alaafin, others storm Ibadan Sunday

The insurgency that has gripped the Northeastern part of Nigeria for close to a decade now can be likened to a nuclear holocaust that aims at bringing every living creature therein to ash. Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and some part of Taraba have recorded scores of deceased persons that have been lost to this religious terrorism. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Nigerians have fled their homes to seek succor in camps that do not have the capacity to receive the influx of displaced persons coming therein. The displaced persons that survived the religious holocaust with the hope that they will be free afterwards are facing what is worse than death. According to the 2017 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), Nigeria for the third year running remains the third most terrorized nation in the world. According to ReliefWeb, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “In the three most directly affected states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, 7.7 million people require humanitarian assistance, including 4.3 million children and 1.6 million internally displaced persons, more than half of whom are children.”

“Ninety-two percent of the internally displaced are located in the three north-eastern states. An estimated 400,000 children in 14 local government areas in Borno State will be severely malnourished in 2018” as proposed; five local government areas in Yobe State are experiencing global acute malnutrition rates of 10-20 per cent. An estimated 1.5 million people lack access to safe water (940,000 in Borno, 480,000 in Adamawa and 80,000 in Yobe). As a result, vulnerable children are becoming acutely malnourished after repeated bouts of diarrheal disease. Only half of the 755 health facilities in Borno State remain functional and nearly 1,400 schools have been damaged or destroyed.” These highlighted figures represent the philosophical cockroach of the Hiroshima blast. They have once survived the holocaust; they are being destroyed by minor acts carried out by unimaginable actors that sneak into their places of refuge both in night and broad daylight. These monsters have the women folk defiled and the men folk killed through cleverly planned attacks.

Amnesty International carried out an extensive investigation involving more than 250 interviews that covered satellite camps established by the military in seven towns in Borno state, Bama, Banki, Rann and Dikwa inclusive. The interview which was done with additional 48 women and girls released from detention and the review of video, photographic and satellite imagery reveal many of inhuman sexual abuses that these helpless innocent Nigerians are passing through. Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria once talked about how men of Joint Task Force are alleged to be sexually attacking the IDPs, stating that sex for food that had been the master policy on these camps. In Osai’s words, “Sex in these highly coercive circumstances is always rape, even when physical force is not used and Nigerian soldiers and Civilian JTF members have been getting away with it. They act like they don’t risk sanction, but the perpetrators and their superiors who have allowed this to go unchallenged have committed crimes under international law and must be held to account.” The women in these conditions have no choice because the force men use force to ensure they dance to their tunes. Anytime journalists go to these camps, soldiers allegedly give strong warnings to these victims that their response to any question related to how they were treated should be “we are fine.” Fourteen-year-old Falmata, one-time captive of Boko Haram, shared her story of abuse by men of Nigerian Military. Falmata was allegedly raped simultaneously by two soldiers. In her words “They did it one after another. I’m not even sure those two knew about each other.”  Another group of IDPs under Knifar, a movement of women in the region, said they were forced to deny the rape reports against men of the Nigerian Army published by Amnesty International.

The statement reads in part “Investigate the soldiers who raped us when we were in Bama. Our children died because there was no enough food, unless we had sex with soldiers. We have said it before: we are ready to speak to any investigation team the president sends to us. We only ask it will not be led by soldiers as they are also the ones who abused our women.” However, the acting Director of Defense Information refuted those claims.  Brig Gen John Agim said: “While on deployment at one of the FOBs, a soldier lured a minor girl and defiled her in the process. The soldier was arraigned for defilement of a minor and he was sentenced to dismissal from service with ignominy and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.”  A July survey carried out by Nigerian research organisation NOI Polls found that seven percent of IDP camp occupants said they knew someone who had been sexually abused, with camp officials held responsible for two-thirds of the incidents.

• Jimoh is an Abuja-based journalist