MAIDUGURI— One of the midwives abducted by Boko
Haram in the wake of the attack on the Internally
Displaced Persons, IDPs camp at Rann, Borno State,
Thursday night, Hauwa Mohammed, said in a message
via Whatsapp that her parents be informed of her kidnap
by the insurgents.
“We are under attack in
Rann. They are shooting
everywhere, please pray
for me; please go and tell
my parents that I am in
trouble.”
In a video message composed in Hausa in the heat of
sporadic shooting by the insurgents at the military base
they fled amid the shooting, Hauwa, 25, asked her friend
to tell her parents that she was being taken away by her
abductors.
Running and panting, the victim said: “We are under
attack in Rann. They are shooting everywhere, please
pray for me; please go and tell my parents that I am in
trouble.
Please, look for Fatima and tell her they are
taking us away.
They have entered here now…”
It was learned that at that point, a male voice ordered her
to keep quiet and not to move an inch.
“That was the last
that was heard from Hauwa,” the friend, Fatima said.
Boko Haram fighters had invaded Rann, a town in Kala
Balge Local Government Area of Borno State, on
Thursday.
It was gathered that the International Committee of Red
Cross, ICRC, contracted the nurse to work in Rann for a
period of three months.
Another friend of the victim, Abdulhameed Algarzali, who
is the editor-in-chief of a local newspaper in Maiduguri,
said the nurse assumed work two weeks ago.
From Gamboru-Ngala to Rann
Algarzali said Hauwa Mohammed told him she was going
to spend two weeks in Gamboru-Ngala, headquarters of
Ngala Local Government Area of Borno when she visited
him the night before the incident.
He said family members and friends of Hauwa thought
she was working at Gamboru Ngala, and not Rann, where
she was abducted by Boko Haram.
He said: “It seems she did not disclose that she was
posted to Rann… why she refused to do so is not clear.
“I did not believe the story at first because the Hauwa
Mohammed I met a day to her journey told me she was
going to Gamboru Ngala for just two weeks.
It is
surprising, therefore, that this happened to her in Rann.
I
mean, how did she get there?
“It’s possible she did it deliberately to avoid causing
unnecessary panic, considering the situation in Rann, or
to avoid being stopped by her family. But another
possibility is that her employer, the International
Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, providing medical
assistance to over 40,000 displaced persons,
misinformed her of the true posting.”
The ICRC actually confirmed that two of its midwives were
missing, indicating they may have been abducted by the
Boko Haram gunmen.
But friends and family members of Mohammed also
confirmed that after getting her new job, the midwife was
flown to Rann in Kala-Balge Local Government Area of
Borno State on February 19.
“We celebrated her new job and even joked about her
coming back so that we could help her spend her first
salary in Maiduguri”, said a close friend who identified
herself as Fatima Saeed whom the missing midwife also
referred to in her WhatsApp message.
Some of her friends said she loved keeping in touch with
family and friends, adding that they were worried how she
would cope working in a cut-off locality, such as Rann,
where there is zero access to telecommunication.
They said it was her first major job since graduation,
following a stint with Fhi 360 in 2017, a North Carolina,
USA-based NGO working in Borno State.
“But two days after she left, I received a WhatsApp
message from her and I was surprised because I knew
there was no network in Rann.
“Then she told me that they have an internet Wi-Fi to
which they connect in order to chat or send emails,’’ Mrs.
Saeed said.
Gunmen invade during chat
On the day of the attack, it was learned that Ms.
Mohammed did not chat with Mrs. Saeed but was,
however, having a chat with another friend when the Boko
Haram gunmen invaded their camp.
Under such an extremely dangerous situation, the terrified
Mohammed was still able to use the WhatsApp handle on
her phone to alert her friends about the attack on Rann,
using the voice message application to send out patches
of information while she was hiding at a location she said
was within the soldiers’ barracks.
Piecing the different patches of voice messages she
managed to send out before Boko Haram gunmen finally
spotted her in her hideout, one could conjecture how the
attack occurred.
In the messages, she informed her friend in Maiduguri
that they were under attack and that they had to run to
the military base for protection. But her last voice chat
indicated that the attackers had stormed the military base
where they were taking refuge and she was about to be
harmed.
The first voice message with gun shots in the background
said “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajium (meaning from God
we come and unto Him shall we all return), Boko Haram
have invaded our camp, they are coming to take us
away.”
The second Whatsapp message came in a more panicked
voice, saying “Please don’t tell anybody yet, I beg you in
the name of God don’t let it out yet, don’t tell Fatima too
for now. I am scared (voice broken with tears)…if my
parents hear about this now, they will not be happy.
Oh
God, here they are, are you hearing the gunshots?”
The third voice message seemed to be answering a
question from the recipient as she said “no, they are still
here and they will go with us.”
Go, tell my parents…
It also suggests that the gunmen may have been repelled
earlier before they regrouped and returned for a second
phase of the attack; and that Hauwa and other aid
workers had to leave their camp and flee into the military
base for refuge.
‘’Please go and tell my parents they don’t know the
situation that their daughter is in now. For God’s sake, go
and tell them. Call Fatima to go and meet my parents, but
she shouldn’t tell them now.
“We are now in the barracks and the gunmen have come
back again. Oh inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun…”
The fourth voice message was the most disturbing, as
voices of men were heard alongside heavy gunshots, and
clanking of metal sheets as Hauwa Mohammed
announced in hushed voice that “they (Boko Haram) have
entered where I am now; please don’t tell anyone yet, I
beg you in the name of God.”
It was learned that the fifth voice message was only for
about a second as it ended with Hauwa Mohammed
screaming and calling on the name of God. “ Inna lillahi wa
inna… ”
Following the attack, the ICRC had since announced the
withdrawal all its aid workers from Rann, vowing not to
send them unless the Federal Government provided
adequate security for them.
Aside from the two midwives taken away by the
insurgents, no fewer than four soldiers, four policemen
and three humanitarian aid workers were killed in the
attack.
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