Whatever is left of the hopes of the
“ceasefire” between the Federal Government and Boko Haram insurgents have been
shattered.
More women are being abducted, men killed and
homes burnt in Borno and Adamawa states.
Besides, a bomb went off Wednesday night in
Azare, Bauchi State.
Five people were killed and 12 injured,
according to the police.
This followed the abduction of about 45 women
in Magadali in Adamawa State on Tuesday.
Some of those who were freed after the
abduction told reporters in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, yesterday that
many of the younger women among those abducted were forcibly taken straight
into matrimony.
In spite of this, the government delegation
and supposed representatives of the sect were in talks in N’Djamena, the
Chadian capital. The talks are being moderated by Chadian President Idris
Derby. Details are, however, unavailable.
Residents of the town of Wagga told AFP that
40 females were kidnapped by suspected Islamist gunmen who went door-to-door,
specifically looking for young women and girls.
“They left N1500 and some kola nuts in each
home where they seized a woman, apparently as a bride price,” said Lazarus
Baushe, an elder of the Wagga community.
Witnesses in the nearby town of Gwarta
separately reported a kidnapping last weekend involving another 20 female
victims, but details were not immediately clear.
Bauchi police spokesman Mohammed Haruna said
the dead in the Azare bus station blast were “burnt beyond recognition”.
No-one claimed responsibility, but Bauchi has
been attacked repeatedly throughout Boko Haram’s brutal five-year uprising,
which has left more than 10,000 people dead.
“Five persons burned beyond recognition were
certified dead, while 12 others sustained various degrees of injuries,” Haruna
said.
“The entire surrounding (area) has been
cordoned off … No arrest has yet been made, but an investigation has
commenced.”
A Chadian diplomat told Reuters that a deal
could still be reached if this faction has ultimate control over the girls —
although analysts say that could be divided between several cooperating
factions.
Reports of fresh kidnappings by the Islamists
first emerged on Saturday near Chibok, where 219 schoolgirls were seized since
April. Their release is part of the ongoing talks.
Confirmation that the Bauchi bombing or the
latest abductions were tied to Boko Haram would further undermine the
government’s claim that they have negotiated a ceasefire with the extremists.
After Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief
Marshal Alex Badeh announced the ceasefire following talks in Saudi Arabia, a
senior aide to President Goodluck Jonathan said Boko Haram had agreed to
release the schoolgirls.
But evidence is mounting that both pacts were
hollow.
There has been no comment so far from Boko
Haram’s purported leader Abubakar Shekau and hopes voiced by the Presidency
that the girls would be released by Tuesday came to nothing.
Nigerian negotiators were reportedly set to
resume talks with Boko Haram envoys in neighbouring Chad next week, but further
questions will likely be asked about the identities of the purported sect
negotiators.
Some of the residents of Michika and Madagali
local government areas, Adamawa State, who were abducted by Boko Haram have
returned home, bearing tales of their harrowing experience.
Some of the 45 girls and women recently
abducted in the area have been wedded to fighters of the Islamic sect, they
said.
The insurgents, according to the returnees,
have also turned some of the abducted girls to maidens who cook their food.
Many of the relatives of some of the abducted
girls who were released because of ill health told reporters in Yola, the state
capital, that their relatives claimed that some of the girls had been turned to
cooks while others were married off to the fighters.
A relative to one of the women released by
the insurgents who does not want his name in print said initially, the
insurgents seized about 80 girls and women whom they loaded into vans and
zoomed off.
He added that later in the night, the
insurgents separated the elderly women from the girls and released them. Many,
the source said, are languishing in the forest as they could not find their way
back to the towns.
“We were told by trapped residents that the
elderly women were released while the insurgents went away with the young
ones,” he said.
A relative of one of the abducted girls has
enjoined the Federal and Adamawa State sovernments to intensify efforts at
rescuing the abducted girls so that they will not be left in the hands of the
insurgents for too long to save them from being abused.
“We are confused that hours after the so
called ceasefire agreement has been entered between the Federal Government and
Boko Haram insurgents, our girls were abducted by the insurgents.
“We are at a loss about the government’s
sincerity on the whole issue and we urge it to rescue our daughters without
further delay as we are ready to die searching for our missing ones,” he said.
More than 400 girls have so far been
kidnapped by the fighters since April 2014 in many places across Adamawa, Yobe
and Borno states since the insurgency began five years ago.
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