By Lawal A. Dogara, Kaduna
The Coordinator of Peace ,Reconciliation and Revival Foundation, Pastor Yohanna Buru has called on Nigerians to support Boko haram attacked survivals with a view to assisting them in cash or in kind. Pastor Buru made the call in Kaduna shortly after assisting Boko haram attack survivors with food items said “I am a Christian and a Nigerian and we have to be our bothers’ keeper as Boko haram attack does not discriminate between Muslim or Christian.
“That is why Iam calling on Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero and other individuals to come to the aid of these vulnerable children now in Sabon Tasha and in Millennium City in Chikun Local Government, Tudun Wada in Kaduna South local Government, Malalia nd other places in Kaduna North Local Government and in Rigasa in Igabi local government. I called on all to assist these people, as Nigeria belongs to all of us.”
Narrating their experiences, a nursing mother Fadimatu Gambo who abandoned her matrimonial home thirty days after giving birth in Mubi in Adamawa State said she trekked with her three year old twins for two days. While Buba one from Gwoza in Borno State abandoned his mother and fled without a shoe. Their stories are heartbreaking. Some could not hide their feelings as they broke in tears when asked about where the parents, brothers or sisters were.Theysaid they did not know.
While 13 year old girl Salamatu Muhammad, a Primary six pupil and resident of Sabon Fagi shed tears when asked about her father, she said“When they invaded the town, we all separated. I have since parted with my father and some of my junior brothers and sisters. My mother took us to the bush from Mubi to Maiha and my brother picked us up in his car to Yola, to Kano and lastly to Kaduna. We have an extended family, but only seven of us are in Kaduna. When we call my father’s number it doesn’t go through. I jumped over many corpses and many sick people from Mubi”.
She said some have been crying and asking of their family members since, while others are too traumatized to grant an interview. Some of the people that spoke admitted that those who were not buoyant were left in the crises prone area and those that are old are at the mercy of God.
The Coordinator, Malam Nigga Skills Acquisition Center in Rigasa, Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Yusuf Muduru –aka Malam Nigga- was the first to raise the sum of one hundred thousand naira for the two IDPs in the two different houses of relations they are being camped in Rigasa area of Igabi Local Government. He said “I will not relent in assisting the IDPs and called on government, corporate and wealthy individuals to help the displaced people ;and called on the government to enhance peace now.”
Mrs Ijeoma Nwakanma Njoku aka Miss Nigeria who is an Igbo and has since been living in Kaduna said: “peace is the best path towards even development, as the next generation needs peace to also inherit the good work of our heroes past”.
The Zonal Controller, North West Zone of the National Emergency Management Authority, NEMA Alhaji Musa Elallah said while handing over the relief materials said the items include rice, milk,blankets, mattresses, clothes .He said further : “ The federal government is doing everything possible in enhancing the overall welfare of the people and called on them to be law abiding wherever they find themselves and called on the people to assist the internally displaced people always” .
Chairman of the Fulani Peace Initiators of Nigeria Alhaji Sale Bako said: “Peace is the path to development and growth, and therefore people should now see that both Fulani, Hausa, Kilba and other ethnic groups are all suffering from the Boko Haram insurgency. It is disheartening that the people of Nigeria are displacing each other instead of resorting to dialogue.”
The National Chairperson of Women Wing of Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Mrs Mabel Oyin Sowoolu said ,“We want both the practitioners of the two religions to abide by their religious teaching, which is peace. As without peace nobody can practice his religion (much less) participating in the oncoming general elections.”
It could be recalled that many internally displaced persons from Adamawa, Yobe and Borno States have flocked to their family members to Kaduna following Boko haram attack in north-eastern Nigeria .
