Many of them have had brushes with death, especially when the insurgents feel threatened by a possibility of the villagers informing security forces of their presence. A good number of locals have had to pretend to be insurgents - or at least sympathizers - to stay alive.
Modu Kyari, a farmer from Riri, said for over three months now, several armed men believed to be Boko Haram members have been raiding villages around the area, at least every fortnight killing male adults and stealing grains. “Most of the insurgents are Gamargu-speaking, mostly teen-aged and ride in on motorcycles. The Boko Haram Amir (leader) of the area lives in Dewele town where he has converted all the people in the town. Insurgents from the neighbouring communities gather in his house in Dewele every Friday for meetings,” he claimed.
On their unwelcome ‘neighbours’, Kyari said: “Our attackers are mainly drawn from Marte area and Abadam local government, which has been under the control of insurgents for a very long time now. Whenever they attack us, they first go to Dewele and meet with the Amir. Whenever we hear that strangers in vehicles or on motorcycles have gone to Dewele, all the men in our villages will run away and leave some food items and goats with our wives and children to give to them when they come. I don’t have anything to give, so when they came last time, I had to flee,” he said.
Fannami Saleh, also a farmer from Dalla, lamented that the ‘neighbouring’ insurgents that have been raiding his village are always escorted by two young men from Musari, who are well-known in the area. “I was living in Musari. I relocated from there when the most senior Amir of the insurgents in this area, Abba Alhaji, relocated from Maiduguri after Mohammed Yusuf was killed, to Musari. He converted everybody in Musari to Boko Haram, and that was when I ran away to Dalla.”
He added: “Few weeks ago, when two of his boys who know me very well escorted some insurgents to attack Dalla, I sighted them, but they did not see me. That is why I had to relocate from Dalla, because if they see me, they will certainly kill me. Musari practically belongs to insurgents. There is a military checkpoint at Badari, about ten kilometers away from Musari. The soldiers cannot deny that they do not know what is happening there.”
Saleh continued: “Several villages in Monguno local government area like Kulli, Bida, Dewele, Riri and Dalla may not be said to be directly under the control of the insurgents but the insurgents go there at will, attack, kill and loot unchallenged. They reside in the neighbouring villages. You cannot escape during the day, except at night, because they patrol the area day and night with motorcycles. Some night-time escapees were successful as they avoid the light and sound of the patrollers’. People are afraid of making reports to soldiers. When you report, the soldiers arrest them and take them away, resulting in other insurgents going to the villages to attack, usually in a very nasty, vengeful manner. The truth is the soldiers cannot be in every village.”
Mala Adam, an unwilling one-time ‘neighbour’ to Boko Haram, said he escaped from Gudunbari in Abadam local government area. He told Daily Trust that most of the young men that were into farming and marketing of pepper from the area have joined Boko Haram. “I have been in Gudunbari for eight months now, pretending to be an insurgent so they won’t kill me. I’m from Bama and I’ve been into the trading of pepper from here to Maiduguri and southern Nigeria for 11 years now. The last time I came here, I realized I couldn’t leave because insurgents have taken over everywhere. You cannot buy and take pepper anywhere. You cannot even leave the area. All the young pepper farmers and traders have joined the insurgents because there is nothing else to do.”
Adam said a friend of his from Gudunbari, with whom he used to transport pepper to Lagos, asked him to play along. “We both posed as insurgents, just to survive. He helped me to escape from there,” he said.
The Southern part of Borno State, believed to be safer and with less record of attacks, are not entirely so, according to residents who spoke to Daily Trust, emphasizing some areas around Askira Uba and Gwoza local government areas.
Sunday Waba, the youth chairman of Mussa in Askira Uba local government area, said though the insurgents are not occupying any community in the area, they are however living in the bushes around the area, and come out at will for raids. “Though the army has taken some security measures that were not there before, towns and villages like Mussa, Dille, Lassa, Ngurthlavu, Huyim, Bdagu, Imirsa, Yaffa, Maikadiri, Kubchi, Yaza, Izge and Pambom are prone to attacks. Insurgents frequent the area, attack and kill innocent persons,” he said.
Waba pointed out that the area is on the Sambisa Forest belt. He added: “The soldiers are doing their best, but more effort is needed, as surrounding bushes need to be combed, for our unwelcome ‘neighbours’.
Credits:DAILY TRUST
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