As the strife caused by the Boko Haram Islamic fundamentalists in the northeast heightens, the number of internally displaced residents has also increased; as there are thousands of people from the troubled region (Chibok, Askira Uba and Mubi) who are reportedly scattered across the federation with hundreds of them currently in Lagos, a state 900 km away from the northeast desperately seeking refuge with the state government.
BD SUNDAY investigation has shown that the these individuals are mainly teens who were students before they were sacked from their ancestral homes by the insurgents, children who have lost either of the parents and women turned widows at the peak of their lives. While the fortunate ones are at the moment taking refuge with relatives in slum areas and with empathising pastors- where in some cases up to fifteen of them are living in a 12-by-12 room size, others not as fortunate have resorted to sleeping under trailers, particularly in the Apapa area of Lagos State.
As the various concerned groups, political parties and politicians alike, unite with the now famous ‘bring back our girls’ slogan, aimed at ‘pressurizing’ the Federal Government to urgently secure the release of the girls, the insurgents have not just continued to kill, but have resorted to beheading men who are Christians and handing their heads over to grieving and terrified wives in the presence of their children and coerced them to deny their faith.
The international community also seems to have turned deaf ear to the plight of Nigerians in the northeast that have lost all to the Boko Haram sect and are now wanderers in their own country; seeking help from churches.
U.S Secretary of State, John Kerry announced on September 12, 2014 that the United States was providing nearly $500 million as humanitarian aid to help those affected by the war in Syria. On November 22 in Istanbul, Turkey, U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden announced nearly $135 million in new U.S. government funding to help respond to the ongoing emergency food needs inside Syria and in neighboring countries hosting Syrian refugees, bringing total US humanitarian funding to the Syria crisis to more than $3 billion.
The United Nations also sent humanitarian aid convoy into rebel-held areas of Syria without government’s consent in July 2014, even as UN chief, Ban Ki-Moon accused warring parties of denying assistance to millions as a tactic of war. The UN Security Council had unanimously adopted a resolution that authorised aid access at four border crossings from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, even though the Syrian government deems such deliveries as incursions.
The same measure has not been so replicated by the international community to Nigeria’s northeast communities who are facing fierce onslaught in the hands of members of the Boko Haram sect that have beheaded many of its victims like its counterparts in Syria ISIS.
Charity Tella is one of the many Chibok widows seeking refuge in Lagos with her children.
Thirty-nine years old Charity is one of such widows whose husband was ambushed and killed in Chibok Local Government Area who is now seeking refuge in Lagos. She told BD SUNDAY in Agege, a hamlet of Lagos, that the Boko Haram fundamentalists attacked her village after the abduction of the Chibok school girls, burnt houses and killed several residents; carried all 75 cattles belonging to the husband and killed the Fulanis who were taking care of them.
According to her, after the insurgents took away her husband’s belongings, he left the village to seek refuge in a nearby village, but when he heard that one of his friends has been killed, he decided to attend the burial, where the insurgents laid ambush against him on his return from the burial and killed him also.
She said life has been extremely hash on her and the nine children the husband is survived by, going from place to place before finally landing in Lagos with eight of her children while the remaining one fled to Taraba State to a village known as Doyari not too far from Chibok.
She said: “Feeding has not been easy for us, but God has been faithful. Some of my extended family members were able to escape before Boko Haram blocked some routes of escape. All that God has blessed us with including money were taken away by the insurgents. If not for my pastor, things would have worsened since we got to Lagos. We are appealing to the state government to come to our aid. None of my children is going to school. Accommodation and feeding are our major challenges.”
Her fifteen-year old daughter, Asabe Tella, who was in Senior Secondary School (SS1) in Askira Uba before the attack on Chibok, said since the death of her father, her family had had to live in penury with nobody to turn to for any form of assistance; adding that the abduction of 276 Chibik school girls made the thought of going to school nightmarish for her.
Senior Pastor, Nasara Baptist Church, Rev. Irimiya Musa Duchi, whose organisation at the moment is bearing the burden of some of the displaced northeast residents, told BD SUNDAY that 95percent of his denomination’s members are from the northern part of the country and that was how the displaced Christians from Chibok, Mubi and other troubled areas in the northeast got to know his place.
He said Chibok, 98percent Christian community, has become a ‘ghost city’ because many of the Christian residents have fled the area due to the incessant Boko Haram’s attacks. “One pathetic thing about Chibok and other areas like Askira Uba and Damboa for example, is that most of our Christian brethren have been forced out of their homes and towns. These places were dominated by Christians but if you go there now, you hardly can find a Christian. The whole areas have been taken over by the Boko Haram people. Whenever these displaced people come to Lagos they look for where their brothers and sisters are. That is how we got to know them,” the cleric said.
According to him, it appears that the Federal Government alone cannot tackle all the issues emanating from the insurgency in the northeast, calling on state governments, NGOs and the international community to join hands to alleviate the plight of the displaced residents.
“People are been killed day in day out; churches have been destroyed. For the Christian brethren in Chibok and other parts of the north, it is either you become a Muslim or they kill you. If the FG and state governments cannot do anything about the killing of Christians in the northeast, my opinion is that, the Christians there should leave. That would be of advantage to them since government is not ready to protect them,” he said.
Though he acknowledged that the FG was trying by its own definition to halt the Boko Haram onslaught in the northeast, he however, insists that the Christian communities were not feeling the impact of the efforts because it is not enough, suggesting that the way forward was for residents in the affected areas to be evacuated.
He said the Arewa Prayer Summit of which he is one of the pioneering leaders, have started mobilising concern Nigerians to see how the displaced northeast Christians could be assisted in whatever ways.
“We have actually talked with some organisations. Three different bodies have given me this assignment to know where our Christian brethren driven out of their northeast homes are currently taking refuge in Lagos. I have gone to Apapa. I have been to Allen in Ikeja; Kirikiri, Liverpool and other areas where these displaced people are currently taking refuge. The displaced people are really suffering.
“Last week I was in Apapa and I met over 100 of them. They told me that they sleep under abandoned trailers; and whenever the owners come to take the trailers away, it becomes a problem to them. If the Lagos State government would consider and do something for this people, we will appreciate it. I have met and taken data of over 500 of them and their major needs are the same. Among the displaced northeast residents are students who have been forced out of school,” he said.
According to him, school owners he recently met in Agege were ready to give scholarship to some of the northeast residents in Lagos who are students, saying that some would have immediately gotten into these schools but that the year’s academic section was already winding down.
He said should the Lagos State government reason with the northeast community by giving students among them scholarship to further their education, it will go a long way in solving the problem of the future repercussion of leaving them on the streets.
“Accommodation is another serious challenge facing the northeast residents in Lagos. We don’t have enough space here to accommodate them. The Lagos State government can also do something concerning the accommodation challenges facing our people. Governor Babatunde Fashola is one of the few governors in Nigeria that people take serious. We are counting on him to come to the rescue of northeast displaced people who are taking refuge in his state. Ninety five percent of these people are homeless; and that is the truth. Ninety eight percent of them were farmers before they were forced out of their land. The state government can empower those who are not learned among them. They also need to be rehabilitated because many of them are psychologically and emotionally traumatised. They need a rehabilitation centre. The state government can help them to some extent to forget the horrible things they have seen. NGOs can also empower the widows among them. It was Boko Haram who made them widows. The husband of one of them was killed in her presence and his head given to her in Chibok. When the mother heard about it she became mad. As I speak to you now, she is in a hospital in Lagos. Some of these widows have between four to nine children to care for. And yet, there are orphans among them whose parents were killed by the insurgents. We are appealing to Governor Fashola to set up a resettlement centre for the displaced northeast residents in Lagos so that their collective challenges can be easily taken care of. Feeding is a very big problem confronting the people. Once in a while some organisations come with food items and money to assist. Individuals, NGOs and state governments should come to their rescue so that they don’t start dying of hunger,” he said.
Musa, who further said the displaced northeast residents were also in Ogun State and Oyo State respectively, explained that the primary assignment given to him by the: Anointed Generation Baptist Association (AGBA), Lagos West Baptist Conference (LWBC) and the Arewa Prayer Summit (APS) was to gather information and collect data of the displaced northeast residents in Lagos, adding that the affected residents were coming to southern parts of the country because of the relative peace in the region.
A document he presented to BD SUNDAY detailing personal information of 500 northeast residents who fled to Lagos-comprising: names, sex, phone numbers and home addresses back in the northeast, shows that, larger percent of those captured so far are Chibok residents with Askira Uba coming next in a list dominated by students, widows and children.
He said though, the northeast residents in Lagos spoken to so far, gave an estimation of over 1,000 of their kinsmen domiciled in the state, he has been able to meet with 500 of them who he said are in desperate need of shelter and food, saying that resettlement camp was imminent as a major step forward.
According to him, though the leadership of the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) has not been completely silent over the plight of the northeast Christians following the continued massacre in the region by the Boko Haram extremists, it is however, not doing enough to assist the displaced residents.
“Truly speaking, CAN is not doing enough. As a body, (Arewa Prayer Summit) which we intend to change soon to (Northern Christian Fellowship), we discovered that CAN is not doing enough from the national level to the states’ level and the local governments. The assistant CAN Chairman, Lagos chapter, is aware of this issue but has the Lagos state CAN done anything regarding this problem? Nothing! They can speak to government and do something tangible for these people. I don’t know if CAN has succeeded in getting a camp for the displaced people. These are some of the things that we expect CAN to be doing. CAN is like a political arm of the church. They can influence government to do something,” he said.
Also speaking on CAN’s responsibility to the displaced northeast residents, a Chibok-based pastor who had spoken to BD SUNDAY in Chibok but pleaded to remain anonymous this time around for fear of being victimised, said the CAN President Ayo Oritsejafor knows everything that was happening to Christians in the northeast but was not doing anything tangible to alleviate their ordeals.
He said: “I don’t really know what CAN is doing. We will be happy if they can come to our rescue. My family and I are in a village not too far from Abuja. Some of us are stranded; we cannot eat; no decent accommodation to lay our heads. Some are in Maiduguri, Kaduna, Lokoja and Nasarawa states. As I speak to you now, Boko Haram is still in charge of Chibok. Our girls are still being held; while we, the parents, are running for our lives, and yet, CAN is not doing anything!”
He said, if it was Muslim community that was being massacred and displaced from their homes, the FG, through its agencies would have doled out money to assist the victims, citing as example the N100 million donated to the Kano bomb blast victims in 2012 by the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Lamido Sanusi Lamido, who is now the emir of the state.
“Chibok for example, is 98 percent Christian community. Attagara is a 100 percent Christian community. It is only Christians that they are killing now. Is either you become a Muslim or be killed. I have fled Chibok since Boko Haram took over the community. The suffering is becoming too much for us to bear,” he told BD SUNDAY on telephone.
NATHANIEL AKHIGBE
