Refugees build new town in Adamawa
By Sadiq Abubakar
Maiduguri
Borno state capital Maiduguri was yesterday up in flames when two bomb blasts left over 67 people dead and at least 98 others wounded.
The bombs, which were detonated by two female suicide bombers on Babban Layi-Ahmadu Bello Way at the popular Monday Market, left over 30 shops and stalls destroyed along with 25 vehicles burnt.
An eyewitness, Modu Zanna, a trader, said: “Around noon when people were going about their daily businesses at the Monday Market there occurred a blast that killed many traders, buyers and sellers along the one-way road linking the market from Ahmadu Bello Way.”
Just about five minutes later, while people were picking the bodies of the dead that included women and children, another bomb exploded not far away from the first spot. It also killed people and damaged shops and vehicles.
“You need to see the ugly situation,” Zanna said.
Also, reports indicated that Boko Haram insurgents yesterday sent letters or pamphlets to the people of Kukawa town of Kukawa local government area of Borno state, informing them and soldiers in the town of their plan to capture the town.
A Maiduguri-based commercial driver who plies the Maiduguri-Kukawa-Monguno road on a daily basis, Aisami Fannami, said: “Just this morning I came out for business at the motor park and while I was taking my breakfast before I loaded for Kukawa, the news of a planned attack by Boko Haram insurgents to capture the town came.
“We in Maiduguri are scared and confused over the recent happenings in the northern part of Borno state where these insurgents are believed to be in the majority living comfortably in the midst of people and no one can even utter a word about them.
“Even our relations and parents living in Kukawa and surrounding villages since early morning today have not been at peace. They are worried and confused.
“In fact, right now we are in a dilemma. Please, let the government do something to save our lives and property.
“Look, for years we cannot go to the farms to plant or harvest due to the insurgency. Up till this time we are not at peace in our homes again. Where can we go and survive?”
Meanwhile, thousands of displaced citizens from Gwoza in Borno state have found a new town called Dawari in Fufore local government area of Adamawa state and there were indications that many of them might never return to their original homes.
Gwoza, a vast local government in Borno state, has been consistently under attack since April this year when members of Boko Haram fleeing from Sambisa Forest moved into their towns on motorcycles.
On May 30, 2014, the Emir of Gwoza, Idrissa Timta, was killed by Boko Haram after his abduction along with the Emir of Uba, Ismaila Mamza, in Hawul local government area as they drove on their way to attend the funeral of the Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Shehu Abubakar.
During the second week of August, the son of Timta who was installed after his father’s murder, fled when insurgents overran the town, sacking the Police Mobile Unit Training School and declaring it the headquarters of their newly founded caliphate.
A village head in Gwoza, Alhaji Idrissa Lawan, now a resident of Dawari, following his displacement told our correspondent that majority of those who fled Dawari were no longer thinking of returning to their ancestral homes.
Lawan said a resident of Gwoza who fled to Dawari settled down and, after a month, returned home, adding that on his way back to his new place of abode, at least 300 others followed him and the population has swelled to over 3,000 since then.
Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Adamawa state government only recently discovered the now sprawling community located off Yola-Mubi highway following the invasion of Mubi by Boko Haram and a search was conducted to find where the people had fled to.
The condition given for their stay in Daware was that no temporary tents would be erected as the new residents have been allotted farms and building plots to begin normal life.
NEMA has, however, continued to support the refugees with relief items.
A NEMA team has visited the temporary IDPs camp at Nyako Housing Estate in Yola, NYSC Permanent Orientation IDP Camp and Malkohi where those camped in Nyako IDPs camp had been moved to.
NEMA said some of the common challenges affecting the smooth operations in the four camps in Adamawa state had been identified, giving the total number of IDPs as 12,000.
The tour, which was led by the Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani-Sidi, had representatives of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and Journalists Against Disaster (JADI).
Sani-Sidi told the IDPs that concerted approaches would now be applied to address the challenges aimed at making life more meaningful for them and ordered the immediate release of additional supply of mattresses to replace those carted away by displaced persons who had left the camps.
