How we escaped death… – survivors of Boko Haram attack

Mr. James Talake,
A teacher and Farmer
Asigasia town, Gwoza East Local Govt.

I was the first to run out of my community. When the Boko Haram people came to my town, the target was our church. On 16th October 2013, they killed my pastor, burnt down his house and carted away his properties. I was an elder in that church, so I had to take the report to the securities who are based in Polka, another town in Gwoza. So I went to Polka on the 17th October and told them about what happened not knowing that Boko Haram had secret agents spying on our people who may leak information about their dastardly act acts to the security men. On my way back, I was alerted that I am the next target because I reported the issue to the security personnel.

So three days after the burial ceremony of our pastors I left the town. After I left, I learnt there was no attack in the town until few months later. Now the whole community has been displaced. We are a border town; one part Nigeria, the other part is Cameroon. Our Christians brothers eventually fled to the Cameroon side. The Boko Haram gang even pursued them across the border killing some. The Cameroon government and the NGOs had to evacuate the rest of the people on the border side and took them to the present camp in Minawawi. My old mother and my siblings are in that camp. Only my wife, our children and I escaped to Nigeria.
Did you foresee this attack against your community?

We foresaw it, but there was a little we could do. You know it was previously a crisis within Maiduguri town. When the insurgents were forced out of Maiduguri, they moved to neigbouring towns and villages. And the people they used against us are our children. People who chased us out are our brothers. They conquered our children and equipped them to embarrass us. Gwoza as a local government area no longer exists. The entire people of the area have been displaced. So we need government support and sustained intervention of the humanitarian agencies to rebuild our communities.

Ishaku Ndzidda,
A Retired pastor and Farmer,
Samga in Gwoza East
They entered my town called Samga in Gwoza East. They came two times. The first time was 24th April 2014. They came to set a church ablaze. On the 6th of May, they came again. Then, they killed the church secretary and burnt the remaining section of the church that was not burnt the first time. They even killed the Emir of the town. From that moment, the entire town ran to Cameroon border to seek refuge with relatives. Even they pursued us to the border.

From the Cameroon side, we saw them parking our properties into lorries, while some of them stood by with guns looking out for people who may want to retrieve their belongings. They killed many people that day and burnt down many houses. There was no single security agent to stop them. So when the people realized that everything had been parked and their house destroyed, they decided to stay away from the town. On 29th May, I left Cameroon with my wife and children for Maiduguri. While in Maiduguri, we were getting information about how our people were being killed everyday. My two sons and their families are in Minawawi, Cameroon. They are teachers.