How Shehu of Bama’s wife escaped from Boko Haram camp
For about two years, the Queen and wife of the prominent Shehu of Bama in Borno State has experienced the bitter side of life by leaving the comfort of palace life to living in the forest with deadly Boko Haram insurgents who two years ago, stormed the palace after invading the town and whisked her and her daughter away.
The troubles of Hajja Hajju Hayatuddeen started on September 1, 2014 when armed insurgents invaded Bama town, stormed the palace, looted it, set it ablaze and took away Hajju and her daughter Amma to Sambisa Forest where they lived for close to two years.
Hajjo was said to have just taken her bath and was set for the day as her servants were busy trying to fix the palace when suddenly insurgents attacked, while the Shehu was out of town on official engagement.
The following day, the Shehu visited his destroyed palace in Bama before relocating to Maiduguri the state capital where he lived for close to two years without his wife until Sunday, July 24, 2016 when the wife escaped from her captors.
When Daily Trust visited the GRA resident of the Shehu of Bama in Maiduguri where Queen Hajju is now staying with Princess Amma and other members of the family, the Shehu of Bama was seen sitting on a chair with visitors who came to congratulate him over the return of his wife and daughter.
As it is the tradition in most palace in northern Nigeria, Daily Trust could not have access to the queen and her daughter who were in the house but the overexcited palace aides who could not be mentioned by name were quick in telling reporters that “Nobody rescued the queen as reported by the media. She told us that she escaped from Boko Haram in Sambisa Forest where she was being held for almost two years along with her daughter.”
One palace source said: “She told us when we went to sympathize with her that they left the camp very early in the morning when others were sleeping. She said only one woman saw when they were leaving, but she could not escape along with them because two of her sons were in custody of the insurgents. The queen said they trekked for two days before getting to Damboa where they met the military. She said on getting to Damboa soldiers saw them at the entrance to the town and forced her to throw away the food flask she held, and were asked to raise their hands before approaching the military checkpoint some meters away, because the soldiers were suspecting them to be suicide bombers.”
The source said even at the checkpoint where she told them she is the wife of the Shehu of Bama and had just escaped from a Boko Haram camp, she was asked to stay meters away from the checkpoint while the soldiers communicated with their commanders before taking her to Maiduguri where she was kept in a military facility for two days, before being reunited with her husband.
The source said they also asked her about life at the insurgents camp, and if the insurgents knew her status and whether they accorded her some special treatment. “She told us that they knew she was the wife of the Shehu of Bama because she was abducted in the palace, but she was forced to live out in the open, without special treatment. She said the camp she was kept is in Sambisa Forest, and had captives and insurgents in hundreds and the place has not been attacked by the military so far. She said when they took her there newly, they were serving rice and yam for meals but lately, they were serving them cooked guinea corn.”
“She told us that the food flask the military asked her to throw away was containing their last dinner of cooked guinea corn. She said whenever it rains they take shelter under trees as they have no huts to enter.”
The source said the palace staff are happy that the queen and her daughter are back safely because the Shehu has been so worried over their disappearance, adding, “You know the insurgents killed his son before abducting the wife and daughter. Naturally, one must be worried. The queen has been very kind to all the palace staff. She even attends to our personal problems. Anytime our wives come to greet her, she gives them gifts like clothes or money. We are really happy she is back,” the source said.