From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi

Most of them are in their early 20s, and some a little older, but the common feature among these women is that they are nursing mothers displaced from their ancestral homes by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

The nursing mothers are among internally displaced persons (IDPs) estimated to be over 11,000 taking refuge at a primary school premises in Ortese community of Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, according to Medicines Sans Frontieres (MSF), popularly known as Doctors Without Borders.

These displaced persons told our correspondent during a recent visit to the camp that they had been in camp between April and September since the Fulani stormed their different villages, killing, maiming and destroying everything in sight.

While some of them sleep inside the classrooms of the LGEA Primary School, many others are in makeshift tents erected on a large expanse of land close to the school.

But as deplorable their condition of living may look, it seemed that this did not stop them from making more babies, thus adding to the pathetic humanitarian situation in the state.

Governor Samuel Ortom has consistently lamented the humanitarian crisis Benue State had been facing in catering for the over 1.5 million IDPs scattered in camps across the state since 2018.

Nancy Ukigh, a 26-year-old mother of six, who recently delivered a set of twin girls, said she escaped from her Okpeh village in Mbagen ward of Guma LGA after Fulani herdsmen invaded the community in May last year.

She said it was while in camp that she got pregnant with her twins and delivered them a few weeks ago.

Asked how she was able to get pregnant under the deplorable conditions they found themselves in, Nancy, with a smile on her face, said: “I guess that is the only thing that makes us happy here.

“It’s God that gives us children, not human beings. Some people are looking for this kind gift but could not achieve it. So, as God is giving me, I won’t reject it.”

As Nancy spoke, her friends who were mostly nursing mothers themselves agreed with her.

Also, Comfort Igbudu, a 24-year-old mother of four, was nursing her twin boys whom she said were only six months when their village was attacked in August last year.

Her other children, who are of school age, cannot go to school because there is no money and no hope of returning to their ancestral home any time soon.

Salome Sunday, a 20 years old mother of two from Ologbo Mbagen ward of Guma, said she was pregnant when herdsmen attacked her village in April last year.

She said: “Fulani pursued us from our village. They invaded our village in broad daylight and started shooting. I was in the kitchen when I heard the first shot and many more, subsequently. So, I had to strap my small baby to my back with my pregnancy and ran for many hours before getting to the main road, where I miraculously reunited with my husband.”

Salome, who eventually gave birth to a baby boy in camp, lamented that she could hardly provide for her little baby the basic necessities of life, as they have continued to live on the benevolence of donors, which comes in sparingly.

“Sometimes, my husband, Sunday Terdoo, would go out to look for menial jobs so that we can feed. Doctors Without Borders have also been helping us in no small measure, especially in attending to our health needs and also providing us with water.

“I look forward to going back to my village but I am afraid it may not happen soon as the Fulani are still holding sway there from what we are hearing. Some who went back were killed,” she said.

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Like Salome, Serah Shater, a 20-year-old mother of two, disclosed that she had her baby in camp in December last year after Fulani herdsmen sacked them from Anter in Mbagen last year.

Ubum Felicia, 21, mother of two, was grappling with how to care for her kids without any form of livelihood in camp.

Felicia, who disclosed that she came to camp in August last year from Mbagen following a herdemen’s invasion of her community, narrated to our correspondent how she became a tenant in the IDP camp: She had gone to farm that fateful day with some other persons when, suddenly, some herdsmen stormed their farm and started destroying everything.

She said: “We were in the farm harvesting guinea corn and yam when the Fulani herdsmen came in and started destroying our farm. People begged them to stop but they refused. It resulted in a serious crisis. Three people were killed in our compound alone. We had to inform the Livestock Guards, who quickly came and rescued us.”

Asked why she has not returned to her village since then, she said: “They did not allow us. They are still there.”

Reliving her experience in camp, the young mother of two said: “It’s not easy in camp. Some days, we wouldn’t even have food to eat. At other times, some donors would visit and give us a little food.

“I was a farmer in my village, but since coming to camp, I just wake up and wait for what God will do. My second baby was only two months old when the attackers came and displaced us from our village.”

On his part, Hindan Kenneth, father of seven, laughed hard when asked why he was still making babies even in camp.

He said: “I am in my mid-30s, I’m still a young man. I have seven children from two wives and, if God permits, I will still have more because I believe that children are gifts that only God can give. If I am to buy them, can I even get one?”

Asked how he intends to cater for the needs of his seven children under their living condition in camp, Kenneth said: “God who gave them to me will provide and also fend for them in life.”

Kur Ayabo, the camp chairman of the Ortese IDP camp, disclosed that the camp was established on April 17, 2021, and now had over 11,000 residents, but he could not immediately give the exact number of children in camp.

He, however, estimated that more than 80 per cent of women in the camp were either nursing mothers or pregnant, while the remaining estimated 20 per cent were old women and children. He attributed the high number of nursing mothers and pregnant women in the camp to the fact that most of the women were young and very fertile, saying, their condition as IDPs not withstanding, they were in the procreative stage of their lives.

Ayabo, who disclosed that there were four deaths of children in the camp last year as a result of a cholera outbreak, commended the Doctors Without Borders, who have stepped in to address the issue of measles in the camp this year.

“Four children died last year due to cholera outbreak. Today, there is measles but, with the intervention of Doctors Without Borders (DWB), there are no deaths.

“The intervention of DWB is mainly in the area of water. They have made several efforts to dig wells here to no avail but then they bring water from Makurdi every day. They also help in terms of health intervention.”

Meanwhile, in distributing food and other items to IDP camps in the state, executive secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Emmanuel Shior, disclosed that the IDPs in the state were now close to two million.

Shior, who lamented the humanitarian challenge posed by the continued stay of the IDPs in camps, urged the Federal Government to do everything possible to ensure their return to their ancestral homes as soon as possible to enable them continue with their farming activities.

He said: “We have close to two million IDPs in the state as at now. We have recorded increase in our IDP camps because attacks have continued. We are yet to record some other new IDPs who have recently been displaced from their ancestral homes.”

He declared that the humanitarian crisis caused by the frequent attacks and displacement of people from their ancestral homes was taking its toll on the state, which had hitherto been known as the food basket of the nation.