Adamawa – by Ahmad Sajoh
Boko Haram’s recent attack on Mubi in Adamawa State has been described as one of the worst ever carried out by the insurgency, with reports that the Islamic sect hoisted their flag on the subdued and captured hometown of Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff, Alex Badeh.
The latest attack has happened against the backdrop of the highly publicized ceasefire agreement between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram leadership – a truce that was supposed to lead to the release of the more than two hundred Chibok girls kidnapped by the insurgency earlier this year.
Below is an account of what happened as reported by Ahmad Sajoh from Adamawa State, Nigeria:
This morning (October 30,2014), as early as 5 am I and my Personal Assistant left Yola on our way to Maiha, luckily for me a good Samaritan had allowed my daughter the use of his phone and we spoke.
I told her exactly where to wait. By 8.40am, we met them weak, tired and with swollen feet. We were supposed to be joyful but honestly we were not.
The magnitude of the humanitarian disaster that we saw is better imagined than witnessed.
Men, women and Children, some as young as a day old were moving along the road heading for Pella from where they hoped to connect to Yola or other safer locations.
It was a human catastrophe of monumental proportions. Some headed their cattle and other domestic animals on the journey to the unknown.
I saw about three children all less than 5 years old who had lost contact with their parents. I saw a woman in Labor.
I saw danger, I saw naked fear in the eyes of the people as they moved towards an unknown destination, I saw despondency and hopelessness.
The worst picture I saw is that of soldiers running away; soldiers and civilians competed in entering a tipper in Maiha!
I was dumbfounded!
Some of the soldiers begged us to take them, but We couldn’t as there was no space in our vehicle.
The Mararraban Pella junction has now turned out to be a Military cantonment of some sort. Hundreds of Soldiers and their hardware are holed up there.
As we drove back, several things came to My mind. How did this start? When will this end? Who will end it? How come our gallant soldiers run away from combat? Who supplies the insurgents their superior weapons? How come there is no word from the Military Authorities on the latest attack on MUBI?
Meanwhile, fighting is still going on in areas around Vimtim. The insurgents are bent on reaching the residence of the Chief of Defense Staff.
As of yesterday the safest place around Mubi was Vimtim but by today that may not be the case. The main market in Mubi was bombed this morning with heavy losses in terms of goods but no reported casualties.
I got across to one Iliya Mai Zane who went and saw the damage in the market. Farmlands were also abandoned.
One Isaac Inuwa, a Pastor and Assistant General Overseer of Triumph of Faith Church in Lamorde Mubi who went to pick his kid from a private school was reportedly killed by the insurgents yesterday in the presence of his wife.
Many people trapped in the town including my colleagues and some students of Adamawa State University, Mubi are without electricity, water, food or other essentials.
Those running to Yola do not know where to go. It’s a monumental disaster that is hidden by all the noise about the politics of 2015 elections.
Another worry expressed by our people is the silence of Government-owned Media in the face of these disasters.
Where is their social responsibility to our people? What of the so called Media Center? We are waiting.
This report was written on the day of Boko Haram insurgents’ attack and forwarded to Alltimepost.com today by a concerned Boston-based Nigerian of Edo origin, Mrs. Anne Osula who spent a greater part of her life in Adamawa State before coming to the United States.
An emotional Anne told Alltimepost.com to do everything possible to get the news out. She also said her niece, Ladi Musa Igbinoba was also stranded for a long time until she was able to escape to Yola from where she safely made it to Abuja today.
“Mubi is my adopted home, I grew up there so I still have family going through all these. There is need to be awareness of what is going on in Nigeria,” she sobbed in a chat with alltimepost.com.
Meanwhile, according to her Ladi’s five-year old sister, Atsaktiya Musa was reportedly missing while at school during the attack and no word has been held about her. She is appealing to the Government to find her and others that have not been accounted for.
