Those who didn’t know it was festive season

ISHOLA MICHAEL and ATTAHIRU AHMED reported that while the festive season lasted, there were Nigerians who didn’t feel the general conviviality of the season as they lived in fear, displaced from their homes by insurgency and terrorism bedeviling the part of the country they live in.

While the festive season was on, with so much to eat and drink, including visits to places of interest, many Nigerians did not celebrate. During the Christmas and New Year celebrations, instead of being in their homes, they were either holed up in Internally Displaced Persons camps or squatting with relatives in different communities.

One of the states where this scenario played out was in Bauchi State, where there are no fewer than 56,000 IDPs who had fled from Boko Haram/ISWAP attacks in Borno and Yobe states.

In one of the IDP camps in Bauchi Local Government Area visited by Sunday Tribune, despair was written all over the faces of the residents. In the camp accommodating more than 200 families with over 1000 people, there was no sign of social amenities such as clinic, school and access road. The atmosphere was gloomy.

Sunday Tribune engaged Alhaji Buba Musa Shehu, Chairman of IDPs in Bauchi State. Asked if residents of the camp were aware that Christmas was around the corner, he said that, “yes we do, but, who is talking about Christmas when there is no food to eat, no clothes to wear; we have been neglected and treated as foreigners in our own land.”

Alhaji Shehu, who was displeased with the official position of the government that there are no IDPs in the state said the displaced persons had been trooping into Bauchi since 2012, adding that most residents had chosen to remain in the camp and in communities around the state.

Alhaji Shehu who is from Gwoza local council in Borno State said: “we have a total of 56,000 IDPs in Bauchi State and we have remained here since then. Not one person has gone back to their original place. We are within the communities and we have a few camps across the state.

“Though we have been receiving assistance from support agencies, but we have not received any from the present administration in the state; it has not done anything to support us in the past two years.”

Alhaji Balama Guja, who is the eldest man in the camp and an uncle to former First Lady, Maryam Abacha, also berated the Bauchi government for neglecting the IDPs alleging that: “the present administration does not recognise that we are here; it has been denying that we exist here, yet, it has been receiving items on our behalf.”

Secretary of the IDPs, Yuguda Idris,also repeated the same allegations, adding that, “about two weeks ago, an organisation brought 1,800 bags of rice to Bauchi State as a support to IDPs; it was received by the SSG, but, as of today, (Thursday, 16th December, 2021), the leadership of the IDPs has not been notified; we are waiting to see what happens to the donated items.”

The IDPs women leader, Zara Umaru who came to Bauchi State from Gamboru – Ngala said though the state’s First Lady has the camp twice, residents continue to suffer due to lack of social amenities. She said “we have lost a number of women during childbirth due to lack of hospital close to the camp. How can one have the happiness of Christmas when you are not sure of what to eat next moment? Government should come to our aid immediately.

The story is not different in Zamfara State where bandits had invaded several communities, where resident were either killed or kidnapped and their animals rustled. Sunday Tribune gathered that many more of the residents had fled to safer communities out of fear, while the bandits have taken over some the villages.

In Anka local government area, an indigene of the area, Alhaji Mohammed Sama’ila lamented thatmany residents are currently in IDP camps in Anka and Bagega town, while others have relocated to other places. Some of the communities already deserted include Yarkuka,  Taggaram, Ruma,Tunga Shehu,Tsabta, Faruwa, Kaya, Kuru – Kuru, Takkuwoyi, Zaune, Gidan Duna, Reri, Nagarawa, Gidan nabarau and Dokar bera, among others.

According to Bilyaminu Shehu, a community leader in Maru Local Government area: “As I am talking to you now, armed bandits are going round the farmlands to make sure that, no farmer is allowed to cultivate his farm,” adding that many people had been kidnapped in Dansadau town, “while bandits had blocked some roads in the area looking for people to kidnap in our area.”

Another resident of the area, Mohammed Sani, told Sunday Tribune that armed bandits had been demanding about N16m as protection money from local residents of Yanbuki and Dada who had been asked to pay N10m and N6m respectively and given a deadline to pay up.

“We decided to tax ourselves based on the status of each of the community members and some people have started paying their own.We will try to make sure the money is available before the deadline they gave us to avoid attacks on our communities,” he said.

He further explained that the bandits have been going round, monitoring the farmlands within the local government to make sure that the farmers did not go to their farms.

An IDP at Anka town, Lamiru Sirajo, said he came from Garwaye village, adding that he and others deserted the village due to constant harassment, maiming and killings by bandits.

“We have been attacked on several occasions by the bandits. They killed many of us. That is why we decided to relocate here. We used to eat two times in a day; that is in the morning and night. We have no potable water here. We have to go out and look for water,” he told Sunday Tribune.

Also narrating her experience, a mother of three children who gave her name as Maryam Sani said she is from Marbe village, said that her husband was killed in her presence by bandits who invaded their village in night.

“My husband, Sani, was shot dead in my presence by some gunmen who entered into our house. Immediately they came, they targeted and killed my husband. I have to leave the village because they told us that they would come back to kill those who refused to leave,” she said sadly.

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