Save our souls: 1000 Gamboru residents who fled Boko Haram hell beg FG for evacuation from Cameroon: ■ ‘We’re hungry, fear possible hostility from hosts’ A loud cry for urgent evacuation from Fotoko village, Cameroon has gone up from over 1000 residents of the twin towns of Gamboru and Ngala, both in southeast Borno State, who fled into the neighbouring country to escape massacre at the hands of the rampaging hordes of Boko Haram insurgents who struck in the area on Sunday. It was a cacophony of voices at the other end of the telephone conversation, all attempting to be heard, when Sunday Sun called two of the displaced persons to inquire about their situation. “It is like government has forgotten us here, are we going to continue to stay here, some of us are sleeping in the open space. Is government doing anything to rescue us from here?” they kept asking the reporter. They sounded frustrated as they lamented about their condition having fled to the neighbouring African nation without money or clothes. They painted a picture of hunger, failing health owing to exposure to harsh weather amidst booming of guns from the Boko Haram fighters who still held on to the twin towns of Gamboru and Ngala. “We have been here since Sunday morning and it appears we may stay longer than we expected here,” Ibrahim Bukar who fled with his wife and four children said in a telephone interview with Sunday Sun. “We’ve been buying food since we came even with the Nigerian soldiers but many of us don’t have money again. Some of the soldiers are already begging for food from the villagers and it is embarrassing to us,” he added. He said the insurgents are still moving in and out of Gamboru and Ngala in search of soldiers, adding that they attempted to enter the Cameroon community on Wednesday morning to pick six of their colleagues shot by the Nigerian troops but were forced to retreat when the Cameroonian soldiers opened fire on them. “The Boko Haram men had attempted to cross over to the other side through the bridge to pick the corpses of six of their colleagues. But the Cameroon soldiers opened fire on them and they had to flee back into Gamboru. Everybody was afraid at that time because they kept on shooting for some time. The soldiers were always patrolling and some of them have been good to us too,” Madam Adejuwon also disclosed. She said Gamboru is still under Boko Haram control as no Nigerian soldier is in the town “for now.” She said the insurgents often patrol the town in their trucks, shouting and searching for Nigerian security forces even as she called on the authority to act quickly before the situation deteriorates. She appealed for evacuation of fleeing residents from the Cameroon territory “before they begin to get hostile” to them. “They are still cooperating with us now and trying to be friendly but we know this may not last long. They may change and become impatient with us. The Federal Government should help us. We’re over 1000 here with women and children in majority,” she disclosed. Sunday Sun also learnt some Nigerian soldiers who the military authority said “charged through the Cameroon border in a tactical maneuver” after the fierce battle with Boko Haram on Sunday are injured. “One was shot in the neck and his condition is decorating now. He couldn’t even eat very well on Thursday,” a source in the community told Sunday Sun. The source said he was more concerned about the Nigerian troops than some of the Gamboru residents. “If government does not care about us, what about these soldiers that are wounded in the course of fighting Boko Haram? They deserve to be treated because they fought Boko Haram men gallantly that day. Government should do something about it,” he stressed. He also debunked the claim by the military authority in the country that troops are pursuing Boko Haram men who fizzled into Gamboru. He said rather, Boko Haram has taken over Gamboru. “As I am talking to you now (Thursday), no Nigerian troops are in Gamboru pursuing Boko Haram. In fact, we learnt Boko Haram men were searching houses at Ngala, asking people if soldiers were in their houses. The commercial twin towns of Gamboru/Ngala in Ngala Local Government, southeast of Borno, are located about 120 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital. The first Boko Haram attack on the area on May 5 left no fewer than 200 people dead and many houses, trailers and other properties burnt. On May 9, the insurgents blew off the only bridge on the road linking the area with other parts of the state. The development has cut off the community from the country and Boko Haram worsened the woes of the inhabitants as it struck again on Sunday, August 24. Original link Read More goo.gl/oo58cM (y) ✍comment ☏share
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 00:39:10 +0000
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