A CURSORY look at their camps reveals a people in extreme destitution. Theirs is the heart-rending tale of a people who sleep on bare floors in stuffy environments, bitten daily by mosquitoes and other crawling ants and drenched most times by torrential downpours.
The physical and emotional trauma the refugees go through as a result of the activities of killer herdsmen in Taraba State are a great burden to them and a source of worry to Nigerians. The visits our correspondent paid to some of the camps revealed harrowing conditions which can be best described as hell on earth.
Their homes had come under herdsmen attacks, and to save their lives, they escaped with only the clothes they wore at the time. Some of them trekked many kilometres and spent nights in bushes before arriving at the camps.
In school compounds where they are camped, the internally displaced persons (IDPs) compete for space with teachers and schoolchildren. From Monday to Friday, they wake up as early as 6 am to move their kids and other things outside the classrooms so the schoolchildren could study. Considering that the schools operate morning and afternoon sessions, the IDPs have nowhere to rest until 5 pm when the schools close.
Pathetic kids, disrupted lifestyles
Until they were displaced from their homes by killer herdsmen, the IDPs were mostly farmers, while a few others worked as teachers in local schools to put food on the table, foot medical bills and provide their children’s school fees. They lived happily with members of their families and had lofty dreams.
The reverse has been the case at the camps where they fall ill frequently, cannot afford regular food or the drugs their women need when they give birth, let alone send their kids to school. Majority of them are in trauma; an endangered species.
Among the affected villages are Bujum-Yashi, Bujum-Wagure, Bujum-Waya, Wagure, Bujum-Kasuwa, Bujum-Centre, Yoti, Galadimawa, Bamga-Dutse, San-Turaki and Mayo-Lope. Others are Yilti, Bunzung, Sabon-Gida, Kwajafa, Sobon-Layi, Budon, Bawa-Garki and Kpanti Ladi.
The attacked villages have been reduced to rubble, looking like ‘ghost towns.’ Lau is completely deserted. It was horrific when this reporter braved his way to the scenes of slaughter and destruction.
The bulk of the displaced persons are taking refuge in Negatavah Primary and Secondary School in Jalingo, while others are camped in Pupule and Pantisawa, all in neighbouring Yorro Local Government Area.
In the camps, mostly affected are women and children. But it has been more harrowing for nursing mothers and pregnant women. Mrs. Lamin Kani recalled that she gave birth while she was fleeing from invading herdsmen. “I left home on January 5. It was in the afternoon when armed herdsmen stormed my village. The invaders, without provocation, were killing everyone they saw, so I had to run to protect my life and that of my unborn baby. But while I was running away, I fell into labour and was delivered of my baby in the bush with the help of other women.”
The baby boy, now eight months old, has known no other home than the refugee camp.
At least 13 of the kids observed at the camp looked very sick. They were said to have caught malaria and typhoid fever, apparently due to lack of clean water and exposure to “harsh weather.” Some of the sick kids taken to the hospital were returned without drugs due to lack of funds, it was learnt.
Gale of losses
Mrs. Tarifinas Samali, an octogenarian, disclosed that the herdsmen who dislodged them had taken over their ancestral homes and farmlands. She called on the Federal Government to intervene quickly in the crisis to enable them return to their homes.
Mr Yakubu Bulus, a farmer, said he had lost “everything” to the attacks. Bulus said he got 500 bags of rice, over 300 bags of maize, and over 2,000 tubers of yam last year, which he had stored up for sale this year. He said he had intended to use the proceeds to buy a small tractor and pumping machine in order to increase productivity.
“With a tractor, you can cultivate a large swath of land with less stress and harvest bountifully. But that dream was dashed. I still cannot believe I lost everything,” he lamented.
After the herdsmen destroyed what he laboured for, Bulus can no longer return home and now squats in an IDP camp. “The concern of the herdsmen is to take over our lands forcibly. My farm is now their grazing ground,” he lamented.
Michael Iliya, 25, lost his father to the herdsmen attacks. His home and all the family belongings were destroyed. In the camp, he struggles to feed himself and cater for four of his siblings.
“I am stranded here. Before they attacked our village, we used farming as a source of income. Now, we cannot do anything,” he lamented.
Through farming, Iliya had been able to buy two motorcycles which were contracted out for commercial use to fetch daily income for the family. “All of that have been lost,” he cried.
Harvest of deaths
Checks carried out by The Nation revealed that this year alone, no fewer than 300 persons have been killed, many injured and 4,000 displaced in separate attacks by herdsmen who razed a staggering 60 villages in Lau Local Government Area. In January, 68 residents of Lau massacred by the bandits were buried in mass graves. A lady who witnessed the mass burial of the 68 was seen in the IDP camp looking psychologically devastated.
The attacks have become incessant; almost a weekly routine. Penultimate Saturday, three people were killed when herdsmen invaded Bawa Garki village. Sources said the attack came in the evening as residents were preparing their supper.
An eyewitness, DSP Albert Jodale (rtd), told reporters on the telephone that the invading gunmen were numbered more than 300. “They were carrying riffles and machetes,” he said.
Jodale blamed security agencies for failing to stop the attacks on communities in Lau in spite of their presence.
It was gathered that tension was mounting in the area. The local youths in camps, not pleased with the actions or inactions of the military stationed in Mayo-Lope, were contemplating a protest in the town. They were also demanding the release of two members of the community who were arrested by the soldiers and sent to detention in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.
Jodale said he was afraid the protest might lead to “another unfortunate development.”
“The truth is that we are not secured here. The Federal Government should deploy special forces to Lau Local Government Area to stop the killings,” he said.
The immediate past Commissioner of Information in the state, Anthony Danburam, who hails from the area, confirmed the attack. Danburam said his people were living at the mercy of God. He called on the government to come to the aid of the affected persons who he said were in urgent need of food and shelter.
The Chairman of Lau Local Government Council, Weni Yafi Weni, also called on the state and Federal Governments to stop the crisis.
He said: “I see no end to this crisis, and I can see hunger looming because we are in rainy season and nobody is farming. The little farms made have been destroyed.”
The crisis appears to be continuous, giving no room for the repatriation of the IDPs.
The camp director, Dauda Marfa, said the continuous inability of the government to protect the poor farmers from the armed attackers, who masquerade as herdsmen, is a time bomb waiting to explode with devastating consequences.
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He said: “I am here with these people and I can tell you that they are very frustrated. Most of these people were well to do in their own rights and all of a sudden, they are reduced to this inglorious status of surviving on the goodwill of others.
“You can see hunger, anger and frustration on their faces, and now desperation is beginning to set in. This is the rainy season and they cannot plant anything. Their harvest for the previous year was all destroyed. Most of them lost their loved ones and could not even give them decent burial. They are going through a lot of emotional trauma for no fault of theirs.
“The last time, some of them got some seedlings and went to plant them, but they were chased away by the same herdsmen who are now desperately trying to take over their homes and turn their farmlands into grazing grounds. How can you pursue someone from his ancestral home and take over his land in a country like Nigeria where we supposedly have elected leaders?”