Apart from the traffic jam stretching from Airport road and the presence of heavily armed soldiers primed for any eventuality, a first time visitor cannot but feel the sombre mood in the town presently threatened by Boko Haram insurgents. Yola and indeed other parts of Adamawa State are facing some perilous times. The roads, busy with people leaving the stricken town, tell the story.

The scene was either one of some people trekking with their luggage on their heads or others occupying every available space at the back of vans, as many others hitched a ride to safety by clinging to lorries. Their destination was Yola, the capital city.

Like a coincidence, she arrived the scene almost simultaneously with Vanguard Features VF. She looked haggard, unkempt and spent. She had been in the bush for four days, sustained only by drinking “dirty” water, apparently from the stream. Of course, food was one luxury that was not in sight at the time just as help was no where close. All she could do was to resign to fate.

But one by one, she calculated her steps, following the sound of vehicles from somewhere within. She saw them, the terrorists. She had escaped death by the whiskers and testified that the town had fallen to them. She also warned that anyone who ventured into the town wanted his/her dirge sung. Luckily, on the fourth day, help came to her as she eventually got a taxi that brought her to Damare Junction in Yola, Adamawa State from where she continued her journey.

This was how Abia State-born Miss Gift Ugo, a 200 Level Mass Communication Student of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi got away from the deadly Boko Haram insurgents who invaded Mubi on Wednesday, October 29, 2014.

Mubi is unarguably the largest town in Adamawa State. It is also an academic town hosting the State University and a Federal Polytechnic, hence the number of persons living there is high. But when news filtered into town about its invasion and occupation by the insurgents who sacked the villagers on Wednesday, Yola became the nearest town of refuge for many residents.

Victims recount ordeal
In a very pitiable, emotionally-laden voice, Ugo shared her ordeal to Vanguard Features.

“I am based in Kaduna but we are schooling in the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa. I am studying Mass Communication. Actually, the incident happened on Wednesday morning although we have been hearing the blast since Tuesday night. We never knew it would be that serious. The thing escalated Wednesday morning with the jets throwing down bombs. It was not easy. We thought it was the usual incident that will just pass by like the other ones.

“But before we realised it, there were gun shots everywhere. Many students ran to the Cameroon border. The Cameroonian soldiers were able to keep them. More than 150 students went to that side. So, we stayed back in the hostel to see how safe it was but they called us that they have killed a Higher National Diploma, HND 1 Accounting student. We  also heard that the university there had been burnt down and the next target is the Polytechnic. We had to therefore run for our lives. We were in the bush for four days. We were just trying to see how we can get a vehicle because the roads had been taken over by the insurgents. We saw them with our eyes.

We narrowly escaped being caught. We later came to Cobbler Abishau  where we were able to get this taxi. We were 10 in that taxi. We just arrived now.

“I don’t think there is military presence and they may not be able to avert this. Assuming there was,” she managed to explain.
Continuing, Gift said: “ No where is safe inside Mubi right now. I just told you that they killed a student   who was also running for his life. We believe that he is not the only person they have so far killed. We left some people behind  in the hostel who couldn’t run and they called a while ago to say that a part of the polytechnic has been burnt. We have not eaten anything since then. We were just taking water, no matter how dirty it is. Thorns pierced through our legs;  if you look at me, you can see that I am very dirty. For four days, it hasn’t been easy for us”.

Gift was not the only student who escaped from the insurgents. Another student of the Polytechnic who identified herself as Queen Samuel, also shared her experience with VF.

Queen, an indigene of Benue State, said she is a 200 level student in the Department of Purchasing and Supply.

“ We trekked all the way from Mubi to Hong and got a cab that took us here. We have lost almost everything. The situation in Mubi is very terrible. We heard that they burnt down our hostel immediately we managed to escape. There were gun shots and bomb blasts everywhere.  We saw the Boko Haram people from the bush where we were hiding. Two of them were on a bike while some others were using Keke Napep (Tricycle). They had their guns, so we hid. They didn’t see us by God’s grace. Today was our third day in the bush. There is no security there at all because for the past two days, we have not seen any body,” she said.

Hardly had Queen concluded narrating her ordeal than another woman identified as Rebecca Teri, a native of Michika in Adamawa,  came crying. On sighting the insurgents in Mubi, she took to her heels. That ill development has now separated her from her husband and seven- year old daughter. Up till the time of her encounter with VF, she was still searching for them.

With the help of an interpreter, she narrated her ordeal in Hausa language: “My name is Rebecca Teri. I came from Michika to Mubi where we met the insurgents. We started running and in the process, I lost contact with my husband and seven year old daughter”.
Her case was not different from that of Debora Fandum and Samuel Kasinda. Both were victims of the invasion. Though they escaped alive, they were confused, not knowing what to do next.

Damare Camp
Vanguard Features later visited the camp for  Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, which is the permanent orientation camp of the National Youth Service Crops, NYSC in Adamawa State. The visit revealed a more pathetic picture of a people whose fate is hanging in the balance. Indeed, insurgency in the States of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa has dealt the people a dirty blow.
Opened on July 29, 2014, the camp was filled with orphans, widows, widowers and indeed, the wretched of the earth. But you would never find the rich. As at Saturday, more displaced persons were still finding refuge there.

7662 IDPs in camp
Vanguard Features spoke to the Commandant of the Camp, Mr. Ibrahim Hamidu who incidentally, is an official of the  Nigerian Red Cross. He reeled out the statistics of persons residing in the camp.

“The camp is fully occupied. We don’t have more space to keep people. Now we have 3472 males and  4190 females. Persons under the age of five years are 782. Of this,  239 are males, while 543are females. Pregnant women are 76, while children under one year are 175. Orphans are 78. We have recorded  three deaths. They died of diarrhea. One woman died after child birth. We had four still- births, while eight women were successfully delivered of their babies. In all, we have 7662 persons in the camp.

*A woman and her children arriving Yola after trekking for days from war-torn Mubi

“A total of 2633 persons came yesterday from Mubi and Uwa but we are yet to know today’s (Saturday) statistics. More people are still coming in. We still have some that came from the Cameroon side. Some of them are here also.

“We have enough food and medications.  We have shelter also but we need more. For instance, the pit toilets are not enough for us. They ( inmates) bag their faeces and throw them all over the place which is not good for their health. The security here is good. The Civil Defence, Police   and the other organisations are taking care of the security aspect,” he said

We cook over 12 bags of rice daily
Yusuf Baya who said he is in charge of the kitchen, told VF that they cook at least 12 bags of rice daily.
“We cook more than 12 bags of rice in the afternoon then in the night we cook 10 bags of maize. Yesterday we cooked 10 bags of rice, two bags of beans and 15 cartoons of spaghetti. Today in the night, we will cook 15 bags of rice.

We need more mattress—Boni
Chairman of the IDPs,  Alhaji Modu Boni, an indigene of Gwoza in Borno state,  also lent his voice.

His words: “In reality, we thank God Almighty. We also thank NEMA and SEMA, Adamawa State. They have been taking proper care of our people. We have food, accommodation and drinking water. We have a health clinic. We eat three meals everyday and the security is okay. We have no feeding or accommodation challenges. But due to the overcrowd nature of the camp, we don’t have enough mattresses and mats to sleep on. That is the first challenge. Secondly, the security should be beefed up because we can’t identify everybody here. We came  from different states and local governments”.

Despite care being lavished on them, Alhaji Boni said it can never be compared to being at home. “We are not enjoying being here. I have a wife and seven children. I don’t know where they are up till now. I have been here for the past 62 days. I found myself here on August 24. This camp was opened on July 29. I travelled on foot from Gwoza to Madagali, a border town which is about 26 kilometers from Gwoza.

From every indication, Yola has become a  kind of “Mecca” as it continues to witness an unusual influx of men, women and children from the hinterlands, especially Mubi and Michika.

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