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APC calls probe of ceasefire deal
Chibok parents: our hopes are dashed again
Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri, Onyebuchi Ezigbo
in Abuja and Daji Sani in Yola
At least 350 children have been reported missing
during the fight between Nigerian troops and
members of the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents in
Mubi town, Adamawa State.
Residents displaced from Mubi, who are taking
refuge in Yola, the state capital, lamented that as at
the time the insurgents overran the town last
Wednesday, their children were still in school and
got missing in the melee that followed the fall of the
town into the hands of the insurgents. Most parents
who were scared stiff by the terror unleashed on the
town scampered in different directions to avoid being
caught in the crossfire.
A displaced parent from Mubi, Mr. Solomon Kabila,
lamented that eight of his children were missing
since they fled from the bullets of the terror gang.
"When the insurgents struck Mubi, my wife called to
inform me that she and the children were in the
midst of the insurgents who were firing gun shots
sporadically and immediately, the line went off.
"Since then, I could neither communicate with her
nor any of the children. My life has no more value
as I could not even eat because whenever I tried to
put anything into my mouth, the thought that my
little children may be starving in the bush always
made me cringe with exasperation," he said.
Another parent, Binta Musa, said she could not
locate three of her children who got missing in the
melee that ensued when the insurgents struck the
town.
Yet another displaced person, Mallam Habibu,
complained that his three wives and 15 children were
missing, adding that his life has been completely
shattered by the development.
He said he had sent a search team to bushes near
Mubi but they had returned without any news of
their whereabouts.
"I even tried my contacts in Cameroun, still no success
has been recorded. Right now, I don't know whether
they are alive or dead," he said.
Also, a displaced woman, Hajiya Mairo, was seen
holding the picture of her seven-year-old child whom
she said was also missing after the insurgents
overran the town.
Mairo told journalists in Yola that she had been
searching for her missing child to no avail.
"Since morning, I have been going from one street to
another asking people whether they have seen
Farouk, my last child.
"I have been making calls since the day he got
missing but up till now I have not heard any positive
response," she said.
Sulaiman, who was seen roaming the streets of Yola,
said he was from Uba town and had to run for his
dear life when the insurgents struck his home, killed
his father, two brothers and abducted his mother
alongside her sister.
"When the insurgents entered our compound, they
slaughtered my father, killed my two brothers, and
abducted my mother and her sister.
"I escaped the house through the fence and ran into
the bush and since then I have been trekking till I
got to this place," Sulaiman narrated.
However, checks revealed that many children were
similarly stranded in Yola as they said they could
not locate their parents.
The battle for the soul of Mubi, which started last
Wednesday, continued on Sunday as the military
fighter jets have been bombarding the ancient town
with the aim of recapturing it from the insurgents
who have been in control of the town with their flag
hoisted in strategic positions.
A security source, who briefed THISDAY, expressed
confidence that given the current zeal demonstrated
by the soldiers and the jet fighters, he was sure that
the military would soon recover the city from the
insurgents.
Meanwhile, thousands of Muslims and Christians
across Adamawa State on Sunday converged for
special prayers, beseeching God to bring peace and
end the activities of insurgents in the state and the
sub region.
The prayer session which held at Yola praying
ground for the Muslims, had Imam Abubakar
Hussaini, who led the prayer and urged Muslims to
remain calm and prayerful.
"You should not be intimidated and don't allow
anyone to force you to flee your homes. "We must be
united and have the firm belief that with God on our
side we have nothing to fear," Hussaini said.
While speaking during a sermon, Uztaz Adam
Usman cautioned against rumour-mongering, which
has been generating fears among the people and
urged those contemplating running away from Yola
as a solution to have a change of mind.
"Stay and face the challenge; you must not allow
them to continue pushing you until you reach the
Atlantic. Death is once and you only die when God
decrees it. If God said you will die, death will catch
up with you anywhere," Usman said.
He also called for sustained prayers and unity
against Boko Haram. The state branch chairman of
the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev Fr
Moses Taparki, said special prayers had been going
on since the insurgency started and would be
sustained.
"We prayed for peace alone with many Internally
Displaced Persons and urged all hands to be on deck
for a lasting peace in Adamawa and other troubled
spots across the nation," Taparki said.
He said Christians needed to pray fervently against
the insurgents, adding that only God can deliver the
country from the current insecurity bedevilling it.
The renewed attacks by the insurgents have called to
question the genuineness of the reported peace deal
between the Nigerian military and the insurgents,
which was said to be co-ordinated by the Chadian
President Idris Derby.
The Boko Haram leadership had, over the weekend,
declared that there was no peace deal with the
federal government, announcing casually that the
over 200 abducted Chibok girls had been married off.
The controversy whether or not there was indeed a
ceasefire deal has prompted the All Progressives
Congress (APC) to call for an independent inquiry to
unravel the circumstances surrounding the fake
ceasefire deal announced by the Goodluck Jonathan
administration on October 17th, since the sect's
leadership has described as an impostor the man
with whom the phantom deal was negotiated.
The opposition party's concern came as the number
of Mubi residents fleeing from the conflict to a camp
at Damare in Yola, Adamawa State is said to have
risen to 9,000.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party
said Nigerians would like to know how the
Jonathan Administration got swindled by an
impostor to accept a phantom peace deal.
The party said enquiry will also enable Nigerians to
know who the major players were and what the
government plans to do to address what has now
become a monumental national and international
embarrassment.
''President Jonathan owes Nigerians an explanation
on what has now turned to be an unprecedented
global faux pas. Engaging in cheap damage control
by insisting on the genuineness of the deal will only
amount to taking Nigerians for a ride,'' it said.
APC said the saddest part of what has now turned
out to be a fake deal is that it gave false hopes to the
parents of the 218 school girls who remained in Boko
Haram captivity that their children's release was
imminent, especially as the government even
announced a specific date for the release of the girls.
''Now the parents and indeed all Nigerians have
been victimised for the umpteenth time by the same
government that has failed in its main reason for
existence, which is the security and welfare of the
citizenry,'' the party said, recalling its earlier
warning to the Jonathan administration not to use
the girls as pawns on its political chess board.
It wondered whether the government sought to buy
time and gain political mileage by knowingly
negotiating with a man who has no authority to do
so on behalf of Boko Haram, as claimed by the sect's
leadership, adding that the current debacle has
reinforced the perception of federal government as
being blatantly incompetent.
''The ceasefire deal with Boko Haram was announced
at the highest level of the military and supported by
the political authority on October 17th. Now that it
has been described as a fluke, there is every
indication that the Jonathan administration was
swindled by someone masquerading as a Boko
Haram negotiator, while the administration itself
went ahead to fool Nigerians as well as the
international community. Whatever happens, the
sole responsibility falls on the administration.
''When Boko Haram continued to carry out deadly
attacks and annex territories, despite the so-called
ceasefire, we waited for the government to tell
Nigerians what was happening, but there was no
convincing explanation. When the date announced
for the release of the girls passed, we waited for the
government to tell Nigerians what the problem was,
but all we got from the easily excitable and trifling
presidential spokesmen was platitude.
''Now that the deal is said to be a fluke and
everything points to that, the Jonathan
administration must be contrite enough to own up to
its gaffe, if indeed it is one, or its contrived deceit,
and also face the possible consequences from a
stupefied citizenry. It cannot and must not just be
another forgotten instance in a series of gaffes by a
serial bumbling government,'' APC said.
Indeed, the beleaguered Chibok parents, over the
weekend bemoaned their fates as their hopes have
been once again, dashed by the federal government.
The Chairman of Chibok community in Abuja,
Tsambido Hosea Abana said the federal government
had not done enough to raise the hopes of parents
whose wards were abducted by members of the Boko
Haram sect over six months ago.
Abana in a telephone conversation with THISDAY on
Sunday stated that the government was more
concerned about the 2015 elections, than the rescue of
their daughters .
He also said the sect, after being dislodged from some
communities in Borno State, may be targeting Yola.
"The government is killing our morals, they are not
doing enough, all they talk about is the 2015
elections, and if care is not taken, the security
situation will be worse before the elections," he said.
Abana said: "If care is not taken, the insurgents will
take over Yola, and it will be dangerous because they
can have access to every part of the country through
the Yola airport."
Speaking on the claim that the girls have been
married out, as stated in the latest footage by Boko
Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, Abana said the
claim was not new but could not be confirmed.
"It is not new, but we cannot fully believe or dispute
the claim, we are just looking on to God.
Remember somebody called a serving senator to
inform him about his marriage to one of the girls.
We don't know if this is real or propaganda," he
said.
Meanwhile, the Internally Displaced Persons' (IDPs)
camp in Yola is already overflowing causing the
opening of another camp at Damare which now has
over 9,000 persons.
Speaking to journalists who were on a fact- finding
tour of the camps at the weekend, one of the camp
officials explained that the continued influx of the
IDPs was giving them serious concern as the facilities
in the camp were gradually being overstreched.
Rebecca Teri said she escaped from her village,
Mararraban Mubi, and fled to Yola after spending
some days on the road with some of her children.
She however said she does not presently know the
whereabouts of her seven-year-old daughter and her
husband.
Another IDP, Gift Ugo, who is a student, said they
escaped to the bush after the attacks and later
managed to get to Yola.
She said part of their school was burnt down,
adding that many students were trapped in the
town and might have been killed or injured.
Efforts to get the North-east Zonal Coordinator of the
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA),
Muhammad Kanar, to comment on the
humanitarian efforts to cushion the plight of the
victims proved abortive as he could not be contacted
by telephone.
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