‘Life here is like living in hell’

JOHNSON BABAJIDE writes that though Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Benue State are happy to be alive, living in the camps is almost a nightmare and they could only hope that peace would return to their communities soon so that they could have their lives back on track.

That the herdsmen invasion of some communities in Logo and Guma local councils in Benue State is taking a serious toll on the state is an understatement. A visit to two of the seven Internally Displaced Persons camps located in Guma Local Government Area clearly encapsulates the situation that IDPs find themselves.

At the time our correspondent visited the Agan IDP camp last Wednesday, the pitiable sight of women, including pregnant ones found sleeping in the open in the camps was capable of melting a strong heart.

Facilities at Agan IDPs camp, popularly called Abana Camp, no doubt have become overstretched due to the influx of persons from Kadarko community in Nasarawa State. While the women were looking on helplessly wondering when peace would return to their communities so that they could return, children of between four and ten years were seen playing around, apparently oblivious of the problems they were in.

The pathetic story that currently filtered round the camp was the death of two children who were said to have developed an illness and before help could reach them, they were dead.

 

Sad stories

Some of the displaced persons who spoke to our correspondent prayed for divine intervention and quick restoration of peace for them to return to their communities.

Mrs Ovtser Mary lamented the poor condition she has found herself, while speaking with Sunday Tribune through interpreter.

“For the past few weeks I and my children had left our village, Mbakuran when the Fulani attacked us. Four persons were killed in the village; for many days we slept in the bush before we were told that the state had opened a camp for us.

“I was lucky that none of my family was killed but we suffered and are still suffering; no privacy, several people were forced to share the little space made available,” she lamented.

While commending the state government for providing for their needs, she however said that the situation was beyond the state government and appealed to the international community and public-spirited organizations to come to the IDPs’ aid.

For Pa Usha, a retired teacher from Udei village, nothing could have been more harrowing than where he has found himself with two wives and four children to cater for.

“Things were rosy for my family because I invested in farming, but the invasion of Fulani herdsmen, without provocation, is a thing of concern to me,” he said.

Asked how he has been surviving, the old man said that he has resorted to selling petroleum products on the roadside to augment what he gets as pension..

“I go to Makurdi, which is some distance away, to buy fuel at N200.00 per litre and sell it at between N250 and N280 to motorists; my son is the one handling the sales while I go sourcing for the fuel,” he stated.

The 20-year-old Jonah said “I assist my father along the highway to sell the product,” adding that the herdsmen’s attacks had temporarily stalled his ambition to further his education.

“I have finished secondary school, but I have deficiency in two papers which I plan to resit. But there is no way I can do that for now, possibly next session, I pray that normalcy would have returned to our village by then,” he said.

Another woman in the camp, Madam Joy who hails from Torkula village, said her only prayer is for the prompt restoration of peace to the troubled communities in Guma council area, adding: “there is no place like home, we are passing through hell here. I came here with five of my children but the situation here is an eyesore. Just few days ago we lost two children here.

“Imagine tens of people squeezing themselves in a small room with this heat. We have to queue for food and this is what we have in abundance back home, if not for these useless herdsmen who came to attack us and rendered us homeless.”

“What we are praying for is quick restoration of peace so that we can return to our village and pick up the pieces of life, although, things are going to be difficult when we return because our farmland and crops have been destroyed by herdsmen, thank God we are alive.”

Madam Joy, however, has an appealled to the federal government to do everything possible to ameliorate their suffering because they have realised that the situation is actually beyond the state government.”

While the older people are lamenting the pathetic situation they have found themselves, some of the school age children who spoke to Sunday Tribune decried their absence from school.

Patience Kparun, a 13-year-old JSS 3 student of Goodnews Baptist High School, Yelwata and  Ngunan Iorher, a primary four pupil of International Primary School, Yekwata, said they had been at the camp for two weeks now with no hope in sight concerning when they will return to school.

“Our mates in other areas where there is no crisis are in school but here we are, please help us beg government to resolve this Fulani issue so we  can return to school,” Patience said. .

For Deborah Pakia, a JSS 1 student of Beuker Secondary School, Jogo close 2 Ukpiam, said that gunshots which rented the air in their community for two days without response from security people forced them to abandon their village and run for dear lives with her parents.

Though the story is unending, our correspondent reliably gathered that all the seven designated camps in the two local government areas were increasing on daily basis.

Chairman sub-technical committee of National Economic Council, NEC, mediating between farmers and herdsmen in the country, who is also the Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi accurately captured the situation, when he said that “the situation of people at the camps were so bad.”

He further stated that going by the record, over 110,000 displaced persons were at the seven camps while children below the ages of four and eight constitute 80 percent, noting that “we have duty to cater for them.”

Executive Secretary, Benue State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA), Emmanuel Chior said that the major challenges confronting the IDPs were food and shelter, stating that the state government is working tirelessly to ensure that the people were well catered for.

He, however, noted that with lean resources of the state government, there was need for assistance from the Federal Government. He decried the level of assistance from the federal government so far.

According to him, “I am surprised with few items that NEMA brought to the state on Thursday,” he said, describing it as an eyesore. He however noted that the federal agency promised to come back.

When asked about the harvest of death at the IDP camps, the SEMA boss said that only two persons have been officially reported to have died.

“There was a report of a child at Abana camp and another grown-up child who died at Ugba camp in Logo council area. The deceased at Ugba fell ill and was taken to hospital for treatment but later died,” he said.

He explained that health workers from the ministry of health have been working tirelessly in ensuring that the people were well-catered for, stressing that it was not the situation at the camp that was responsible for the deaths, noting that, “you know, trauma can cause some of the health challenges faced by the victims.”

He explained that the IDP camps were fumigated against reptiles, particularly snakes which are rampant in both Guma and Logo council areas.

Chior noted that food and accommodation were the major challenges of the displaced persons, just as he appealed to public-spirited individuals and corporate organisations to extend hands of fellowship to the displaced persons.

He also extended the state’s appreciation to those who had lent support to the displaced persons.

As the IDPs continue to hope for better conditions and dream of ‘home sweet home,’ only a combination of efforts could resolve the huge problems on hand, where thousands of people are at the mercy of government which itself is limited in resources.