I saw death face to face –Survivor,
Boko Haram Yobe massacre
OCTOBER 5, 2013 BY IBRAHIM DAUDA,
DAMATURU

Abdullahi Inua still couldn’t believe that
he survived the black Sunday preceding
Nigeria’s 53rd independence anniversary.
According to him, he saw death face to
face in his black uniform but wondered
why and how he survived.
Inua is a student at Yobe State College of
Agriculture in Gujba Village, Yobe. He was
one of the students attacked by gunmen
in military uniform, an incident that left
41 students of the institution and a
lecturer dead.
He told Saturday Punch, “I cannot explain
why I am still living and talking with you
at this moment. I can say it is only Allah
that knows why I am still alive this
minute. I saw death face to face and it’s
very difficult for me to believe that I am
alive.
“I was sleeping on my bed and I heard
the gunshots. Before I knew anything, one
of the Boko Haram guys came into our
hostel and started spraying bullets in the
room. After he did that for a while, he
flashed his torch and started shooting
anybody he saw that was shaking; I lay on
my bed watching him. When he came to
me, he slowly turned his torch away and
left. There was blood all over my body so
maybe he thought I was dead,” Abdullahi
said.
Inua, a pre-ND student and the only child
of his mother, said he had to rush home
so that his mother could see him because
he knew her mind would not be at rest
without seeing him.
“I called our neighbours to tell my mother
that I was alive but she still could not
believe them. She said she wanted to see
me so I had to rush to the village in
Degubi to let her believe that I was not
killed,” he said.
Some other students were not as lucky as
Inua.
Isa Mohammed Fika and Mohammed Yau
Saleh sustained serious injuries during
the attack and they were referred to the
Federal Medical Centre, Nguru, for
operation. Hospital sources said they
would undergo surgery for multiple
fracture and gunshot injuries.
The duo who were groaning in pains
could not talk when our correspondent
visited them at the hospital. Fika only
mustered enough strength and was just
able to say, “How I wish I could see you
after I get well.”
Saleh’s brother vowed that he would not
see the walls of that school again in his
life.
“I don’t care what it means, oga but my
brother is not going back to that school
again,” he said.
When our correspondent visited the
family house of the slain lecturer, Samaila
Alhaji Musa, his aged father, Musa was
seen visibly distraught.
He could only say, “Boko Haram has
cheated my son. Hmm, they have cheated
him, Kai, they have cheated him
seriously.’’
The family of the slain lecturer was
grieving in joy as his wife gave birth to a
baby boy two days after he was
murdered.
If there is any other word more than
grieving, it could have described better
the situation in Yobe after the attack on
the collage.
News of the attack began like rumours as
it appeared scanty in the early hours of
Sunday. Authorities were not quick to
confirm the report of the attack neither
was the exact figure of the casualties
handy.
At about 10am, the effect of the attack
was full blown as 26 corpses of innocent
students were brought to the General
Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital in
Damaturu where they were off-loaded
and piled into the mortuary.
The hospital immediately became a Mecca
of sort as parents, relatives, loved ones,
security agents, newsmen and bystanders
besieged the hospital premises. Sights of
wailing, anguish, frustration, emotions of
shock, pity and grief all characterised the
sea of crowd that thronged the hospital.
While many struggled to identify their
children or loved ones from the dead
bodies, the sound of sirens rented the air
signalling the arrival of another set of 14
dead bodies conveyed in two ambulances
by combined men of the Road Safety, Red
Cross, the police and officials of the
hospital management Board.
The mode of the attack according to
eyewitness was horrifying and most
dastardly as students were executed at
close range with guns.
It was observed that most of the dead
bodies were either shot on the head or
on the necks. Some were shot below their
jaws while others had their skulls
completely severed from their bodies by
gunshots. Some students were killed in
their hostels, others in the classrooms
while others were shot while fleeing from
the attackers.
Adamu, one of Samaila’s brother said that
his brother was writing a book before he
was killed.
“He was working on a book before his
death. Samaila was one of the most
brilliant in our family. He told me he had
to sleep over at the collage that fateful
day because of the workload he had on
his job and the book he was writing.
“We will miss him so much especially his
humour and the way he tried to make
everyone in the family happy,”Adamu
said.
The Provost of the collage Molima Mata
also described Samaila as a very brilliant
person and a dedicated and hardworking
member of staff.
Mato informed that Samaila was the
coordinator of the Student Industrial
Work Experience Scheme( SWES) of the
collage.

SATURDAY PUNCH

Na wa o!

Go give testimony for church.

Yea, we knw what u came 2 eyez with ,bro.
This goes to tell those fawking boko haram that they can kill those destined to die under such an attack, and not everybody. They cant kill all of us, this they must knw. This lucky boy was before d animal and he cudn't see that the boy was still breathing. It is d lord's doing. If God nor kill u, no man can kill u. This guy is d only child of his mother. Imagine what wld have become of d woman if dz guy was killed.

Elliotwiz1: Go give testimony for church.

mr- nigerian- religious fanatic, must d testimony b given in a church? D guy has given his testimony on a national daily and thanked ALLAH for what he has done..isn't that enough? If na church him talk am now, how many pple for hear d testimony?
God u ar d ultimate protector that protected dis innocent guy. Protect nigeria and her innocent citizens. Ameen!