My Boko Haram experience How they killed my husband, Prof. Leo

Sunday, April 29, 2012, is a day I will never forget as it remains the saddest day of my life. It was the day I lost my husband to Boko Haram. Until his death, my husband, Professor Andrew Ogboyomi, was a lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Science, Bayero University, Kano.

I woke up around 6am and hurriedly prepared to leave the house, because as the president of the Catholic Women Organisation, we were hosting an event and needed to see to the arrangements, like foods, drinks etc.

Normally my late husband and I go to church together but because of the function, I had to go the food venue behind Nitel office in Kano, and also pick up some other women who would be assisting me in the preparation.

When we got to the venue I immediately called him to intimate him on my progress but I got no reply, as his phone rang for a while and stopped.

He later called me to tell me that he was having his bath and that he was preparing to go to the church, but would have a cup of tea before leaving.

Not long afterwards, approximately 30 minutes later, one of the women who was assisting me at the event got a call that people were shot at the church premises, St Stephen Catholic Church, located within the Bayero University Kano.

According to the informant, one Mrs Anaye’s daughter had been shot in the church by Boko Haram, alongside some other parishioners who were there to worship.

Immediately we left where we were for Mrs Anaye’s house to await further information. She began to receive calls from people who called to brief her of what transpired at the church that fateful Sunday morning.

I was particularly worried because the little girl that was shot was close to my husband and would always be found around my husband during Sunday Mass. Unknown to me my husband was also shot alongside the girl but no one wanted to tell me.

After a while, Mrs Anaye who was still on the phone, began wailing uncontrollably and looking at me, but said nothing. She then said we should go to the Murtala Muhammed General Hospital to see her daughter.

She would not speak to me again but continued weeping. I tried to console her and amidst tears she told me that a parishioner had called her saying, “some Boko Haram members invaded the church and started shooting sporadically, and a lot of people were killed”.

She added that Professor Ayodele was injured and had been taken to the Armed Forces Hospital, while his close friend, Mr Ada, was killed during the shooting.

Immediately I became alarmed and asked her about my husband if she had heard anything about him or if anyone had seen him, because I had not been able to reach him since news of the shooting broke. I became quite apprehensive.

I could not reach my husband by phone and I could not go anyway because the information reaching us was that the town was not safe. I called a close friend of the family, Mr Friday, who came and met me at the hospital.

On his arrival he told me that he was on his way to Maiduguri when he got a call that the university had been attacked, and had to cancel his trip.

I voiced out my concerns that, I was yet to hear from my husband, though I had called him severally. At that point, I was really worried because he always returned my calls. If not for anything, he would have called to ask me not to leave where I was, until he got to me.

Unknown to me, Mr Friday was already aware of my husband’s state but refused to tell me.

Mr Friday then went to receive a call and came back to inform me that my husband was shot on the leg during the chaos at the church and that he had been taken to a hospital for treatment.

Not long afterwards, we saw a military van carrying corpses driving by, so I looked at the van and saw a leg hanging out, and the leg looked familiar only that the person had worn socks, and it had been a while since my husband wore any socks.

I told Friday that the foot I saw hanging out of the military van looked familiar but Friday quickly brushed my worries aside and followed the military van.

He returned and said, we should start going, and we followed the military van to the Nassarawa hospital (also known as Muhammadu Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital). Then I asked Mr Friday why we were following a vehicle carrying corpses, but he said it was not an issue.

On approaching the van, my mind kept telling me that the leg I saw looked familiar but the person actually wore a white attire and I was not sure of what my husband wore since I was not home when he dressed up for church that day.

Immediately some Army officers who knew me, because we used to visit the Officer’s Mess, blocked my path and said, “madam please go back”, so I had no choice but to go back.

Friday approached me and asked us to leave the Nasarawa hospital. I asked him again to tell me why we were following the van conveying corpses, but he kept mute and said, we should go.

We then drove to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital and he packed under a tree and asked me to wait. I waited for over 30 minutes without any news about my husband, then my phone started ringing, with my children and other relatives calling to ask if we were fine. It was at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital that Mr Friday told me that my husband was in the theatre undergoing surgery.

So I told all my relatives and children that my husband was shot in the leg and that he was in the theatre.

I started wandering around the hospital checking rooms and theatres. Then I recalled that my younger sister works at the same hospital, so I called her to come and assist me to look for my husband. She went into one of the theatres and confirmed that my husband was inside and asked me to wait.

I was waiting under the tree for two hours when a man came to me and said, “Madam, I’m so sorry”, and walked away. I looked at him, and thought maybe he was consoling me over the injury my husband suffered in the leg.

I was all alone for a while, then the girl who normally assist me in my business, arrived and called Friday aside and they spoke in whispers. Deep down, I knew that something was terribly wrong but I did not want to believe the worst.

Thinking about it now, they all knew that my husband had died and I was the only one unaware of that fact.

All that time, people kept on calling and I kept on saying that Professor Andrew Leo Ogboyomi had been injured in the leg during a Boko Haram invasion, and was in surgery.

While I was still waiting, my sister returned with her pastor. Around 4pm, she requested that we go home, but I refused and said I would not leave the premises till I see my husband.

But she told me that we needed to go and get some items from the house for my husband, like towel, flask, hot water and some of his clothes; that was how they took me home.

When we got home, the pastor asked us to pray. After which he told me that my husband had passed on.

When the initial shock passed, Friday’s wife who was at the church during the whole episode told me that immediately my husband got to the church, a shot was heard but he dismissed it, saying it maybe some hunters trying to catch birds.

But not long after the joke another shot penetrated into the church and almost hit the priest who immediately took to his heels with some parishioners.

According to her, my husband and two other professors tried to control the crowd who were running helter skelter, so that they did not injure themselves. She said a lot of people were killed and that there was blood everywhere.

She added that while moving the crowd, my husband was shot in the leg causing him to bleed, but that he kept on assisting other people. And when most of the parishioners had left the church, he attempted to leave but was accosted by two Boko Haram boys who said to him, Prof today is the “D-day,” and he asked them “what have I done”, in Hausa, but they insisted that his end had come.

One of the boys who felt compassion for my husband said that they should leave but the other one refused and pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest. My husband died immediately.

The woman who survived the incident said she witnessed the whole thing, and that her only regret was that the professor paid for saving others.

I miss my husband very much, though we used to quarrel sometimes, he was my life partner, friend, confidant, companion, the father of my children. He used to brighten my day with his jokes. My husband, Professor Andrew Leo Ogboyomi had retired from the university in 2012, but was retained as a contract staff. His contract was about to expire when he was killed. His aged mum is still alive and yearning for her son, but we have not told her that her son is dead.

The worst part is that till date, we have not heard anything from the government.