Tears From Maiduguri By Ahmad Salkida

Growing up as a child in
Maiduguri, Borno state left
me with vivid memories.
There were clear memories
of affinity, of love, of trust,
of sharing and good
neighbourliness. By the way,
I was born Christian, and
raised as one but I counted
Muslims amongst my closest
friends, and in no way was
any sense of difference ever
highlighted. The adopted line
of “home of peace” seemed
very fitting.
Today, that epitaph mocks
the state, its people and
government. On a recent
duty tour to Maiduguri, what
I saw showed how easy it is
for society, indeed, for
civilizations to die.
Maiduguri, indeed what was
known of Borno, the Kanuri
civilization has died a
painful, shameful death,
with no loved ones at the
funeral. If you live in Abuja
as I do, and pick the official
lines from the media you
will go with the impression
that “the economic life of
Borno State” is comatose but
that with the gallant efforts
of the security forces, things
were returning to normalcy.
To associate Borno State
with any form of economic
or social life today is to
engage in an ugly,
nauseating joke. The soul
and personality of the Borno
under which I grew up died
unsung. Among my friends,
when Borno lived, we played
together. The Muslims were
friendly, generous and
accommodating to non –
Muslims. We lived together,
shared each other’s clothes.
What determined who wears
the best shirt and jeans
amongst our group of
Muslim and Christian friends
is not the ownership of
these clothes but rather,
who has the most important
date that day.
I remember with nostalgia
how I used to hold a
container of water and pour
it for my Muslim friends to
perform their ablution and
the same set of friends will
always wait for me by the
gate of the local church that
I attended with my parents
when it was closing time so
that we could embark in our
desired exploits. This
became such a routine that
sometime in 1997 I found
myself converting to Islam.
No one gave an ultimatum
that if I or anyone for that
matter did not convert the
heavens was going to
collapse. One thing was
evident then, my conversion
neither unsettled any
Christian families that I
know nor did it affect my
relationship with my friends.
As fate will have it, I am now
a Muslim and one of my
good friends, who grew up a
Muslim, met an enterprising
Idoma lady who converted
him to Christianity. They are
married, live happily with
their children in Abuja.
Maiduguri was very peaceful
until February 2006 when
the first major crisis broke
out. Then again, in July 2009
when the Islamist insurgents
declared war on secular
institutions. Now death and
its fear dominate the space
all across Borno. As Chinua
Achebe’s legendary character
noted in the celebrated
novel, “Things Fall Apart”
‘they have put a knife in the
thing that bound us
together …”
While it was obvious that the
2006 crisis in Maiduguri was
mainly an attack on
Christians and their
institutions by rampaging
Muslim mobs, the 2009
uprising led by late
Mohammed Yusuf had a
slightly different motivation.
Today, there are many faces
of the calamity in Maiduguri.
There is the ugly face among
Muslims, and there is the
pathetic face of the calamity
among the hapless Christian
community and there is a
troubling, complicated face
created and stoked by the
government forces.
Maiduguri is flattened and
riven with chaos, grief and
fear. People are afraid to
talk about anything not only
to strangers but even to
their neighbors because
some have pitted against
one another or serve as
informants to either sides of
the conflict. Security agents,
who should be responsible
for safeguarding lives and
properties, are apparently
turning against the people
they are paid and trained to
protect.
The operation restore order
in Maiduguri by the Joint
Task Force of security
agencies seem to be
producing more terrorists
than it eliminates. When
children witness the brutal
killings of their parents with
little or no consolation, they
grow up to become spiteful
of every representation of
civil obedience.
According to Sadiq Abba, a
teenager, seen with a bullet
wounds to the leg in
Maiduguri, his only crime
when soldiers shot him
according to him was that,
he falls within the age group
of the insurgents.
In Maiduguri, if you are
close to a scene of violence
two things happen, it is
either you get blown or shot
up by the bomb or bullets of
the insurgents or when the
JTF arrives on the scene you
assume the status of an
enemy even if you are not
one. If you are saved from
any of these two evils then
pray to be far from another
scene of an attack.
On a seemingly normal day,
when there is no attack at a
given time in the city, the
fear and trauma of people
wondering whether the car
next to them at a traffic light
or security check point
would explode or when one
is caught between cross fire
can be devastating.
According to a Pediatrician at
the University of Maiduguri,
apparently, in Maiduguri
today, most people
especially children in the
most violent areas are likely
suffering from post
traumatic stress disorder or
prolong grief, yet there is no
consolation for them. And
nobody is interested in
these problems especially
when the bombs and
assassinations are still going
on. Instead, how to eat and
survive the day is
everybody’s preoccupation.
A nine year old boy that
goes by the name Ahmed
(surname withheld) told me
how his father was beaten
for throwing a sachet of
water from his car window,
close to a check point, “my
father was asked to roll on
the ground while me and my
younger sister watch how
the soldiers flogged him.”
Another teacher whose tyre
of his rickety car blew close
to a military check point got
people scampering for safety
was sadly he beaten into a
coma. Some say, he is lucky
to be alive. Where is the rule
of law in this city?
More complicated is when
Christian places of worship
are bombed and Christians
especially Igbos are
slaughtered like animals.
Their only crime was that
they are Christians and the
Muslims that condemn these
killings are not spared
either. For many Muslims,
sealed lips is the only
guarantee of staying alive
but the average Christian
views this silence as cold
complicity.
Most security agents, civil
servants and politicians,
serving and retired in the
state that have fallen by the
bullets of the insurgents are
Muslims that is why it is
difficult to convince most
Muslims that this war is
being fought on their behalf.
In Maiduguri, apparently, the
only people the security
excuse most of the times are
Christians just like the way
the insurgents have also
spared some Muslims at the
very instance of an attack.
These have further increased
suspicion and animosity
between the two religions.
One religion is seen as
having the sympathy of the
JTF and the other as having
the sympathy of the
insurgents.
Apart from the people, the
once serene and beautiful
environment of Maiduguri
that welcomes you with the
sweet fragrance of Churai or
turarai wuta, locally made
perfumes, now bears painful
memories of loved ones that
have died and continue to
suffer. The infrastructure is
in ruins, many schools are
destroyed, businesses are
grounded and many
residences are deserted.
Many Christians now bury
their dead like the Muslims
because there is hardly any
space in the mortuaries.
Where are the memorable
traditional eateries in the
city, like the Gudum local
restaurant in Abaganaram
where we use to feast with
tasty Kanuri dishes such as
Ndalai, brabusko, Karasu,
and miyan kuka with a lot of
traditional spices.
Can I ever go back to Dikwa
to eat burtutu, aquatic frog?
Can I ever move freely in
Hausari to buy danwake in
the morning? I miss the way
the people play in wedding
festivities, such as the
wushai wushai in the nights.
Alas! Where is ‘Ba masaha’,
the late Shehu of Borno, Dr.
Mustpha Umar Ibn El-
Kanemi of blessed memory?
When he died, the Igbos did
not only mourn him but
closed their shops for three
days voluntarily. Most of
these Igbos have now fled
the state.
The majalissa, where men of
all ages seat under trees in
groups that is a common
feature in Maiduguri have
disappeared. It is also
practically impossible for
people to sleep outside
during the scourging heat
even when there is no
electricity. Even the cinemas
that show English
Premiership League
matches, one of the few
things youths in the region
strangely find a bond of
unifying force are also gone.
No one can move freely any
longer at any time of the day
or night.
Once the hub of Islamic
scholarship in West Africa
that teaches tolerance and
hospitality like its welcoming
neem trees, where there are
abundant opportunities for
youths to be pious or go
astray has turn to a ghost
town.
The reception one would get
in Maiduguri in the 80’s and
90’s could best be described
in the Islamic principles that
admonished Muslims to
show an open invitation by
their lifestyles, through
which people can see the
beauty of Islam and find it
an interesting code of ethics
and teachings for others to
follow has bedeviled by the
actions of the insurgents.
I would like to see the
Maiduguri, where Islamic
schorlarship is booming,
where everyone prays the
five daily prayers in
congregation. I will like to
see the Maiduguri where my
Christian parents can go to
church every Sunday without
the fear of being bombed.
I would like to see a
Maiduguri that does not
produce orphans, widows
and the dead by the hour,
where people have lost
count of the dead. I would
like to to see the Maiduguri
where the insurgents will
rest their fist and smile and
be smiled at.
I will like to see the
Maiduguri where my only
brother, an evangelist based
in Oshogbo can come home
and feel at home. I will like
to see the Maiduguri where
my two nieces and nephew
whose father is from
Abakiliki, in the south-east
of Nigeria come to stay and
enjoy the sweet smell of
Churai or the healthy bitter
taste of garden eggs.

Salkida, an independent
journalist based in Abuja
visits Maiduguri after fleeing
from there several months
ago and found the the once
beautiful and lively city
turned into a ghost land.

#CONSENSUS 2015