How we survived Boko Haram hell, by displaced persons

Mrs Wasini William, 24, a mother of one, had a harrowing experi­ence that has haunted her in the last seven months. It was her encounter with the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents.
A native of Askara Uba in Adamawa State, William and her aged grandmother were forced to live in the bush with reptiles and other wild animals for six weeks. It was their only option if they were to avoid their throats being slit like many of their neighbours.
Her husband, a cripple, had to also take his fate in his hands. While in the bush, Mrs. William, in company with her grandmother, lived on raw beans and vegetables. They joined cows to drink from a makeshift water source. She survived the inhuman condition but she would quickly inform anybody around her that hundreds of her close friends and relatives were not as lucky.
Mrs. William is now one of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) residing in Yola, Adamawa State. Narrating her experience to Daily Sun, she told of how the insurgents visited her community twice. First was when they came to give loans to the residents as a way of recruiting them, especially the men. They came again to distribute guns to the men who benefitted from the loans. Even those who did not benefit were compelled to take the guns or have their heads severed. They unleashed terror on the community, burning houses, raining bullets on those who took to their heels and slitting the throats of those they laid their hands on.
“What I saw was deadlier than hell,” she recalled. “Men, women, children were killed like animals. Our house was set on fire as a warning to us. They told us that they would wipe off the family when they returned,” Mrs. William recalled with tears rolling down her cheeks.
She said it was at that point that she and several other lucky women managed to find their ways to the bush.
“All of us cannot explain how we managed to escape to the bush. Only God knows how He directed our steps to the bush. They were shooting people who were running, people were crying, there was no intervention from anywhere,” she said in Hausa.
The heart-wrenching narration of Mrs. William was not different from that of Mrs Hawa Aliyu, a 31- year-old mother of six. In Bama where she hails from, she escaped death by the whiskers. According to her, the insurgents came to their house on a Friday and informed that they would return the next day to take her to the dreaded Sambisa forest. The reason for the trip to Sambisa, she was told, was to help her learn “true Islam.” She said: “I agreed, but when the men left, I ran to the bush.”
She was pregnant at the time this was happening. For five days she fed on leaves in the bush. Her husband escaped to an unknown bush and was there for several weeks. Till date, she is yet to reunite with him.
“I don’t know where my husband is and he does not know where I am. The only time I heard about him was when somebody told me that he saw him in Maiduguri.”
In Yola, where she is now with her children, she disclosed that life has not been easy. “We are suffering but it is not like what I went through in Bama. God will not allow me to go through it again,” she prayed.
For Mrs. Maryam Ado, an indigene of Michika in Adamawa State, she not only saw hell, she survived by the grace of God.
“I don’t want to remember the hell I passed through because it is better imagined. I was pregnant and did not taste anything called food or water for days. I trekked in the bush, several kilometres. The worse part of it is that I did not know where I was going. The only thing I knew was that I was moving.”
She had nobody to assist or encourage her. Her husband had fled to an unknown place, and they have not set eyes on each other since then.
On life at the camp, she said: “Sometimes, we do not see food to eat but I thank God that I am alive. There are many people who were killed by the insurgents.”
A look at the multitude of women that gathered at the Jamaatu Nasril Islam headquarters in Yola clearly told the story of what they were passing through. Some of them said they had been battling with diverse challenges. In the camp, food is not always available, and there are health issues to contend with.
Hawa and Ado said: “The best way to know what we are going through is to spend a night at the camp. Some of us are not living at the camp but with our relatives or friends. Even at that, you have to depend on others to live. We don’t always have food, and our children fall sick often. We live in perpetual fear. We sleep and wake up with the shadows of all that happened. Sometimes you go to a corner and start crying.”
The internally displaced persons might be going through some pains, but they are grateful to some individuals and organisations for their interventions. Such organisations include the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Adamawa Peace Initiative (API), JNI and some churches.
“I have to tell you the truth; many of us would have died but for the gifts from good people,” said one of the displaced persons.”
Penultimate Sunday, the leadership of AUN brought smiles to the faces of the IDPs. The university authorities led by the President, Prof Margee Ensign, supplied multi-million naira worth of food items and other relief materials to the IDPs at JNI, Yola. Some of the women could not control their emotions as they broke down in tears. They lavished praises on Prof Ensign, describing her as God-sent.
“I have not seen somebody like her. She has taken our welfare as her responsibility. This is not the first or second time she would come to our aid; she has been doing that regularly,” Mrs. Hawa said.
Prof Ensign doubles as the Chairman of the Adamawa Peace Initiative (API), a group that has placed it on itself to alleviate the pitiable condition of the IDPs.
The warm reception she got when she entered the JNI clearly showed how appreciative the women were over her series of interventions. They clapped and waved at her.
Riding on the convivial atmosphere, Prof Ensign said the community had a responsibility to join forces to address the plight of the IDPs. She challenged every Nigerian to come up with ways of bringing a lasting solution to the IDPs. She noted that doing that would bring an enduring peace to the ravaged areas and the country generally.
On the relief items, the AUN boss disclosed that the founder of the university and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was the force behind the items. She noted that the former Vice President was always in support of any initiative that could ameliorate the poor condition of the IDPs.
Speaking on behalf of JNI, Alhaji Gambo Jika described the AUN President as an exceptional person and urged all Nigerians to emulate her. He said her commitment to peace and a lasting solution to the situation of the IDPs was second to none.
On what was being done to resettle the IDPs, Jika revealed that a parcel of land, measuring 200 plots, was being made available at the district of Mayoille. He also revealed that there were other efforts being made to resettle the people.
Within Yola, one thing that is clearly noticeable is the influence that Prof Ensign commands among the people. Several children rely on the meal tickets she hands to them to eat in some eateries. They hail and praise her anytime they see her. She is also using the AUN platform to train hundreds of youths in the state on ICT.
She said: “We have to empower thousands of people on ICT. This will equip them to live a normal life. The university believes that it exists for the people. I would like the government to also come up with ways of helping these people who are displaced.”