6 September 2020
Bassey Edem, a Cross Riverian who is a humanitarian aid worker with Green Concern for Development (GreenCode) has taken to his Twitter handle to register his horrible experience in Borno state ravaged by Boko Haram militancy especially in the IDP camp in Bama. At the end of his narration, Edem wonders why the war against the insurgency in the northeast is yet to have been successfully prosecuted given his experience.
Hear him:
Did I tell you guys? Sometime last year I was at Borno state to implement a project at the IDP camp in Bama. I lived in a house in the ravaged Bama.
After my first day when I returned to the house in the evening, it was already getting dark, men dressed in army camouflage and another regalia with heavy guns stormed our house, searched everywhere (omo, in my mind I had said my last prayers countless time) and when they didn't find anything implicating and realised that we were Humanitarian Aid Workers, they apologized that they got information about new faces in the community that they were only doing their work. I said is okay (low-key it was not okay o). Then the officer who led the others introduced himself and exchanged pleasantry with us. Children of God that was when I knew I was dealing with the right Army – Nigerian Army and not Boko haram.
I walked them out of the premises, then I discovered these men were battle-ready. The entire premises was surrounded by more men and trucks with machine guns ready to fire.
This makes me wonder why this war is still on and not ended by now. The way they knew about the new faces in the community and traced us to our houses shows that they can also do the same to stop Boko Haram insurgent in the Northeast.
