Touching stories from lucky victims of senseless Boko Haram killings in Yobe. (Source: The Nation Newspaper)

“It was catastrophic. Wallahi, I thought it was the end of the hour because I have never heard such a disturbing blast before,” Sani, who spoke to our reporter on phone, said.

A youth corps member narrated that he never knew that he excreted inside his trousers until the next day. “I purged in my trousers when the bombs started exploding at the Federal Secretariat, but I never knew until the following day when I did not hear gunshots again because I live behind the Federal Secretariat. “I even missed my way; instead of going inside YTV premises, I saw myself going back to the secretariat where the bombs were exploding. It is still a miracle how I escaped,” the corps member, who identified himself simply as Adebayo, said.

“An elder in the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, who pleaded anonymity, also narrated his ordeal: “We had just finished a programme in the church that evening and I asked my wife to go to the house with the children (pointing to his house in the church premises). “I stayed behind to arrange some things and lock up the church when I heard a huge bang. The sound came from the Assemblies of God Church. I quickly rushed out of the church to the house and told my wife to move out of the church premises with the children, that something terrible was happening. “By the time we came out of the gate of the church, there was shooting everywhere. I did not see my wife and children until the following day. I did not even know where there were. We both ran in opposite directions. My heart kept thumbing each time there was an explosion.”

Bala, another resident, was filled with shock to narrate his story, as according to him, he escaped by a whisker: “I was coming from Maiduguri, approaching the Yobe mosque when I heard the first explosion. I thought it was probably a petrol tanker that fell and exploded. I heard another one, so I decided to put my ears on the ground. As I approached the roundabout, I saw people running from all directions. So I had to run for my dear life, but what I saw was terrible,” Bala said.

Yakubu said he was disconnected with his family throughout the night, which made him more confused. “I went to buy a ram for the Sallah celebration when my friend whispered in my ears that the town had been taken over by Boko Haram. Before I knew it, my wife had called me and asked me to stay wherever I was and not to come home. I had to enter the bush crawling like a wild animal, and each sound of explosion made my heart to jump. It was terrible!”

A resident of 300 housing estate, whose house was affected by the impact of the bombing, disclosed that his eyes couldn’t believe what they saw.
“I saw my wife’s missed call, but I could not return it because I was busy in the office. Then, another call came in from my friend telling me that there was problem in my area. I hurriedly rushed out of the office. I headed straight to my house. By the time I got home, my house had completely been shattered due to the impact of the bombing of the Anti-terrorism Police building, which is very close to my house. “I met my wife confused and my kids all crying. We got more devastated because one of my sons could not be seen; so we just assumed that he was among the dead bodies in front of our house. My head was completely empty until I got a call from a relation that my son had left the house shortly before the blast to see his friend in the neighborhood and that he was safe. At that moment, I became a bit relaxed but it is the worse experience of my life”, Adamu [/b]narrated.

A middle aged woman, who identified herself simply as [b]Janet, also relived her expereience: “When the bombing started, I picked up my five-year-old daughter and we started running towards Potiskum road in the bush, not knowing that the Police Headquarters was on fire. We had to quickly run back to the house of one of our church elders to take refuge. Over 200 of us were holed up in the compound”.

Abdullahi, who lives in Jerusalem area, one of the most affected parts of the town, said: “All my children were just crying. They kept on asking me, ‘What is going?’ I told them to stop talking, that God would protect us”.

Bulama, a seller of second-hand clothes near Total Filing Station at the main round about, said when he heard gunshots, he began to run along with some policemen. “I gave a policeman my clothes so that he can escape”. He informed that disclose policemen had to pull off their uniforms and run naked for fear of being easy targets in the crisis. “I saw a lot of them (policemen) naked, climbing trees; some were crawling on their stomachs like reptiles. There were many of them without their uniforms where we were hiding. What I saw was terrible. I pray it would never happen again. “Our policemen were nowhere to be found. The entire town was taken over by Boko Haram guys, Bulama maintained.

A female youth corps member, who has since left for her hometown in the eastern part of the country, described her ordeal as “horrifying”.“This is my first time of knowing what passing through a psychological trauma really looks like. Even though I’m seated in my house now, I can’t still bring myself together. The fear that they are still around, that they would strike any moment is still strong in me. I jump at any slightest sound. I can’t even close my eyes because I would be seeing the whole thing again”, the corper said. “I saw an angel covering me and one police woman. We slept at the roof of the Police Headquarters. Only God knows why the place we were hidding wasn’t bombed. It was a miracle that we survived.

My phone started ringing when we were hiding; I switched it off and smashed it on the wall,” a resident disclosed.

The state Director of the National Orientation Agency, Wakil Kaku, and some of his staff were seen taking refuge in the office of the Public Complaints Commission. Kaku regretted the destruction, stressing that “most of the things we lost here can hardly be retrieved. My greatest pain is those rich workshop materials that we have gathered over the years”. It was observed that some of the ministries were relocating to the personal residences of their directors or comptrollers.

The Yobe State Police Commissioner, Suleimon Lawal, whose office was also completely razed down, is now operating at the Area Command Office of the force in Damaturu. Many people in Jerusalem ward, one the Christian dominated areas in the state which was worse hit by the attack, have moved to other parts of the city, while other have completely left the town.

Motor parks are now over-crowded with passengers waiting to flee the town. Expectedly, in the ‘Nigerian spirit’, the cost of transportation has astronomically gone up. Most of the luxurious buses have increased their fares by N1,000. One of the travellers, who identified himself as Chinedu, regretted the increase in the fair. “What they are doing is very bad and ungodly. How can you use this kind of situation to make more money? It is very inhuman”, he added.

Yobe State government has said that it would investigate and come out with the modality of how best to compensate those who were affected in the attack. Alhaji Goni Fika, the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture, who spoke with our correspondent on phone, disclosed that “Government is still studying the situation to see how best the victims can be compensated. I cannot say any other thing because all the other measures are being handled by security operatives”.