• How insurgents returned to town ν Parents of dead girls recount last moment with daughters
Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The mood on Fulatari Street, Dapchi, the Yobe town, where 110 schoolgirls were abducted a month ago, was that of wild excitement last week.
It was a day after Boko Haram dropped off 106 of the girls the sect members kidnapped on February 19 at the centre of the dusty town in a dramatic manner that left many speechless.
Unlike other parents in Dapchi who saw their daughters returned home, 35-year-old Mohammed Kabu is still in grief.
His entire household was in a mourning mood; sadness was palpable in his large compound as sympathizers trooped in to offer prayers and give consolatory words to him.
His daughter, 13-year-old Fatima was one of the five students reported to have died of exhaustion a day after their abduction as the insurgents moved the 110 girls in the dessert to an unknown destination.
Fatima and four other girls, who died along the way following the stressful journey, were buried in a shallow grave by the insurgents in the presence of the other girls, some of the released girls disclosed. This was the source of the sorrow that pervaded Mohammed’s household as his kinsmen were rejoicing over the return of the captives.
“What can I do,” Mohammed asked as he glanced at the reporter as if he was expecting a response.
“It is Allah’s will and I can’t question Him,” he said in tears as soon as the reporter shook hands with him and a big silence followed.
As the atmosphere became tensed, his father who was seated at the left corner besides him broke the silence, urging him to be courageous.
Asked how he received the news of his daughter’s death, he said: “We cannot do anything about whatever that happened to us. Nobody wants to lose a child, but Allah has ordained our daughter will die this way. We can’t do anything to change it because death is for everybody; we will die someday, at any point; now or later. God has ordained it even if she was not abducted, she would not pass this day.”
While recalling his last moment with his daughter before the abduction, he said that he met Fatima at the mini-station in the town in a tricycle with her classmate.
“She told me she was going back to school and I prayed for her to continue reading her books. I told her we are happy that she is going to school. That was my last discussion with her,” he said.
At Jumbam village, about 2 kilometres to Dapchi, one Adamu Jumbam, whose daughter Aisha also died, said the sad news had troubled him.
“I was troubled when other girls were seen on arrival, but I didn’t see my daughter. Later, those that arrived now said my daughter Aisha was among those that died. All the same, I thank Almighty Allah for this and prayed for the repose of their soul,” he said, noting that he has taken the sad occurrence with equanimity.
Sunday Sun gathered that two girls from Jumbam were among the dead students while five were returned safely on Wednesday morning.
Parents, residents shocked by girls’ return
News of the coming of Boko Haram to Dapchi last Wednesday became rife as early 7:00a.m. Those who saw the insurgents moving in a fleet of four-wheel drive vehicles with the girls in other neighbouring communities, including Gumsa, 32 kilometres away as early as 5:00a.m called the people in Dapchi to inform them about the movement.
Many of the parents of the abducted girls said they received the information with disbelief.
“I told people that they should not play politics with this sensitive issue because I didn’t believe it when somebody called to tell me after the early morning prayers,” Mohammed Dala, whose daughter Fatima returned to their home at Jumbam village safely, told Sunday Sun.
But Mohammed said his doubt was cleared when he got to the centre of Dapchi town and behold, he saw his daughter among the 106 girls dropped by Boko Haram.
“I was shocked and speechless, not sure of what was happening in the beginning until minutes later,” he said.
Drama of Boko Haram return to Dapchi
The news of Boko Haram movement sent wrong signals to the residents of Dapchi as most of them fled into the outskirts in fear.
Interestingly, the insurgents were returning to the town on a day the Chibok schoolgirls’ parents were scheduled to pay solidarity visit to Dapchi girls’ parents.
The event which was initially scheduled to hold on Tuesday evening was shifted to 8:00a.m on Wednesday due to late arrival of the visitors from Chibok to Dapchi, a distance of about 250 kilometres.
Soldiers who had received information about Boko Haram movement barred some journalists, including this reporter, from entering Dapchi to cover the solidarity visit by the Chibok parents.
There was confusion in the town as calls came in from neighbouring communities that Boko Haram was moving close to the town.
In the midst of the confusion, a fleet of vehicles numbering about 11 drove through a narrow path adjacent the Dapchi Bridge, about 600 metres away to a military check-point, where the journalists were waiting for military clearance.
They moved into the middle of the town shouting Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar.
Residents fled into different directions when they sighted the insurgents, an eyewitness told Sunday Sun.
A man who appeared to be the commander was said to have been calling on residents not to flee as they have not come to attack, but to deliver their daughters. This elicited jubilation among the residents, the natives said.
Excitement
Kachalla Bukar, secretary of the Dapchi Girls Parents Forum said the return of the girls was a great relief to the community that has been traumatized for a month.
“We were relieved. It was like a cloud in the sky with heat and suddenly brought heavy rains. Thanks be to Allah and we thank our supporters, the media, the journalists, for helping us to voice out our grief,” he said as he received people in his compound. Jumai Abdullahi, a mother said that she “started crying” because she “was very happy,” as she urged the Federal Government to put the freed girls in another school outside the town.
“It will be fine if the government can put them in another school for them to continue their studies,” she advised.
More revelations days after freedom
More revelations have been coming days after the 106 girls were released by the Boko Haram. Some of the girls disclosed that the journey from their school on the day of the abduction on February 19 to Boko Haram camp somewhere around the Lake Chad took three days while the same number of days was also spent to bring them back.
“We left on Sunday and arrived here on Wednesday morning,” Fatima, one of the girls told journalists an hour after their release.
Some of the returnee girls also said that the insurgents usually travel at night and take time to rest in the afternoon.
They said the insurgents took them to a house after a day journey from Dapchi on February 20, where they rested before proceeding, crossing two rivers in canoes.
The insurgents’ camp is also said to be located in an area not easily visible to aerial view by military warplane or other surveillance devices.
For the insurgents, desert fruits provided the needed energy to sustain them for hours in the bush and the girls had a fair share of the fruits.
Sunday Sun saw some of the remnants of the small fruits the girls were eating on the way back to freedom last Wednesday. Residents said such fruits believed to slow down appetite for food may have affected their daughters.
It would be said that life is gradually returning to Dapchi, a once serene and unknown town, but now a centre of attraction.