Displaced Boko Haram Victims Recount Experience

Some victims of Boko Haram attacks, who have been rendered homeless, have recounted their horrible ordeal.
Speaking to Daily Trust, at the NYSC orientation camp, where thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) are camped, one of the victims, Hajja Kalthum who fled from Darul-Jamal, a community in the outskirt of Bama said she and many of her family members escaped death by the whiskers.
She explained that on the first day of Boko Haram attack on Bama town which was taken over by the Boko Haram insurgents on September 1, they all scampered for safety and it was after five days that she saw her three daughters and eight grandchildren in Maiduguri.
“It was a nasty experience indeed. I saw many dead bodies of young men decomposing on the streets. The gunmen warned the elderly men in the Bama not to bury any of the dead bodies. They warned of drastic punishment if their orders are not respected. Until the day we fled, the bodies are still there,” she said.
An elderly woman named Ya Bintu, who fled from Bama said she was trapped in her house for six days before she could escape to Maiduguri.
According to her she was courageous enough to hide many young girls in her house and they were able to escape days later, after noticing the way the insurgents carried out their operation.

She said: “The good story is that they (Boko Haram) didn’t touch me or any of the dozens of people that took refuge in my house, despite the fact that every day, they would come around and ask if there is any young girl. On every occasion, I kept telling that there is no young girl.”
On their mode of operation she said they normally come around 6 am on their motorcycles and they would stay in Bama till sunset, after which they would mobilize themselves, fire gunshots into the air severally and then leave.
On how they managed to escape, she said after the insurgents left on Friday night, they took to the bushes and trekked for a long distance until they got to Kawuri where soldiers had a station. They were then assisted into Maiduguri.
Another victim, Musa Mohammed, a displaced man from Bama town, said, he has not been able to sleep for the past one week as he has no idea where his two wives and 12 children are. He is not sure whether they are dead or kidnapped.
He said: “I did not see any of my two wives while only one out of my 13 children has been found. I am only a living but have lost my composure and apetite, I find it difficult to eat despite the fact that the Borno State government and NEMA are really taking care of us.”
He therefore appealed to the Federal Government of Nigeria and well-meaning government all over the world to come to their rescue.
It would be recalled that the fight for Bama had lasted for about a week with the army trying to gain control over the town which had been overrun by the militants.
Latest report indicate that the Nigerian military had reclaimed Bama town.
In a bid to curb terrorism and  forge a stronger alliance with Nigeria’s neighbours, President Goodluck Jonathan travelled to Chad yesterday, 8 September, 2014 for a meeting with the Chadian President Idriss Debyleave in Ndjamena.