Unusual Sallah in displaced persons’ camps

As Muslims marked the Eid-el Fitr Sallah with enthusiasm, the situation could not be said for the millions of Internally Displaced Persons currently taking refuge in camps after they were ejected from their homesteads by insurgents. IBRAHIM ABDUL writes on the IDPs’ unusual celebrations.

There was palpable anxiety at the Damare NYSC and Malkohi Internally Displaced Persons’ camps as it became glaring that the remaining IDPs would celebrate Sallah in the facility,though the camps’ officials were busy trying to put smiles on their faces.

Ahead of the celebration,National Emergency Management Agency distributed clothes to children and women in the camps,but many of the IDPs interviewed by Sunday Telegraph expressed displeasure over government’s failure to bring the insurgency to an end. As a result, they had been rendered beggars in their homeland, they lamented.

“The insurgency forced us to observe the Sallah celebrations in the facility in miserable and pathetic conditions. The feeling of being confined to a specific location even on special occasions was enough trauma for us,” one of the female IDPs, Aisha Marghi, said. Another IDP, Mallam Musa, who lamented his continued stay in the facility said, “Though one must thank Allah in any situation that one finds himself, but there is no way anybody in the facility will tell you that he or she is happy with the situation.

You can never imagine the misery we are going through here. Sallah or Christmas, our freedom should be paramount and sacrosanct.” Continuing, Musa lamented that “all what the government is doing for us amounts to a nullity.

We are farmers and have enough food to eat and even feed others. We are not happy that the government is saying that it is feeding us. We can feed ourselves if we are in our land. “We have no clothes; no good shelter and as you can see, this is enough cause for concern.

There is nothing you will bring here that will go round and satisfy everybody because of our size. So the most important thing is that the government should make our relocation to our hometowns a top priority.”

Just like Musa and Aisha, another distraught female IDP in the facility, who simply identified herself as Ummi, said they marked the event without much enthusiasm. “The Sallah, for us, looks dull as we have no good clothes, no decent accommodation to call ours and foremost, we have no freedom.

Therefore, we can only thank God for sparing us till this moment.” However, the authorities in charge of the camps said they were doing everything humanly possible to ensure that the displaced persons feel at home.

Speaking to Sunday Telegraph, the NEMA camps coordinator in the state, Mr. Sa’ad Bello, “You know you can’t satisfy anybody hundred per cent; but let me assure you that anything short of total freedom for them is unacceptable.

“To put smiles on their faces, sewing machines were made available to tailors in the camps to make new sets of clothes for their children for the Sallah celebration. After assessing the situation, we were directed to get clothes from shops for the kids in the camps,” Bello said. Also corroborating,the women leader of the IDPs’ camps, Mrs. Fidelia Joseph, said the authorities were doing their best to ensure sanity, safety and the general wellbeing of the people.

She urged her co-IDPs to persevere more, as she was emphatic that soon, their travails would be a thing of the past. She further said that in order to prevent an outbreak of epidemics, the management has been administering vaccination to the children at the camp while the officials of the camp provide disinfeactants and detergents to the IDPs for proper sanitation.

“Pregnant women are also provided antenatal care to ensure safe delivery. With the situation, many pregnant women had safe deliveries and their children are living in healthy conditions. The facility also provides drugs to IDPs with common illnesses such as malaria, catarrh and cough. This measure has helped a lot in preventing diseases in the camp,” she said. She further explained that sufficient food was also being provided for the IDPs thrice daily under strict supervision to ensure that cases of food poisoning are avoided.

“A lot was provided and cows were slaughtered for the Sallah; though you know it will not be the same as celebrating it in our homes,” the women leader noted. Also commenting in the same vein, the chairman of the Damare IDPs’ camp, Alhaji Modu Mohammad, told Sunday Telegraph that though people in their situation could not boast of having a comfortable life, Sallah was enjoyed by all the IDPs.

Mohammad said the IDPs were adequately fed as they were daily given three meals while cows were slaughtered every two days to provide them with quality food. “We complement the diet on some days with fish. Many, especially the elderly, prefer fish to meat.

The effort has helped tremendously in keeping diseases at bay,” he said. Mohammad also said the availability of a clinic where those having health challenges are attended to has helped significantly in checking illnesses in the camp.

•Govt, monarchs fight insurgency Meanwhile, the Adamawa State Government and traditional rulers have agreed to work closely in the areas of information sharing and intelligence gathering in rural communities to tackle insurgency and other criminal activities in the state.

This is just as the state government has introduced a microfinance scheme aimed at boosting their morale. With this development, ward, village and district heads are empowered to arrest any suspicious person or groups and to hand them over to relevant security agencies. Governor Jibrillla Bindow, who dropped the hint yesterday, while receiving traditional rulers that paid him Sallah homage, regretted that traditional rulers are not duly recognised to play their expected roles in ensuring peace, security and stability.

He was emphatic that such mutual cooperation with those at the grass roots and all other critical stakeholders is the key to the fight against crime across the state. He averred that the activities of insurgents had continued to thrive partly because traditional rulers have been sidelined in the fight against their activities. He said, “If the traditional rulers were adequately carried along, they would have helped in the fight against crime and insurgency and helped to find a lasting solution to their activities. We will not work without traditional rulers, despite the fact that the traditional institution has been neglected in the constitution.

“At least 40 persons will be enrolled in each ward and will be scrutinised from ward to district heads. Ward, village and district heads are given the power to arrest any person with questionable character,” the governor said. In their separate remarks, the Lamido Adamawa, Dr. Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Mustafa; Emir of Mubi, Alhaji Abubakar Isa Ahmadu; Murum Mbula, Chief Jerome Joel Fwa; and other first class chiefs and emirs averred that bad governance and a warped economy was responsible for insecurity.

They noted that conceited efforts by governors, traditional rulers and other stakeholders would bring an end to the violence and killings. Lamido Barkindo, who was the was first to speak, said, “The issue of security is everybody’s concern.

So, without cooperation and support from the local people, no matter how strong or intelligent you are or the whatever the level of resources you have, you will never succeed.” He said the solution to insecurity will only be found at the local level and it is everybody’s responsibility to provide information, because information is power. The paramount ruler later announced that all the eight first class chiefs and emirs in the state would soon meet to fashion out ways of achieving desired results.

“As chairman of the state council of emirs and chiefs, I want to assure you that I will convene a meeting on this important matter towards ensuring peace, security and stability in the state,” the monarch said.