Together with his two wives and eight children, Abubakar Salisu, a civil servant with the judiciary in Yobe State, is holed in a one-room apartment constructed with corrugated iron sheets that were blown off the roof of his house in Nayinawa, a suburb of Damaturu, the state capital, by a devastating flood on the night of July 25, 2018.
While his entire household still live with the nightmare of the ill-fated downpou
r, he is constantly tormented at the sight of every heavy cloud and rainfall. His despair is understandable as hope still looks far away despite his trust in God for a life-changing moment.
Salisu told our reporter that he lost everything to the flood, including his three-room apartment which was submerged.
He said: “I lost everything to the flood. Food, clothes, money, everything was destroyed. The house I suffered to build was completely submerged. I don’t know where to start from. With two wives and eight children, we are now sleeping in this one-room makeshift house. There is nowhere to go. We just have to keep managing here until the day Allah performs His wonders to change our condition.”
Like Salisu, Zulai Yusuf, whose husband does menial jobs in the southern part of the country to keep the family going, was also hit by the flood, and they lost everything including the house which the husband managed to build after many years of struggle.
Her cry is for the Yobe State Government to come to her aid. With four children in her care, Zulai battles to feed the children and struggles to shelter them as the house her sister rented for her is due to expire in the next one week.
“We wake up every day with panic as the rain continues to fall,” she said. “It is unfortunate that we don’t know what government is doing about our plight. If the government cannot come to our aid, I wonder who will do so. Since they came here in their big cars and wrote our names, they have not come back to see how we are coping with life.
“We thank you journalists for being there for us. We pray that through you, our cries would be heard by the government so that they would come to our rescue. I really don’t know where my hope lies now. I wake up every day struggling to feed the children and at the same time thinking of our shelter.
“The rent for the place which my sister secured for me will expire by next week and I don’t know where to go to with my four children.”
ENDLESS WAIT
Many of the flood victims who spoke with our correspondent said they were tired of waiting for the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). Some others wondered why SEMA had no immediate palliative measures for disaster victims.
“How can this kind of thing happen to poor people like this and government has no immediate measure of cushioning their sufferings?” a resident queried.
A resident of the affected area, Mohammed Lamin Bulama Wakili Mai Angwa Bula Bukar, said they had since collated the names of the affected people and sent it to SEMA. He, however, wondered why it is taking the government so long to help the people.
He said: “I was here when SEMA came with local government officials. We went round our area and wrote the names of the people that were affected by the flood. We got a total of 109 people who were affected and submitted their names to SEMA. But up to this moment, we have heard nothing from them.
“The only help we got is from one man who sent two modules of grains and N500. We don’t even know the person because the person did not disclose his identity to us. Many people got help. Help came two days after the flood.”
PERMANENT RAIN DWELLERS
Speaking on how the residents are coping with life without homes, Mustapha said: “We live in the rain. The houses we are living in now are makeshift. Look at that old man (pointing to an aged man whose house was destroyed by flood), his own house is still in that shape.
“I myself live in the rain with this shanty arrangement as my shelter. We get worried each time the cloud gathers even though we need the rains for our crops in the farms to grow.”
Another victim, Goni Ali, said he had abandoned his farm trying to fix a place for himself and family members to live in.
He said: “Since the flood occurred, I have not gone to my farm. I have been moving from one place to another trying to fix the house for my wife, my three children and my aged mother to live in. Since the day it rained, my food was destroyed. There is no food, nothing to sleep on. How then can you farm?
“Some people’s food was swept away either to the road on to the gutters. The water scattered everything in people’s houses and left them with nothing. Government people came and collected our names and left us to suffer.
“We are just on our own. Many people don’t have places to sleep. We have been separated from our families. Personally, my wife and my four children are sleeping in her brothers’ house. Sometimes I sleep in the mosque because I cannot fix my house up till now. Government should please come to our aid.”
Musa Mohammed says he sleeps in a small kitchen with his wife while his children are distributed among his bothers and other relatives in the town, but all come back to the kitchen in the day time to fend for the family.
With an aged mother, two wives and five children, Yahaya Mohammed, a tractor operator, has also gathered his disjointed roof to construct a shelter where his entire family now dwells. Yahaya believes that only Allah, not government, will take him out of his present predicament.
“I cannot blame anybody. Neither do I believe that Government will help me. I look up to Allah because He is the one that has the solution to our problems. Whatever happens is designed by Allah and He has answers to everything. I thank God for the temporary house I have constructed so far for my family,” Yahaya said.
HELP ON THE WAY?
When contacted, the Permanent Secretary, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency, Idi Musa Jidawa, said that succor was on the way for the victims, calling on them to be patient.
He said: “I understand what the people are going through. The state government is working very hard to bring succour to the victims of the flood. I am calling on the people to be patient. It won’t be too long before intervention will come.”
The Chairman Tarmuwa Local Government, Mohammed Gidado Abubakar, whose people were also affected by another devastating flood in the last two months, said his people are also waiting for the intervention of SEMA.
Alhaji Gidado however added that other victims of fire incident at Lantewa in the local government area had been settled by SEMA.
“We have compiled the list of the people that were affected by the flood in my local government area and submitted same to SEMA. They have told us that they are working on it. They have assured us the victims will be reached very soon.
“I want to also confirm to you that the victims of fire incident at Lantewa have been settled by SEMA. We are so grateful for that and we pray that the succour of the flood victims will also come so that the people will rebuild their homes,” Gidado said.
There were also claims of other victims of rainstorm disaster in Gulani Local victims, calling on them to be patient.
He said: “I understand what the people are going through. The state government is working very hard to bring succour to the victims of the flood. I am calling on the people to be patient. It won’t be too long before intervention will come.”
The Chairman Tarmuwa Local Government, Mohammed Gidado Abubakar, whose people were also affected by another devastating flood in the last two months, said his people are also waiting for the intervention of SEMA.
Alhaji Gidado however added that other victims of fire incident at Lantewa in the local government area had been settled by SEMA.
“We have compiled the list of the people that were affected by the flood in my local government area and submitted same to SEMA. They have told us that they are working on it. They have assured us the victims will be reached very soon.
