Boko Haram: Broken residents return to Katarko
Life seems to be returning to normal in Katarko, a
boundary town located on the fringes of
southern Yobe, which witnessed horror in 2014.
During the attack by Boko Haram, many
residents, while 218 women and children were
abducted. The insurgents also blew up the only
bridge linking the town to other parts of the state
.
The town is full to capacity which allows business
activities to thrive and this could not have
happened in the last two years. Now the weekly
market has reopened, hawkers roam the streets,
moving, selling wares, and destroyed structures
are turning into homes for the residents who
have started to return .
“We are afraid to sleep at night, thinking the
attackers might strike again,” said Jummai Goni,
45, and a mother-of-seven ,who was abducted
along with her children in February, 2014.
Jummai who lives with the memory of the Boko
Haram invasion, said the militants assembled
them at the town’s central mosque, and slit the
throats of their loved ones, right before their
eyes.
“They lined up 27 men who were husbands to
some of us and slaughtered them one after
another like rams. They threw them inside a
concrete well in front of the little children,” she
said sobbing.
She said the perpetrators had a field day
uninterrupted, laughing and shooting inside the
concrete well, as they dropped their husband’s
corpses in the well.
She said the gunmen were about 30 in number,
some with camouflage while others were in mufti,
holding rifles. According to her, they accused the
villagers of worshipping the military and not the
Almighty for which they ruled that their
punishment was total destruction because they
were infidels.
Hours later, they turned to the women and asked
them to follow them. They trekked a long distance
and gathered them close to the edge of Katarko
bridge, which they deliberately destroyed to make
their stronghold inaccessible for military
operations.
Jummai said around 3:00am, the militants took
them across the bridge. They packed them inside
ambulances and drove them in batches to Buni
Yadi town, the headquarters of Gujba Local
Government Area in Yobe state.
On arrival, Jummai said the militants divided
them into three groups and detained them in
three big apartments which were separated by
moderate walls. “We slept on a bare floor without
blankets or mats, despite the seasonal wind and
intense harmattan.
“We were being fed with the rice and beans they
stole from our silos. After 19 days in their custody,
we ran out of food,and then they gave us raw
maize and salt to cook for ourselves. Instead, we
protested,” she explained.
She said, a day later, the Amir (Leader of the
militants) came and singled them out, saying he
would not force any of them to stay in the camp.
“He said that those who want to pursue the cause
of Allah should form a group. We all declined his
offer, except a few others that were afraid. He
ordered that we should be released the following
morning, ,since we chose to remain with the
‘devils in Damaturu’.
“We all thought they were going to kill us, but a
militant that hails from our village (Lawali) said we
shouldn’t panic, they could not kill anybody. He
confirmed that a group of women had left days
earlier and none in the group was killed”, she
revealed.
She said some of the militants did not agree with
the decision to release them, so they misdirected
them to a thick forest where they ambushed
them.
“They gathered us again and threatened that we
don’t have a hiding place, and that they would
meet us in the devil’s den (Damaturu) and kill us,”
she recalled, adding that one of the militants
shouted, “Those of you with babies should drop
them and go”.
Jummai said the militants forcefully seized eight
under-five children from nursing mothers and
left. According to her, one of the captives, Hajja
Rahama had two children; 7-year-old Lado and 2-
year-old Banine. “So she surrendered the eldest
and held the little one tightly.”
“Hajja Rahman and Banine were crying, holding
each other tight when the merciless militants
forcefully separated them and threatened to
slaughter the boy. Everybody was crying, including
one of the militants. She later became depressed
and left to an unknown destination,” she recalled.
Jummai said that after a dangerous long journey
which lasted one week, they arrived in a village
where they sought refuge. The Village Head
contacted security operatives who picked them
up, screened them for some possible ailments,
and re-united them with their families.
“We saw hell on the journey back home. We
couldn’t figure out any direction to take. We had
no water and no food. Some of the little children
died even before the merciless militants
intercepted us. We couldn’t even bury them
because we didn’t have the energy. Here we are
today, all diagnosed with hypertension, while
others scream in their asleep and wake to speak
of terrifying nightmares,” she said.
She said many of them had refused to eat food
when they were been held, worried about the
conditions of their loved ones.
“Some of our male children were detained in the
next house. They fed them very little food and
stopped us anytime we attempted giving them
food. Now, few of us have returned home with
the female children.”
Jummai said she was impressed with the way the
military handled their situation, saying “it has
saved lives.”
“The soldiers picked us from a bush near Lamisiri
village. They settled us in a camp for almost three
weeks, feeding us well and ran some medical tests
on especially the elderly among us. They said
many of us have BP (High Blood Pressure), and
uptill now, we do go for check up,” she said.
Weeks after the military re-united them with their
families, her husband, Malam Goni Katarko, a 50-
year-old amputee, promised that he would fend
for them and make their lives different from
those of the Internally Displaced Persons.
“He resisted the idea of staying in the IDPs camp
and promised more dignified living conditions for
all of us. One day he told me that soldiers
manning the area have cleared him to cultivate
his farmland. After harvest, he convinced me to
relocate back to the village. We are the first
people that returned and today several others
are gradually returning.”
Life in the destroyed town
When Daily Trust on Sunday visited Katarko,
Malam Goni Katarko was found standing on the
veranda of his destroyed house, looking very
determined to make it habitable. “Anybody who
has seen such a terrible thing must be afraid to
return, but it’s the only option we have,” he said.
Goni who lamented the approach taken by
government to ease the plights of IDPs, described
it as counter-productive.
“Majority of the IDPs are living in self-established
camps. They rely on government to give them
food, water and drugs, but it’s always inadequate.
That is why I reached out to the military for access
to my farmland. They later encouraged me to
return with my family. Today, several others have
returned.
Goni said they are hapless because Boko Haram
militants razed the whole town. “My wife and
children are now occupying a room that was not
badly destroyed in the neighbourhood. I don’t
know the next step to take, should the house
owners decide to return soon.”
He complained that no government, donor
agency or philanthropist has visited the town,
throughout their four months’ stay there.
“We have nobody to complain to. Our water
sources are polluted, we can’t use our wells
because the insurgents threw dead bodies inside
and the only borehole we use has spoiled. It was
drilled by Dr. Yerima Ngama, a philanthropist,” he
said.
Another resident, Abubakar Jabbara, said the
damage caused by the insurgents on the houses
is beyond imagination. “The insurgents burnt
down the houses and the overhanging structures
were pulled down by rainfall. Most people sleep
outside and we are keeping our fingers crossed as
we wait for government intervention.
“We don’t have the resources to repair these
houses and government is not willing to come
and help. The Borno State government is busy
building homes and schools for the IDPs even
before they return, but no government official
has come to see us yet. We were forced out of
Damaturu because we don’t have food and
cannot pay rent,” he said.
He said they live a degraded life in the village
because they don’t have a hospital, food, water
and schools for their children. The schools have
been occupied by the military ,and the hospital is
empty.
“Most of the elderly women abducted by the
insurgents are battling with high blood pressure
and other health challenges, but we have no
health facility, no doctor or nurse. Some of the
women died from high blood pressure and others
were paralyzed.”
Muhammadu Tahir, an operator of the only
operational borehole in the town, said it has gone
bad and they don’t have money to repair it. That
is why many people resorted to buying water
from wash borehole, which is not always hygienic.
“The borehole was functional when we returned.
We taxed ourselves stipends to make minor
repairs, but the stop-curve spoiled, and it’s very
expensive. We can`t afford the N3000 to replace
it. Very little water runs through the tap
sometimes. So all these people you see are
waiting for the water, because they don’t have
money to buy from the private borehole,” he said.
Goni Ibrahim, a private wash borehole operator,
who makes brisk business selling water to the
returnees, said at least a hundred people
patronize him every day.
“A jerry-can is sold for N5 and a cart pusher pays
N25 to buy. At least one hundred people
patronize us everyday. People usually suffer
whenever this borehole develops a fault, because
we spend days to fix it.
“Before, people rely on dug wells in their homes
but the militants have deposited dead bodies
inside.So, people decide to sand fill the wells and
depend on the boreholes,” he said.
Our correspondent who went round the town,
observed that virtually all the existing structures,
which include houses, shops and government
properties had been destroyed.
Many houses were completely razed down, some
further damaged by the seasonal rainfall. The
returnees fixed and sheltered their families in few
houses that were not badly destroyed. Shrubs
grow in many places making the town look like a
relic of war.
Most of the returnees have complained of
hunger, lack of access to portable drinking water,
medical care and difficulty in living with fear and
health challenges, despite the security provided
to them by the military in the area.
Some returnees are also determined to fend for
themselves. They engage in handcrafts and
businesses, in calabash carving and designs,
tailoring, and bicycle repairs.
To rebuild their livelihoods, some of the returnees
told this reporter that they depend on land for
subsistence farming. But land mines and
unexploded ordinances planted by the
insurgents, have prevented them from the full
time practice.
However, to get rid of criminals, they set up a
local investigation committee that involved local
hunters, to screen people with questionable
characters.
“Anybody with questionable characters has to
swear by the Holy Qur’an that he has no
connection whatsoever with Boko Haram and he
will not expose or harbour any of them, before
we allow him to stay,” Lawan Muhammad said.
The Village Head of Katarko, Lawani Abba Gana,
said he wouldn’t return to the town yet, because
of the condition of his palace.
“The entire building was pulled down,” he said,
adding, “Affected traditional rulers are making
efforts to see how they can present pressing
issues bothering our people, to the government
for immediate response.”
Alhaji Ahmadu Ibrahim, a Sociology lecturer at
Yobe State University, said there was need to
support the returnees, by providing enduring
solutions to their plight.
“These people are already traumatized by the
horrendous abuses and unspeakable cruelty at
the hands of Boko Haram militants, which has
caused immense suffering. So, government and
all other stakeholders involved should as a matter
of urgency, provide durable solution to these
people.
“They need to be sheltered, provided with at least
the basic means of livelihood; effective healthcare
delivery and sufficient food supply, to enhance
their mental capacity and increase their
productivity,” he said.
boundary town located on the fringes of
southern Yobe, which witnessed horror in 2014.
During the attack by Boko Haram, many
residents, while 218 women and children were
abducted. The insurgents also blew up the only
bridge linking the town to other parts of the state
.
The town is full to capacity which allows business
activities to thrive and this could not have
happened in the last two years. Now the weekly
market has reopened, hawkers roam the streets,
moving, selling wares, and destroyed structures
are turning into homes for the residents who
have started to return .
“We are afraid to sleep at night, thinking the
attackers might strike again,” said Jummai Goni,
45, and a mother-of-seven ,who was abducted
along with her children in February, 2014.
Jummai who lives with the memory of the Boko
Haram invasion, said the militants assembled
them at the town’s central mosque, and slit the
throats of their loved ones, right before their
eyes.
“They lined up 27 men who were husbands to
some of us and slaughtered them one after
another like rams. They threw them inside a
concrete well in front of the little children,” she
said sobbing.
She said the perpetrators had a field day
uninterrupted, laughing and shooting inside the
concrete well, as they dropped their husband’s
corpses in the well.
She said the gunmen were about 30 in number,
some with camouflage while others were in mufti,
holding rifles. According to her, they accused the
villagers of worshipping the military and not the
Almighty for which they ruled that their
punishment was total destruction because they
were infidels.
Hours later, they turned to the women and asked
them to follow them. They trekked a long distance
and gathered them close to the edge of Katarko
bridge, which they deliberately destroyed to make
their stronghold inaccessible for military
operations.
Jummai said around 3:00am, the militants took
them across the bridge. They packed them inside
ambulances and drove them in batches to Buni
Yadi town, the headquarters of Gujba Local
Government Area in Yobe state.
On arrival, Jummai said the militants divided
them into three groups and detained them in
three big apartments which were separated by
moderate walls. “We slept on a bare floor without
blankets or mats, despite the seasonal wind and
intense harmattan.
“We were being fed with the rice and beans they
stole from our silos. After 19 days in their custody,
we ran out of food,and then they gave us raw
maize and salt to cook for ourselves. Instead, we
protested,” she explained.
She said, a day later, the Amir (Leader of the
militants) came and singled them out, saying he
would not force any of them to stay in the camp.
“He said that those who want to pursue the cause
of Allah should form a group. We all declined his
offer, except a few others that were afraid. He
ordered that we should be released the following
morning, ,since we chose to remain with the
‘devils in Damaturu’.
“We all thought they were going to kill us, but a
militant that hails from our village (Lawali) said we
shouldn’t panic, they could not kill anybody. He
confirmed that a group of women had left days
earlier and none in the group was killed”, she
revealed.
She said some of the militants did not agree with
the decision to release them, so they misdirected
them to a thick forest where they ambushed
them.
“They gathered us again and threatened that we
don’t have a hiding place, and that they would
meet us in the devil’s den (Damaturu) and kill us,”
she recalled, adding that one of the militants
shouted, “Those of you with babies should drop
them and go”.
Jummai said the militants forcefully seized eight
under-five children from nursing mothers and
left. According to her, one of the captives, Hajja
Rahama had two children; 7-year-old Lado and 2-
year-old Banine. “So she surrendered the eldest
and held the little one tightly.”
“Hajja Rahman and Banine were crying, holding
each other tight when the merciless militants
forcefully separated them and threatened to
slaughter the boy. Everybody was crying, including
one of the militants. She later became depressed
and left to an unknown destination,” she recalled.
Jummai said that after a dangerous long journey
which lasted one week, they arrived in a village
where they sought refuge. The Village Head
contacted security operatives who picked them
up, screened them for some possible ailments,
and re-united them with their families.
“We saw hell on the journey back home. We
couldn’t figure out any direction to take. We had
no water and no food. Some of the little children
died even before the merciless militants
intercepted us. We couldn’t even bury them
because we didn’t have the energy. Here we are
today, all diagnosed with hypertension, while
others scream in their asleep and wake to speak
of terrifying nightmares,” she said.
She said many of them had refused to eat food
when they were been held, worried about the
conditions of their loved ones.
“Some of our male children were detained in the
next house. They fed them very little food and
stopped us anytime we attempted giving them
food. Now, few of us have returned home with
the female children.”
Jummai said she was impressed with the way the
military handled their situation, saying “it has
saved lives.”
“The soldiers picked us from a bush near Lamisiri
village. They settled us in a camp for almost three
weeks, feeding us well and ran some medical tests
on especially the elderly among us. They said
many of us have BP (High Blood Pressure), and
uptill now, we do go for check up,” she said.
Weeks after the military re-united them with their
families, her husband, Malam Goni Katarko, a 50-
year-old amputee, promised that he would fend
for them and make their lives different from
those of the Internally Displaced Persons.
“He resisted the idea of staying in the IDPs camp
and promised more dignified living conditions for
all of us. One day he told me that soldiers
manning the area have cleared him to cultivate
his farmland. After harvest, he convinced me to
relocate back to the village. We are the first
people that returned and today several others
are gradually returning.”
Life in the destroyed town
When Daily Trust on Sunday visited Katarko,
Malam Goni Katarko was found standing on the
veranda of his destroyed house, looking very
determined to make it habitable. “Anybody who
has seen such a terrible thing must be afraid to
return, but it’s the only option we have,” he said.
Goni who lamented the approach taken by
government to ease the plights of IDPs, described
it as counter-productive.
“Majority of the IDPs are living in self-established
camps. They rely on government to give them
food, water and drugs, but it’s always inadequate.
That is why I reached out to the military for access
to my farmland. They later encouraged me to
return with my family. Today, several others have
returned.
Goni said they are hapless because Boko Haram
militants razed the whole town. “My wife and
children are now occupying a room that was not
badly destroyed in the neighbourhood. I don’t
know the next step to take, should the house
owners decide to return soon.”
He complained that no government, donor
agency or philanthropist has visited the town,
throughout their four months’ stay there.
“We have nobody to complain to. Our water
sources are polluted, we can’t use our wells
because the insurgents threw dead bodies inside
and the only borehole we use has spoiled. It was
drilled by Dr. Yerima Ngama, a philanthropist,” he
said.
Another resident, Abubakar Jabbara, said the
damage caused by the insurgents on the houses
is beyond imagination. “The insurgents burnt
down the houses and the overhanging structures
were pulled down by rainfall. Most people sleep
outside and we are keeping our fingers crossed as
we wait for government intervention.
“We don’t have the resources to repair these
houses and government is not willing to come
and help. The Borno State government is busy
building homes and schools for the IDPs even
before they return, but no government official
has come to see us yet. We were forced out of
Damaturu because we don’t have food and
cannot pay rent,” he said.
He said they live a degraded life in the village
because they don’t have a hospital, food, water
and schools for their children. The schools have
been occupied by the military ,and the hospital is
empty.
“Most of the elderly women abducted by the
insurgents are battling with high blood pressure
and other health challenges, but we have no
health facility, no doctor or nurse. Some of the
women died from high blood pressure and others
were paralyzed.”
Muhammadu Tahir, an operator of the only
operational borehole in the town, said it has gone
bad and they don’t have money to repair it. That
is why many people resorted to buying water
from wash borehole, which is not always hygienic.
“The borehole was functional when we returned.
We taxed ourselves stipends to make minor
repairs, but the stop-curve spoiled, and it’s very
expensive. We can`t afford the N3000 to replace
it. Very little water runs through the tap
sometimes. So all these people you see are
waiting for the water, because they don’t have
money to buy from the private borehole,” he said.
Goni Ibrahim, a private wash borehole operator,
who makes brisk business selling water to the
returnees, said at least a hundred people
patronize him every day.
“A jerry-can is sold for N5 and a cart pusher pays
N25 to buy. At least one hundred people
patronize us everyday. People usually suffer
whenever this borehole develops a fault, because
we spend days to fix it.
“Before, people rely on dug wells in their homes
but the militants have deposited dead bodies
inside.So, people decide to sand fill the wells and
depend on the boreholes,” he said.
Our correspondent who went round the town,
observed that virtually all the existing structures,
which include houses, shops and government
properties had been destroyed.
Many houses were completely razed down, some
further damaged by the seasonal rainfall. The
returnees fixed and sheltered their families in few
houses that were not badly destroyed. Shrubs
grow in many places making the town look like a
relic of war.
Most of the returnees have complained of
hunger, lack of access to portable drinking water,
medical care and difficulty in living with fear and
health challenges, despite the security provided
to them by the military in the area.
Some returnees are also determined to fend for
themselves. They engage in handcrafts and
businesses, in calabash carving and designs,
tailoring, and bicycle repairs.
To rebuild their livelihoods, some of the returnees
told this reporter that they depend on land for
subsistence farming. But land mines and
unexploded ordinances planted by the
insurgents, have prevented them from the full
time practice.
However, to get rid of criminals, they set up a
local investigation committee that involved local
hunters, to screen people with questionable
characters.
“Anybody with questionable characters has to
swear by the Holy Qur’an that he has no
connection whatsoever with Boko Haram and he
will not expose or harbour any of them, before
we allow him to stay,” Lawan Muhammad said.
The Village Head of Katarko, Lawani Abba Gana,
said he wouldn’t return to the town yet, because
of the condition of his palace.
“The entire building was pulled down,” he said,
adding, “Affected traditional rulers are making
efforts to see how they can present pressing
issues bothering our people, to the government
for immediate response.”
Alhaji Ahmadu Ibrahim, a Sociology lecturer at
Yobe State University, said there was need to
support the returnees, by providing enduring
solutions to their plight.
“These people are already traumatized by the
horrendous abuses and unspeakable cruelty at
the hands of Boko Haram militants, which has
caused immense suffering. So, government and
all other stakeholders involved should as a matter
of urgency, provide durable solution to these
people.
“They need to be sheltered, provided with at least
the basic means of livelihood; effective healthcare
delivery and sufficient food supply, to enhance
their mental capacity and increase their
productivity,” he said.
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