Agonizing tales of Internally Displaced Persons and how they sleep under Cashew Tree and under bridges

Mrs. Ramatu Peter from Plateau State was enjoying her blissful marriage until the fateful day members of the Islamic insurgents, Boko Haram, unleashed mayhem, sorrow and blood on their hitherto peaceful village, burning houses, shooting and killing everyone in sight.

Many, according to her, died but the fair- complexioned mother of one was lucky to escape through the bush with her husband before finding themselves in Abuja where they were forced to spend some weeks, living under the bridge at the mercy of hostile weather.

Although they have left their initial abode under the bridge, their situation has not improved at a small settlement at new Kuchikworo, an outskirts of the city, and there are strong indications that she might deliver her second child in the cement-bag maake-shift hut they live in right now.

Life under the bridge

Narrating the torturous story of her battle as victim of insurgency, she recalled: “My husband and I were among the Jos natives that survived the invasion of our village by unknown gunmen.”

“It happened about two years ago when some people they identified as Boko Haram members invaded our village and killed so many people, burnt many houses and rendered many homeless. We were very lucky to be among those that survived the attack and escaped to Abuja.

“When we arrived Abuja, we had nowhere to stay except under the bridge. We were there for almost one month and even sometimes stayed without food for a whole day. It was when my husband started working in the site that we had some level of respite even though the work was not regular.

“We were lucky to leave under the bridge and build a batcher with cement bags somewhere at the outskirts of Abuja called new Kuchikworo where we still live now with my only child. As I speak to you, I am pregnant and would still deliver my baby in this place because we are not planning to go back.

“The experience of watching those Boko Haram members burn houses and slaughter people still hurts. And we don’t even have enough money to feed let alone traveling home,” she noted.

 Distraught mom

Fatimah Abdulahi is a mother of two beautiful girls. She is aged 20, married to Yusuf Abdullahi, a farmer from Adamawa State. They are blessed with Fatima aged two and Zainab, who is just three weeks old. The couple lived peacefully until the enemy struck and unfortunately made them homeless.

Fatimah and her two children had a sordid experience before escaping the Boko Haram attack, sleeping in the bush for more two days. The attack by the insurgents, eventually, rendered them homeless, forcing them to swell the increasing number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Today, Fatimah is not even sure if her husband is alive or otherwise.

The agonising tale by a 52 year-old father of nine children from Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State, Mr. Job Pitman, is even touchier. Speaking to Abuja Metro, he lamented how his family lived in an uncompleted building on arrival in Abuja to their present residence under the shed of a cashew tree.

According to him, sleeping inside the batcher under the tree in Lokogoma, a developing suburb of Abuja has left him with only pain, tears. He lamented that it was either thousands of ants invading them or rain drenching the entire family.

Pitman said: “I first came to Abuja during Olusegun Obasanjo regime and started working as a helping hand in construction sites. I left my family in Jos because I was not making enough money from my work to sustain all of us in Abuja. I put my head anywhere night caught up with me because I had no home.

While I was still battling to survive and sustain myself here, I received a distress call from home informing me that all my family would perish if I did not return to rescue them from the raging communal conflict that broke out in Jos then.

I had to risk my life, travelled back home and was lucky to rescue my family. I brought them to Abuja, bought a small land from an indigene at Kuchikworo and built a small batcher for about 11 of us – my wife and my nine children.

Certainly, there was no comfort in such place that was not even spacious enough for one person to live let alone 11 of us, but irrespective of the situation, it is still better than leaving my family to perish at home.

When I thought I had got some respite, government demolished the whole place including my house. I had no choice than to keep the family in an uncompleted building in one of the sites we go to look for job.

The site job at a point became irregular because there were more people always seeking for the few available jobs. I was lucky that the same man who owns the uncompleted building I kept my family offered me job as security man with a monthly salary of N10,000. It was not enough but I had to provide my family’s basic needs.

However, on completing the building, he evicted us. Frustrated, I relocated my family to a spot under the shed of cashew trees where many others in our condition live.

It was a pathetic experience especially during rainy season when we had no choice than to sleep in the rain-drenched batcher. Sometimes, uncountable number of ants would invade the whole batcher and make life unbearable.

A rescue

One day God sent a messiah in the person of an NGO owner, Adaora Onyechere, to rescue us. She started helping us, sometimes she would bring us food, but she later started sending her driver to bring bag of rice, oil, garri and many other foodstuffs. It was a joyful moment especially when she assisted two of my children to enroll in school.

When you stick to the old saying that home remains the best, you would actually count Pitman out. Apart from admitting that his family still lives in fear even here in Abuja, the reports they get about their home in Shendam does not encourage a return.

“I have no plans of going back home because apart from my inability to raise the transport fare, my family still tells me they have not recovered from the trauma of that communal conflict.”

“The fact is that we are afraid to return home, and from my interactions with the villagers, they advise me not to come home now because they are fears and rumours of intentions to attack again by the assailants.  I am not thinking of return for now.

“They told me that the situation is still very bad and I should stay put where I am in Abuja. In fact, they even want to join us in Abuja because of the critical situation they face back home.

“Although three of my children are married now, however we are just surviving with the help of Adaora who is still catering for my family because my employer has not been paying me regularly. Sometimes, he would pay once after owing for two months. Honestly, life has not been easy for me and my family,” he lamented.

 NGO rescue

The Pitmans are certainly not the only family living in the agony as about 200 other people find refuge in many deplorable shelters under cashew trees. However, with the intervention of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), YellowJerrican Save a Child Foundation, there may soon be light of hope.

According to the initiator, Adaora Onyechere, it has become very imperative to address the challenges the IDPs face. She also warned that improper care of the vulnerable group could pose serious security threat in the FCT and elsewhere.

The TV presenter also calls that government ought to create a reliable database of such destitute community and step up action to cater for them. She further wants NGOs and the governments to work in collaboration to properly address their needs.

“The urban procession of these displaced persons is not only a major template for an increase in violence and crimes but also a corrosive fabric for rebellion and anti-government, movements through these persons who are highly vulnerable.

“Their living conditions are very pathetic and there seem to be no deliberate measures to monitor the movements of these victims. It goes beyond giving them rice and oil without caring about their health. Some of them are taking to street hawking but we should know that they are potential tools in the hands of desperate politicians.

“It is time for the government agencies and some NGOs to work together and build a database on IDPs because it will help even in the distribution of resources to them. More importantly, we have to think of providing rehabilitation skill acquisition facilities to help make them self-reliant after leaving the resettlement centres,” she suggested.

Written by Romanus Ugwu