Women threatened To March Naked Into three major roads leading to Maiduguri and Damaturu, the state capitals of Borno and Yobe states, And to the notorious Sambisa Forest.
AS efforts by Nigerian troops to rescue the school girls abducted in Chibok, Borno State, by suspected insurgents continue, communities and motorists, including farmers and herdsmen in the border towns and villages with Cameroon have abandoned three major roads leading to Maiduguri and Damaturu, the state capitals of Borno and Yobe states, And to the notorious Sambisa Forest.
This is coming just as some concerned women have threatened to converge in Lagos and other parts of the country and later proceed to Borno State, from where they would walk naked into the forest in search of the students.
The women accused the government of insensitivity to the plight of the abducted girls over its failure to rescue them from their abductors.
The abandoned roads include the 141-kilometre Maiduguri-Damboa-Chibok, the 135-kilometre Maiduguri-Bama-Gwoza; and
the 60-kilometre Gwoza-Damboa road which served several farming, fishing communities and herdsmen in six councils of the state.
The blowing up of two bridges on two affected roads by suspected Boko Haram insurgents early this year has also prevented communities and residents from accessing the roads to reach Maiduguri and Damaturu for their businesses and other economic activities.
The Guardian also learnt that the communities on the fringes of the forest cut off as a result include over half a dozen villages and six major towns of Gwoza, Bama, Damboa, Chibok, Askira and Madagali in Borno and Adamawa states which share a border at Limankara village.
According to former Gwoza Council Vice Chairman, Mr. Francis Mbala Nduka, the desertion of the roads was occasioned by the incessant “attacks and killings” by suspected insurgents in 2013 and early this year.
He said because of insecurity on the affected roads in Gwoza, Damboa, Bama, Konduga, Chibok and Damboa councils, farmers
can not go to their farmlands. He also disclosed that residents and villagers are forced to live in their houses and communities.
On how residents travel in and out of their communities, Nduka said: “We have no option than to travel through a total distance of 655 kilometres of roads in Adamawa, Gombe and Yobe states to avoid being attacked or killed by these gunmen.
“Instead of travelling on the 135-kilometre Gwoza-Bama-Maiduguri road at a cost of N500, our people have to board taxis and buses at N5, 750 and N4, 750 to get to Maiduguri and Damaturu through the Gwoza-Maraba, Mubi-Gombe-Potiskum-Damaturu-Maiduguri roads.”
He said although the nine or 10- hour journey on these roads are usually very expensive, tiring and time wasting, there have been little or no attacks and killings in the last six months.
Mallam Isa Yakubu, a passenger at the Maiduguri Kano Motor Park on Tuesday said: “I had to pay N9, 500 to convey my child from Gwoza to a teaching hospital in Maiduguri for a surgery.
“The journey was tortuous and frustrating because of the bumpy nature of roads from our town to Gombi in Adamawa State. It has compounded the state of health of my child that had been ill since February.
“I don’t know where to get the next transport fares to return home after my child is treated, maybe next month or June.
“If not because of this insecurity on our road to Gwoza through Bama, I would have paid only N2, 000 for our return fares, instead of N9, 500.”
The Police and the military had last week advised motorists and travelers to avoid the affected roads.
A top military officer, who craved anonymity, said: “We are very much concerned about the safety of local residents and traders on these roads.
“Operations in the forests are an ongoing and in frustration, the insurgents could strike on any of these roads we are patrolling since the abduction of school girls in Chibok on April 14. This is a travel advice to the people for their safety.”
On Thursday, motorists and passengers on the Maiduguri-Damaturu road in Borno State were attacked by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members. Ten people were shot dead and seven vehicles snatched.
According to an eyewitness, Ibrahim Isa, the gunmen were suspected to have come from the forest en-route a new destination to attack the motorists and passengers on their way to northern part of the state.
“On sighting vehicles plying the road, the insurgents decided to attack motorists and passengers, after flagging the drivers to stop.
“But for fear of being killed, some of the drivers decided not to heed
the orders and attempted to proceed. The gunmen then opened fire on some of the vehicles and slit the throats of about 10 people on the spot,” Isa said in a telephone conversation in Maiduguri yesterday.
He stated that as the attack continued, on-coming motorists had to make frantic U-turns to either Damaturu or Maiduguri for safety, before troops rushed to the affected road to save the situation.
Isa added that the security operatives responded swiftly by
mobilizing to the scene, killing some of the terrorists in an exchange of gunfire, while others fled into the bush and adjoining farmlands.
Yakubu Aliyu, one of the drivers who escaped the attack, said: “I was with my passengers on my way to Damaturu when I sighted some strange people with AK47 rifles by the side of the road a few metres away.
“Initially, I thought they were security personnel in plain clothes, but when I discovered that the place was not a routine security checkpoint, I quickly made a U-turn with the passengers back to Maiduguri.”
When contacted on phone, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Gideon Jubrin, said he was not aware of the incident. But a top security officer confirmed the incident, adding “about 10 were killed, while some vehicles were seized by suspected terrorists on Thursday evening.”
A woman who gave her name as simply Ajoke, said the concerned women would soon trek naked to Sambisa Forest on a search and rescue mission for the abducted girls since government security agents are unable to do so.
Speaking on the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) Hausa Service monitored in Kaduna, Ajoke said the government tended to be much more concerned about other issues than mobilising troops to rescue and return the girls safely to their families.
An aggrieved mother from Chibok accused the government of complicity in the abduction of the students, saying they have given an ultimatum for their daughters to be rescued or else, they would have no option than to storm the forest and take the bull by the horns.
“We are not comfortable with the government. How can our daughters be locked in the school, then all of a sudden, some people would appear with their vehicles and pack them like goats and run away with them without anyone raising alarm?,” she queried.
On her part, Hayija Asmau Joda, said the government is not living up to expectations and as concerned mothers, they are very disturbed about what is happening to the Chibok girls.
“Two weeks have gone with no trace of the missing girls and the government is not saying anything about it.
“We have not seen the government making any effort, because no single girl has been returned to her family, except those that were lucky to escape from the abductors. We know it was not the government of Nigeria that saved those girls.”
“It is unusual to see women staging a protest, but since men are unable and women have come out to protest from many parts of the country, it is our hope that the government will now take the issue much more seriously,” she said.
