Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The atmosphere, at an arena in a small house located at a sprawling community overlooking the army Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno’s capital, was charged. Scores of women in black hijab (veil) held their hands as they cried repeatedly in the sun and refused to be consoled. Emotion was very high even as the rising sun came with great intensity though it was just 10:00a.m.
What kind of tragedy may have befallen over a dozen of women to gather in the sun in the early hours of the day wailing, one would venture to ask? Yet, there was neither any sign of destruction nor dead bodies around to conclude that the murderous Boko Haram group has struck again in the community. Curiously, no man is seen in this gathering or even nearby except women in the black veil. It was an unusual gathering.
“Only mothers like us can feel the depth of our pains and anguish,” one of the women, Hajja Gana Suleiman, eventually opened up. They are mothers and wives of some young men arrested by the military in Maiduguri and Lagos seven years ago for alleged involvement in Boko Haram activities.
They claimed their husbands and sons were whisked away between 2012 and 2013 by soldiers during several raids on houses in Maiudguri and never returned till today.
“They were never released or charged to court. Yet, we haven’t seen them since,” she disclosed. Eight years after, they said they are yet to establish whether or not the suspects are still alive and if they are, they want the military to charge them to court to put the matter to rest.
Hajja Suleiman said that she saw her son, Mustapha Saina, last in October 2011 at the detention centre at Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, a week after he was arrested by soldiers. “Mustapha was 25 years old that time and a businessman. He was the bread-winner of the family. His wife was six months pregnant with their first child as at the time he was arrested,” she disclosed. The child, now eight, is yet to know his father.
According to her, soldiers raided a mosque in the city late in October 2011 while some worshippers were observing their early morning prayers and Mustapha was picked with some other 35 men.
“I went to Giwa Barracks with a lawyer to apply for his bail, but nothing happened. I paid a huge sum of money to soldiers who promised to facilitate his release, but nothing was done,” she said. No one knows if Mustpaha is alive or dead and no one has confirmed seeing him since then,” Suleiman added.
Fatima Hassan’s two sons; Ibrahim and Musa, were both arrested in her presence at her house in the city in September 2013 after a bomb attack in the neighbourhood. “The military were conducting house-to-house search in our area after a bomb attack. That time every young man is a Boko Haram suspect. Soldiers will just come and round up all young men in an area. My son; Ibrahim, a 30-year-old banker and Musa, 26-year-old student were arrested with 16 young men and taken to Giwa Barracks,” Fatima stated.
She said that she visited the Giwa Barracks many times, but never had the opportunity to see her sons. The faintest information about her sons came after Boko Haram attacked Giwa Barracks in March 2014. Some of the detainees were reportedly freed by the insurgents during the attack while some fleeing detainees were also allegedly shot dead by either the military or civilian JTF in the ensuing confusion.
“A fellow detainee said then my two sons were alive and did not flee the detention centre during the attack,” she added.
Halima Mohammed had just been delivered of a baby girl when her husband was whisked away by soldiers one early morning from their home. They were new couples still savouring the joy of matrimony. They were deep in sleep after the morning Muslim prayers in February 2014 when their sleep was interrupted by a bang on their door and behold, armed soldiers pushed their way in and pulled up the young man from the sofa where he laid for a nap. Since then, Halima has not seen her husband. Efforts by family members to secure his release or persuade the military to charge their son to court yielded no result. “We don’t know his whereabouts till today and his daughter kept asking where is my father?” Halima said.
Bintu Mohammed last saw her then 25-year-old son, Abba Bukar in 2012 before she sent her to Lagos. She said she bought a motorcycle for the boy to run an Okada business (commercial motorcycling) in Lagos so as to protect him against the violence in the state then. “I thought he will be safe from insurgency in Borno,” she said. She, however, woke up on a morning with a call from a soldier who informed her that her son has been arrested and detained at an army detention facility in Lagos.
“I followed up with several calls until I was told my son will be transferred to Giwa Barracks. I went to the barracks and was told that the boy was there, but I didn’t see him. I made several attempts to see him, but there was no success since 2015,” she said.
The women who gathered together were, therefore, united for the same reason as they are demanding that justice be done to the suspects’ cases. “We want the military to charge them to court or produce their corpses if they have been killed,” Hajja Suleiman insisted.
There are fears in the state that the military may have extra-judicially killed most of the suspects. Such fear was expressed by a local human rights group, Jire Dole, who called on the relevant authorities to compile and release the lists of those arrested by the military on connection with Boko Haram in the last 10 years. The group also demanded for the current status of the suspects, including their profile, state (alive or dead), culpability in the Boko Haram acts and trial process.
“Thousands of young men and boys have been arrested by the military in Maiduguri and surrounding towns in Borno State since 2011, allegedly for being members of Boko Haram. Their mothers now demand answers from the Nigerian authorities and call on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the military to release accurate information about all men and boys they have been arrested,” the coordinator of the group, Hajiya Hamsatu Allamin, said.
Allamin said the group joins hundreds of the women whose families were held by the military or “missing through the military” to demand for justice.
“No one currently knows their whereabouts. Some have been in detention facility since 2011 without access to their families, lawyers and outside the world. We want justice to be served. The families need to be sure whether or not their loved ones are dead or killed, alive and culpable with the crimes they allegedly committed,” she added.
The military could not react to the issue as at press time. General Officer Commanding (GOC), 7 Division, Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, Brig.-Gen Bulama Biu said he cannot comment on the matter.
Army spokesman, Col Sagir Musa also asked the reporter for more time to respond, but his response did not come as at press time.