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JANGEBE, Nigeria: Humaira Mustapha made no effort to wipe away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks as she spoke of her two abducted daughters.
“Whenever I think of my daughters, it fills me with indescribable pain,” Mustapha told AFP.
Sitting against the plastered mud wall of her living room naked, her tears left wet stains on her navy blue hijab (Islamic veil).
Hafsa and Aisha, 14 and 13 years old respectively, were among 317 school-age girls abducted by gunmen from their shelters at a girls’ boarding school in the remote village of Jangebe in Zamfara state.
“Whenever I serve her younger sister food, tears flow from my eyes because I keep thinking about the hunger and thirst they are going through,” said the 30-year-old mother of three.
But she only serves her daughter.
“I can’t eat since the kidnapping,” he said.
“I call on the Governor to do everything possible to rescue our daughters who face real danger to their lives,” Mustapha added.
“As a mother, my anguish is crushing me.”
‘My anguish is crushing me,’ Humaira Mustapha told AFP AFP / Kola Sulaimon
“I HIDDEN UNDER MY BED”
Villagers say more than 100 armed men in military uniforms invaded the village early Friday morning.
They fired their weapons incessantly, challenging the male residents to come out and fight. Nobody dared.
Mukhtar Rabiu, another father, said the gunmen made their way to the school’s shelter for the sleeping students, forcing them to walk into the bush.
Rabiu’s daughter, Shamsiyya, was one of 50 schoolchildren who managed to escape.
“They arrived at the school around 1:00 am and entered the dormitories hurling insults at us, asking us to come out while we were shooting into the air,” he told AFP from his home in the town.
“They were wearing military uniforms,” added the 13-year-old.
“I hid under the bed until they left after gathering the students they could find.
“Some of us hid inside the bathrooms,” he added, behind a milky veil.
“Every time I think of my colleagues I get depressed. I feel lonely and have been praying for their safe return,” she added.
In the streets of the quiet town, the residents went on with their lives, suppressing their anxiety.
DESERT SCHOOL
The school, located on the outskirts of town, is practically deserted.
The only sounds are the birds in the trees scattered around the school grounds and the strange bleating of the goats there.
The vice principal of the school and a security guard in charge of the entrance are the only people still present.
Iron beds, shoes, mattresses and abandoned clothing litter the bedrooms from which the students were kidnapped.
Plastic boxes, buckets of water and kettles are strewn on the dusty floors of the shelters.
Classroom chairs are empty, dozens of computers are idle on desks, and books gather dust on shelves.
The school complex is now practically deserted AFP / Kola Sulaimon
“It would have been better if my two daughters had died and I buried them, knowing that Allah, who gave them to me and then took them, to be taken by the bandits,” said Abubakar Abdurrahman Zaki.
His two daughters were among those kidnapped.
This latest raid came a week after Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle announced an amnesty for repentant bandits accused of a series of kidnappings and deadly raids on local villages.
“Nobody knows the condition of the girls, which worries everyone,” said a local, Bello Gidan-Ruwa.
“The government said they are making efforts to rescue the girls, but their efforts will not be good enough until our girls are safely back,” he added.
