Sad Tales Of 182 Freed Boko Haram Suspects

Sitting absent-minded and looking into the distance, a physically ill and scraggly woman in her early 30s was
unaware of everything happening around her; not even the cry of her three-month-old baby.

While her other 180 freed colleagues jubilated on regaining their freedom after months in military detention, she was oblivious of happenings around her. She was neither deaf or dumb, explained one of her colleagues, but she simply wasn’t of her surroundings.

“We have been unable to get her to tell us her name or from where she came, since we were brought in as suspected Boko Haram terrorists about a year ago,” said Falmata Abba, 26.

Abba was one of 182 Boko Haram suspects released by the Nigeria Army on Monday.

“She came here pregnant, but for over 10 months she (the sick woman) has remained like this (not talking to any one).

“She does not respond to anything anyone says; even if she does, she does not respond in speech. I became her care-giver when she delivered her baby and, now, she no longer cares when it is time to breast-feed the baby. At times, she beats the baby and we have to rush to rescue the girl from her.

“She may be suffering from some kind of trauma, because, from her looks and the way her eyes rotate, she must have experienced something evil. I presently take care of her baby, who I have to feed with processed baby food, since the mother refused to breast-feed her,” Abba told LEADERSHIP.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Kenneth Minima had, during the celebration of the Nigeria Army Day Celebration (NADCEL) on Monday, freed 182 Boko Haram suspects.

Minima said the suspects were released after thorough investigation by a joint military panel found them “clean of any link with the Boko Haram terrorists or their activities”.

Abba, who is lucky to be amongst one of the freed suspects, does not know what to do with the seemingly dazed nursing mother she is saddled with.

“For all the time we have been in the detention as suspects, I have been her care-giver. I don’t know what will become of the woman and her baby, because I have to go home now,” she said.

Dressed in similar attire given to them for the purpose of the hand-over ceremony on Monday, the freed 182 individuals comprised of 100 men, 40 boys in their early or mid-teens, 24 women (mostly widows) and 18 under-age and children.

Upon freeing them, Minima handed them over to the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, whose government later presented some cash and three bundles of new wrappers to each of them.

The state pledged that it would convey them to an undisclosed location within the state, from where theyn would be allowed to return to their communities, after their relatives had signed the document of undertaking that they would be responsible for the freed suspects.

Justifiably, a large number of the freed individuals are still smarting from their arrests. They are of the opinion that their lives were snatched from them the day they were arrested.

Abba, an accounting student of the University of Maiduguri, she was ‘picked’ from her home behind the palace of the Shehu of Borno some 13 months ago.

“I was ‘picked’ alongside two of my family members by security operatives who accused us of being Boko Haram members. We were not maltreated during our stay at the military facility. They actually took care of us, gave us food, clothing and allowed us to take our bath regularly, which is why I am thanking God. I am happy that I am going home to meet my family and, possibly, continue with my education.”

Binta Ahamdu, a mother-of-three, said the security agents, had about a year ago, ‘picked’ her at a housing estate in Maiduguri.

“I live in the 500-unit housing estate with my children when they came to arrest me, claiming that I ‘know something’ about Boko Haram. But God has been there for me and they found out that I am innocent.

My husband died some years back and people felt he might have been a Boko Haram member. I don’t know anything about that; all I know is that he was a good husband and father to us. I was brought here without my little son who was barely a year then. I had to plead before I was allowed to have my son join me here in detention. But I thank God we are fine and free today”.

Another freed woman, Falmata Bukar, told LEADERSHIP that she was speaking with her husband over the phone when soldiers invaded her home and accused her of being an ‘accomplice’ of the Boko Haram.

“I live in London-Chiki area of Maiduguri. On the day I was arrested and brought here, I was on phone speaking with my husband who drives fuel tanker. They said I was a wife of a Boko Haram member and has been helping to keep guns for my husband and other members. I begged them, saying I knew nothing about that, but they insisted on arresting me and bringing me to the barracks. Though I was not harmed here in the barracks, initially I suffered serious trauma thinking that I could be killed as we often hear of many who die in detention, but I am alive and free today”.

Usman Lawal, a young teenager, said there was an attack on his village, Gunduga, by the Boko Haram and everyone was on the run.

“It was while I was running in the bush that the soldiers found me and asked if I knew Boko Haram and I said ‘no’. They agreed and ordered that I follow them to the barracks. I have been here for about two months now,” he said.

The army was very silent on the number of Boko Haram suspects it found guilty amongst those arrested so far, a development that, somehow, casts doubts over the pronounced ‘innocence’ of those released.

Amnesty International, in one of its published reports, called for an investigation of the army and most of its senior officers for “participating in, sanctioning or failing to prevent the deaths of more than 8,000 people murdered, starved, suffocated, and tortured to death”.

This allegation was, however, denied by Nigeria’s Ministry of Defense who labeled the report a “biased and repeated attempt by the Amnesty International to blackmail the military hierarchy”.

A number of the freed 182 head for their respective homes unsure of the kind of future ahead of them.

“Being stigmatized over allegations of being a Boko Haram suspect is what we have to contend with for a very long time, but we will rely on our conscience and God if our kin reject us,” said Hadiza Garba.

One of the freed suspects, who is known by his nickname ‘707’ may not go back to his home around Shehuri area of the metropolis, because many of his neighbours believe that he must have had some dealings with the Boko Haram at the time he was ‘picked’ by the soldiers and taken to their barracks.

[Leadership]