By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
As the world celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, a celebration that usually comes with fun and fanfare as gifts and other things will be exchanged between people, the story is different in Bauchi state as the more than 56000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) mostly from the Boko Haram/ISWAP dominated Borno and Yobe states who were forced to flee and take refuge in few camps as well as living among the host communities across the 20 LGAs of state have lamented that they have been abandoned and neglected by the host government and therefore are not aware that it is Christmas.
A visit to one of the Camps in Bauchi LGA revealed that the IDPs are suffering in silence as there is no any sign of social amenity in the area which is housing over 200 households with not less than 1000 people. The community lacks clinic, school and an access road.
Chairman of Bauchi State IDPs, Alh Buba Musa Shehu while speaking to our Correspondent said that the IDPs started coming to Bauchi in 2012 when the situation in Borno and Yobe states became under pressure due to the activities Boko Haram militants.
He said that, “I am from Gwoza LGA in Borno state, we have a total of 56000 IDPs in Bauchi state and we have remained here since then, not one has gone back to the original place. We are within the communities and we have a few camps across the state”.
The IDPs Chairman challenged the state government for saying that there are no IDPs in the state stressing that, “it is a lie, we are here in the state and we have been receiving support from NEDC and other support agencies but we have not received any support from the present administration in the State, it has not done anything for us in the past two years”.
Buba Musa added that IDPs in the state though contributed to the electoral success of the present administration, they have been neglected only getting support regularly from the NEDC and other agencies but certainly not the state government.
Asked if they are aware that Christians is around the corner, he said that, “yes we do, but, who is talking about Christmas when there is no food to eat, no clothes to wear, one has been neglected and treated as foreigners in our own land”.
Alh Balama Guja is the eldest man in the IDPs camp and an Uncle to Maryam Abacha, he berated the Bauchi State Government for neglecting them without any attention saying that, “the present administration does not recognize that we are here, it has been denying that we exist here, yet, it has been receiving items on our behalf”.
He said that aside from the Governor’s Wife who visited the camp with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, no official of the present administration has visited the camp only for it to be denying that they exist.
Secretary of the IDPs, Yuguda Idris corroborated what the Chairman and the elder said stressing however that the present administration in the State has not treated the IDPs well saying that, “we have heard severally the claim by the government that there are no IDPs in Bauchi state. You can see for yourself that we are here”.
He declared that, “about two weeks ago, an organization brought 1800 bags of rice to Bauchi State as a support to IDPs, it was received by the SSG, but, as at today, Thursday, 16th December, 2021, Leadership of the IDPs has not been notified, we are waiting to see what happens to the donated items “.
The IDPs women leader, Zara Umaru who came to Bauchi State from Gamboru – Ngala said that, “how can the government say there are no IDPs in Bauchi state. We all came here and the previous governments knew of our existence. They enrolled our children in schools but this administration has abandoned us”.
“The State First Lady has visited us on two occasions but the state government has not done anything for us. We the women and children are the ones suffering most because there are no hospitals, no schools around, our people are not included in the skills acquisition programs of the government “, she addled.
Zara Umaru who did not hide her bitterness over the development said that,”we have lost a number of women during childbirth due to lack of hospital close to the camp. How can one have the happiness of Christmas when you are not sure of what to eat next moment? Let government come to our aid immediately”.
The IDPs who are saying that they are not being treated well by an administration they contributed to its emergence are calling on the state government to as a matter of urgency, come to their aid by allocating to them, food items and other necessities that will make the celebration of the Christmas and new year a worthwhile for them.
Efforts to get a reaction to the development from the relevant agencies in the state proved abortive as no official was ready to comment on the issue when approached.
