From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos
Following the joint operation carried out in the early morning of Sunday by Nigerian soldiers and other security operatives at a refugee camp in Durumi quarters, in Abuja, where three squatters were killed and many injured, a victim in the incident has revealed that the death toll had risen to five, adding that over one hundred and forty one persons were missing.
The victim, who lost his relative in the raid, revealed to the Hausa Service of the BBC monitored in Jos, that the whereabouts of the missing one hundred and forty one persons was still unknown.
He said, “The number of people that were killed in the attack so far is five; but one hundred and forty one persons are still missing. Their whereabouts is not known”.
The victim further narrated that “since the occurrence of the incident, we have been in a difficult situation. We were chased by the violence of Boko Haram in Gwoza to Abuja thinking that we would have peace of mind with some of our relatives, but the thought have been proved wrong by what has happened yesterday (Sunday night).
“We left Gwoza for Abuja not because we wanted to leave it; it was situation that caused that to happen. We are here in Abuja as labourers, just to survive. Our lives in Gwoza are even better than that of living in Abuja. As I am talking to you now, if everything is normalised in Gwoza, we will surely go back to our homes.
“We gave our lives in Borno for peace to be restored and yet this is not happening. I was one-time a member of Civilian Joint Task force (JTF) in my village and my participation was aimed at ensuring peace and stability in our state and the country at large; but look at what is happening to us. It is uncalled-for “, he lamented.
When the BBC asked the victim on what needs to be done, , he responded in a low voice that: “We have left everything to God; because we cannot do anything”. On whether they would go back to Durumi (scene of the attack) to continue squatting, the victim said, “We are not going back. We have started moving out our belongings.
“We thought Abuja is part of Nigeria, as we are all Nigerians and that is why we moved from Borno to Abuja”, he added.
