When Fatima
Babagana, a student of the University of Maiduguri, joined her uncle for a ride
from Maiduguri, she probably did not know that she would not make it to
Postiskum, her destination in Yobe.
Babagana was among
the 30 people killed when Boko Haram attacked stranded travellers in Auno last
week.
In an interview with
CNN, Babagana’s uncle, who reportedly did not want his name to be mentioned,
said the insurgents launched the attack when most of them were asleep.
He said his niece,
who wanted to be a journalist, was shot in the head because the attackers could
see the light from her phone which she was fiddling when they struck.
He said they ended
up spending the night at Auno because on their way to Potiskum, soldiers at a
roadblock in Benisheikh, a town 45 miles west from Maiduguri, ordered them to
go back for their safety.
Babagana’s uncle
said the officers had warned them that they could be ambushed by Boko Haram. He
said they heeded the military’s advice and quickly turned back without knowing
that a more perilous journey was ahead.
They traveled for
another hour before encountering another military blockade in Auno village, one
of the gateways into Maiduguri, and they decided to sleep in the car till the
next morning.
“Fatima was sitting
in the backseat and typing on her phone. They saw the light from the phone
because it was very dark. Next thing I knew, they had shot her in the head,” he
reportedly said.
Babagana’s uncle
said while the insurgents kept shooting at people in the attack that lasted for
about four hours, he and his friend, who was also in the car, managed to escape
into the bush.
He said they would
later see smoke billowing from where they had fled from.
“I wept all night. I
kept thinking about what these terrorists would have done to her and others
that were there,” CNN quoted him as saying.
Babagana’s uncle
said when they returned to the scene of the attack on Monday morning, the cars
were still burning.
“We tried to put out
the fire, but we were helpless. It was just too hot,” he said.
Speaking when he
visited the scene of the attack, Babagana Zulum, Borno governor, accused
soldiers meant to secure the community of deserting the people around 5pm on a
daily basis.
“I am not
undermining the capacity of the military but we have made repeated appeal for
the military to establish their unit in Auno,” he had said.
“They are here but
as soon as it is 5 pm, they close the gate and lock the people and go back to
Maiduguri. This is not right.”
President Muhammadu
Buhari visited Borno to condole with the people over the killings but he did
not get to Auno.
Angry residents had
booed Buhari in Maiduguri.
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