Boko Haram fighters have killed 10 people in Kwamda- Kobla village in northern parts of Adamawa State.
This is even as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said
158 out of the 275 persons rescued from Sambisa Forest are sick.
The Chairman of Madagali Local Government Area in Adamawa State, Maina
Ularamu, confirmed several attacks by the insurgents. According to
him, the attackers did not shoot, but beheaded their victims.
He said members of vigilance groups had gone after the attackers before
they escaped to their hide-outs in the surrounding villages. “The
village is five kilometres from Gulak town but, there is no security
presence there as soldiers are deployed in Madagali town and Gulak only.
When the vigilance men went after the militants, they escaped,” he
said.
However, following the apparent renewed onslaught by Boko Haram in
Adamawa North villages, fear has gripped the residents of the area as
about 20 gunmen attacked Jwamda- Kobla village at around 5 am last
Friday. The attackers laid siege of the village in the morning, armed
with with knives and axes.
Mallam Ularamu said several villages in are reportedly attacked because of lack of security.
A number of residents who are taking refuge in Yola,the state capital,
had stayed back because the government has not assured them safety of
their lives and property if they should return to their ancestral homes.
A resident, Titus Musa, said he was supposed to have returned to his
village after the military reclaimed the area, but because there are
other necessities to be put in place which should include proper
rehabilitation of victims.
In disclosing that 158 rescued victims are sick NEMA Director-General,
Mallam Sani Sidi, said it was as a result of gunshot wounds, bomb blasts
and malaria.
He told reporters in Abuja that they were received in the night and most
of them were weak, hungry and sick. But those that have serious
ailments were transferred to the Federal Medical Centre in Yola.
However, against the backdrop of reports that most of them were
pregnant, Sidi confirmed that only six were pregnant but warned that
the issue be de-emphasised so that the children would not be
stigmatized.
“We must be very careful not to stigmatise these innocent Nigerians who
were under captivity and came back with pregnancy so that we don’t end
up stigmatizing the child that is yet unborn” he warned. He also
declined comments on the children’s fathers, saying what is important is
the welfare and well-being of these women and children.
But he said that the rescued persons are undergoing assessment,
profiling within the capacity of the doctors in the camp. Their diseases
ranged from eye, malaria, fatigue and trauma and, so a trauma unit was
immediately organized to counsel them.
“Most of them came especially the children, with eye diseases, malaria,
fatigue. They came looking very hungry, tired and traumatized. We had to
immediately organize for trauma counseling and other requirements like
feeding, clothing and even personal hygiene” he said.
On the result of the profiling, he said the identities of some of the
rescued women are known, adding that they are still under monitoring to
make sure that they are not security risks.
“We have carried out assessments of the rescued women and children and
before they were even delivered to us in our camps, the military has
done profiling to ensure that they are not security risks and that they
are innocent people captured by the insurgents and rescued by the
military. What is left for us is to identity where they came from and
that we have done and then we have assessed them medically and we shall
continue to monitor them, especially the children. Some of them have
also sustained various degrees of injuries from gunshots, bomb-blasts
and they have been referred to Federal Medical Centre where they are
receiving treatment,” Mallam Sidi said.
Regarding other children who were rescued, he confirmed that some have
been identified and were reconciled back to their parents, but nobody
has come to identify the 275 children and women yet.
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