Editor’s Note: Reader discretion is advised as some of the images used in this report are disturbing.
ON Tuesday, December 9, Headquarters 23 Brigade of the Nigerian Army issued a statement absolving its officers of killing unarmed protesting women in Lamurde Local Government Area of Adamawa State. The women were protesting alleged bias of the military in the crisis between Bachama and Chobo tribes in the LGA. In this report, The ICIR’s Marcus Fatunmole visited the area and unearthed what transpired.
Seventy-three-year-old grandma, Anogrom Abiathar, is currently writhing in pains at the Numan General Hospital, Numan town, Adamawa State.
The widow and mother of five is among the women allegedly shot by soldiers in Lamurde town, Lamurde LGA on Monday, December 8.
While she is lucky to be alive with bullet wounds on her right arm, 11 others, including a girl, died in the shooting.
Madam Abiathar joined dozens of other women in Lamurde to protest alleged bias in the soldiers handling of long-standing conflict between the Bachama and Chobo tribes in the LGA.
The mother of five wondered how unarmed women and children would be gunned down by soldiers who should protect them.
She also expressed shock that the military could deny the shooting and claimed that it was carried out by local militias. She said the soldiers shot sporadically and with fury before zooming off from the scene with their convoy.
Asked what form of justice she demanded, she said no government or anyone could bring back her fellow women and children who were killed during the protest.
Other survivors at the Numan General Hospital shared their story of the shooting with The ICIR. Among them is 12-year-old Takuso Victoria who lost two of her toes to gunshot. She had finished primary education at the Central Primary School, Lamurde, in September this year but could not secure admission into the Government Day Secondary School in the town. She had since been staying at home. Victoria joined her mother at the protest where she became a victim of the attack.
While the girl is hoping to be fine and return home, another 11-year-old died at the hospital from the gunshot.
Deceased families are mourning in Lamurde and across the state. Destiny Charles lost her mother, Florence Frank, to the gunfire. The 25-year-old has one sibling – an 11-year-old boy – whom she would take responsibility to fend for.
Destiny said her father no longer fended for her mum and children since he married another wife over a decade ago. Her mum’s sudden death adds to the agony she has borne for years. She didn’t finish secondary school secondary school because of lack of funds, despite being among the best in her class. Destiny, who speak the English Language fluently, has been living with her grandmother in Numan without a job.
“I was at the protest and returned home without knowing that my mum was still there. As I was lying down, I heard gunshots. Someone came and asked for my mum. I told her she was outside. The person asked if my mum had a phone. I said no. The person told me that women had been shot outside. We rushed to the hospital and saw people lying down. People were crying. I began to look for my mum, only for me to enter one room, and I saw her corpse.
“At first, I didn’t know that she was dead. I thought she was suffering from pains. I was shouting, crying…When I got there, they had already covered my mum. I asked the people if she had died; they said yes. I kept crying. I was very shocked. I couldn’t believe that she had died.”
The ICIR met Destiny’s grandmother in her home in Numan. The grieving mother demanded justice for her daughter.
Another bereaved, Remedy Yakubu, a resident of Lamurde, said his brother, Lucky Yakubu, was just passing by and was not protesting when he received bullets. “He was on his way home and they shot him with two bullets. He died instantly before I rushed him down to hospital in Lamurde. It’s Army that shot him,” he stated.
The ICIR reports that three men – Thomas Moses, 25, Shalom Orland, 28, and Phineas Dennis, 42 – are battling to survive gunshot wounds at the Numan General Hospital. They claimed to be passers-by shot by soldiers.
As of Saturday, December 12, eleven people, including one male, had died from the attack. 17 were at the Numan hospital, 16 were at the State Specialist Hospital in Yola, and two others at the German Hospital in the state capital, according to Caleb Zadab, a journalist and community representative looking after the victims.
Mass burial
The deceased were buried in mass grave adorned in the Nigerian flag at the Lamurde LGA Secretariat. Youth in the Lamurde community insisted the casualties must be buried at the secretariat since it’s the most important government institution in the town. “The mass grave will serve as memorial for the victims and be a reminder of the dastardly act of the Nigerian military,” one of the youths told the reporter.
How Bachama, Chobo crisis evolved
Bachama and Chobo ethnic nationalities in Lamurde LGA have co-existed for centuries. They have intermarried and share some socio-cultural identities, including religion. However, these were not enough to keep them as one. The Chobos feel they should be independent of the Bachama traditional council, which has been ruling over both tribes.
Both tribes fall under the Bachama Chiefdom, comprising Numan and Lamurde LGAs. The LGAs have 10 wards each. By population, the Chobo people dominate only two out of the 20 wards. The wards are in the Lamurde LGA.
The Chobo are seeking their own chiefdom from the Adamawa State Government. Led by its youth, the people say the only condition for peace in the LGA was for them to get the chiefdom. They also say that granting the chiefdom comes with land demarcation, which will enable to overcome the challenges arising from land ownership.
Land ownership is the architect of the current feud. The Bachama nationality claims it has inhabited the area for over four centuries and brought down the Chobos from ‘mountains’ where they lived to enable them to farm. Conversely, the Chobos argue that their forebears accommodated the Bachamas when they migrated from Sokoto. Litigation over land ownership between the parties is currently in court.
The crisis escalated in July this year when both tribes burnt down each other’s communities in Waduku, populated by Bachama, and Lakan and Bashaka, owned by Chobos. The state government promptly declared 24-hour curfew, which residents said disrupted socio-economic activities. The government has severally mediated in the crisis, which has defied solutions.
There are also allegations that the military officers deployed to the area were favouring the Chobos and often failed to respond promptly whenever the Bachamas called on them. On Monday, December 7, Lamurde women trooped to the street, carrying tree branches and leaves to protest the alleged bias by the soldiers. They said the military failed to respond to distress calls the previous night when Waduku,Tingno and Tito communities were attacked by the Chobo people.
In the process, they blocked some soldiers deployed to the area to contain the crisis from passing, alleging that the officers had come too late. The drama unfolded for hours. More platoons of soldiers passing through the route were also blocked by the irate women as the stalemate lingered.
What followed was the shooting and killing of the protesters and passers-by. The Headquarters 23 Brigade of the Nigerian Army denied its troop fired the shots. It blamed the killing on “armed men suspected to be fighting for Bachama.”
While the survivors say no other persons shot them but the soldiers, the military says otherwise.
Several eyewitnesses in Lamurde confirmed to The ICIR that troop fired the shots. They also said an Army colonel led a military team to the community on Friday, December 12, to obtain information on the attack. Representatives of the Army’s leadership also visited the hospital where survivors are receiving treatment.
Meanwhile, the Governor Ahmadu Fintiri-led administration imposed another 24-hour curfew on the LGA. As of the time of gathering information for this report, the curfew was only effective in some parts of the LGA. People were moving freely along the Gyawana-Lamurde route. However, the curfew did not stop residents from moving within their communities. Only movement across communities was restricted.
Our position – Bachama, Chobo leaders
The head of the Bachama Traditional Council, Hama Bachama, Daniel Ismaila Shagah, a doctorate holder, blamed the Chobos for the conflict.
Speaking through his aide, Agoso Bamaiyi, a doctorate holder and District Head of Gyawana town, the Hama Bachama said the Chobo people had been aggressive in the manner they were demanding a chiefdom.
Hama Bachama, who controls 21 districts under his council, said, “For a long time, they’ve been mountainous people. The Bachamas brought them down from the mountains to the kingdom lands. Right now, they’re claiming lands that are not theirs; they’ve been fighting over family lands.”
He alleged that the Cbobo people had been arming themselves for a long time. “We learnt that some of their members who work in the security agencies were supplying them arms and connecting them with the people who sell arms to them. We never thought that the Bachama people and Chobo would ever fight. The Bachama people were not ready for any fight,” he added.
He went further, “The accusation that the Bachama people are throwing at the security officers is that they favoured the Chobo above the Bachama people. If you look at the circumstance, you will agree with them because the security operatives, including the military, were providing armed escorts for the Chobo people to go to their farms. They were providing armed escorts for them to travel in-between communities, but they were not doing that to the Bachama people.
“There was already disaffection in the Bachama communities against the security agencies. On Sunday, December 7, the Chobo youth came out again and attacked Waduku and burnt it down for the second time. They attacked Tingno and burnt down part of it. They also attacked Tito and burnt it down completely. They now approached Rigangun and Lamurde, which is the local government headquarters, but at Rigangun and Lamurde, they met resistance. This led to the fight that stretched through the night till the following morning.
“Throughout the night, calls were made to the security agencies, they didn’t come in. They didn’t do anything. In the morning, when the soldiers wanted to pass through Lamurde, the women came out and blocked the path. They held tree branches and leaves. They were singing and shouting. This was a spontaneous process; it was not organised. Nobody planned it. They just decided that they’d had enough of the security agencies for delaying. The fight went on throughout the night. The security agencies didn’t intervene… They were completely unarmed; they were just venting their anger and frustration over the security officers. That stalemate went on for a very long time. Toward evening, another convoy of soldiers came to Lamurde, attempting to pass but the women were already there.
“They blocked the path. You would hear that the Brigade Commander was in that convoy. You would also hear that the Theatre Commander was in that convoy. It’s just that the people could not tell who is Brigade or Theatre Commander. They were those responsible for the soldiers sent to Lamurde. But most likely, it was the Theatre Commander, not the Brigade Commander who was in that convoy. He didn’t come down. The women also refused to allow them to pass. Another detachment of soldiers came from the opposite direction. After a while, they fired shots into the air. Remember, these are women and children, and those children were girls, not boys.”
He emphasised that the soldiers shot the women, children and others hit by bullets. He also called for a thorough investigation into the attack and that those responsible should be held to account.
“Were they acting on command or they acted on their own? We need to find that out because the shells they left on the ground, our people picked them up. One ran and left his helmet; that was also picked up. There are video evidence and all that. It was the Army that did the shooting,” he stated.
The monarch condemned the ‘hasty’ denial of soldiers involvement in the shooting by the military. He wondered why the military would take such a position without investigation.
“We feel that this falls in line with the normal behavior of the military. When things go wrong, they tend to deny it. We are not taking it. We are not accepting it. As a result of that shooting, we have 10 dead now. We have buried them in a mass burial. Several others, 37 of them, are in hospitals here in Numan. Some are in Yola, the state capital.
“From all the information we have, it was the military that did the firing. But the military is blaming the Bachama militia. The question is: why will the Bachama militia fire on its own people? I assure you that there is no Bachama militia. That is the first thing we have to clear. There is no group of people that have set themselves aside and identify as Bachama militia. Whatever happened that people needed to put up resistance, it was just the young people who stepped out through raw courage and faced whatever situation. Secondly, that particular point where the firing was done, there were all kinds of security agencies, including SSS and other partner security agencies.
“No militia man in his right senses would go to such a place. They won’t even get close to that place let alone firing. Thirdly, the injuries we saw are consistent with the weapons that the military use. These are not simple, light injuries, plain wounds from normal guns that you carry. These are deep wounds, cutting through flesh, breaking legs and arms, and shattering heads. We repeat, it’s the military that did the shooting. We’ve been asking for investigation. Instead of denying it, they should set up a panel, or the Federal Government should set up an independent investigative panel or investigative journalists should come and do the investigation, look at the evidence and present the case to the world; because you see, these are women,” the monarch stated.
According to him, It’s against international convention for soldiers or fighters of any sort to fire on women, children and the aged. He added that the military is constitutionally bound to defend citizens, not to kill them.
He also noted that the gap between civilians and the military had widened in the past decade, worsening violence from soldiers against civilians. He opined that the situation had been worse than when the military ruled Nigeria.
“The thinking of the Traditional Council is that they should strengthen the police and bring back the mobile police fully. They are trained to interact with civilians. For instance, if it was police convoy that was blocked by these women, if the need be, the worst they would have done is to teargas; everybody would run back to their houses. Nobody would be killed.”
Reacting to the new chiefdoms created by the state government, he said the process was done transparently. He said the Chobo people presented their case to have a new chiefdom, “but unfortunately, they did not have proper lobbying etiquette.” He added that “the letter they wrote was aggressive and combative, and they ended up angering the governor.” He also said the Chobo’s population did not meet the requirement for having a chiefdom.
Speaking on why the women were immediately buried after they were shot, he said, the Bachama custom required that whenever people die during war, they must be buried immediately.
Addressing The ICIR on behalf of the Cbobo people, the Acting District Head of Bulkutu community, Elkanah Ishmael, said the crisis started after his people demanded a chiefdom from the state government.
“Since we wrote a memo requesting for chiefdom, we’ve been having problem with Bachama people. They are saying that where did Chobo man has land that he can look for chiefdom? They have forgotten that our grandfathers lived there, and they too came from Sokoto to meet our grandfathers here. Because things are not doing well, they have been ruling us; that’s okay. Now that the executive governor has asked whoever wants a chiefdom to write, we have written. Since then, we’ve had no peace with these people. A lot of things happen. They are not happy that we want our own chiefdom.”
He said the hatred that arose from his people’s demand for a chiefdom led the Bachama people to burn down Chobo villages, including Warmi and Bashaka. He said it was from that point his people began to defend themselves.
“What happened in Bashaka, the same thing happened here. The Bachama of Waduku came to attack people of Lakan, where Chobo are. They burnt our place in Lakan. Our people pursued them and our people burnt down Waduku. This happened on Monday, July 7, this year. The Bachama people came with another attack on Bashaka on Friday of the same week.
“Another recent attack on us was last Sunday, December 7. Tingno community comprises Chobo and Bachama people. Around 12 midnight, Bachama people started burning the homes of Chobo people. When our people in other communities heard of it, they mobilised to rescue their kinsmen in Tingno. It was from there the crisis escalated, which extended till the following Monday morning, when they started burning the houses of each other. A lot of lives have been lost. They killed Chobo people, the Chobo people also killed them. About 20 Chobo people died, but I don’t know the number of casualties in Bachama.”
When asked if his people carried weapons, including guns to fight their neighbours, he said he could not confirm. He also confirmed that none of the people allegedly killed by the military in Lamurde was from Chobo tribe. He said they were from Lamurde, a mainly Bachama town.
Asked if there could be temporary peace in the area pending when his people’s demand would be addressed, he said, “The only solution there is, you know when somebody is aspiring for something, if that is done, it will solve many problems.” He added that getting the chiefdom was the only condition for peace.
He also responded to claims that its tribe’s small size would not make the government approve a chiefdom for it. “Chobo people have two wards in Lamurde Local Government but it has about 44 villages. You know the population of Bachama and Chobo people, they are almost the same, but due to a kind of game, we only have two wards. Our population can even be more than Bachama in Lamurde because our villages are more than theirs.”
More victims share their agonies at Numan General Hospital
Pwavi Ayuba, 45, and businesswoman was shot in the hand. She lost two of her friends who participated in the protest. The mother of five said she and other victims had been feeding themselves at the hospital, with the support of well-meaning Nigerians. She, however, said the government was footing all medical bills.
Thomas Moses, 25, and farmer, was riding on his motorbike when bullets hit him. Shalom Orland, 28, a father of two, said he was watching the drama between the protesting women and soldiers when he was shot.
Another man, Phineas Dennis, 42, said soldiers saw him on the road, ran after him and shot him. A mother, Nancy Peter, 67, is battling for her life as bullets ripped through her buttock during the rampage. The widow, with 10 children, has since abandoned her business and farms after landing at the hospital. Homori Micah said she was hit by a butt of a soldier’s gun. The 40-year-old, with five children, demanded justice from the government.
Mumkai Emmanuel, 35, claimed she was running away when soldiers ran after him and marched on him, causing him internal injury. The father of three is a farmer.
Another victim at the Numan General Hospital, Pwavi , lost two of her sisters. Her sisters namely Suzzy Tanko, Mercy Kennedy died in the attack, while three others, namely Pwanonau Dennis, Happy Danbaki, and Gopwa Smallie, are battling for their lives at the Federal Medical Centre, Yola.
Mary Musa,18, Favour Mamuda, 20, Pivanide Fukoshi, 29, Tanin Bagudu, 57, are all at the Numan hospittal with different degrees of bullet wounds.
Danladi Walma, 45, is also in serious pain at the facility. The mother of five decried the spate of the attack, stressing that she didn’t expect it. A lady, Only Bekal, 20, was hit with butt of gun in the womb. Pwafurino Ishaku, 34, was also not spared of the gunshots.
Godiya Pwaadakai, 29, and an orphan was writhing in pains when the reporter met her on the hospital bed, while Keziah Nemuel, 37, and hairdresser could not also hold back tears as she narrated her ordeal. Many of the survivors had different parts of their bodies hit by bullets bandaged at the hospital.
Victims list
Names of the deceased, as exclusively obtained by The ICIR, include Florence Frank, Suzy Tanko, Mary Talmon, Mercy Kennedy, Lucy Yakubu, Pwamwasari Tami, Mary Shikanno, Destiny Gibson, and Hunbokwama Nickson.
Survivors are Pwavi Ayuba, Mumkai Emmanuel, Rufkatu Moses, Nancy Peter, Patience Edward, Pataparon Christopher, Nelis Stephen, Pwaveino Denis, Smorle Hunokagyi, Bashitapwa Tobias, Besonpwa Murry, Pwano Mark, Tani Bagud, Pwafureino Ishaku, and Tonkanosu Danladi.
Others are Happy Dan Baki, Arnoron Abiyata, Precious, Evenlyn, Keziya Nemuel, Serah Alpha, Elizabeth Pwavi, Saipwa Moses, Pwakandi David, Pwavi Ayuba, Favour Mamuda, Pwanidi Fukushi, Mary Musa, Only Pekers, Peace Zuifanus, Godiya Pwavadakai, and Joy Iliya.
We are investigating the killings-Adamawa government
Speaking with The ICIR on the conflict, the Senior Special Adviser to the state Governor on Community Peace and Security, Ahmed Lawan, said the state government was investigating the killing. He vowed that anyone responsible for the shooting would face the wrath of the law.
While urging Bachama and Chobo communities to embrace peace, he said the two tribes were the only people threatening the peace of the state since it came into power.
Recall that Adamawa is among the three states in the North-East that had seen a decade-long insurgency, with attendant crippling of their economies, deaths and displacement of residents in thousands and millions respectively. While Borno still witnesses sporadic attacks, Yobe and Adamawa have since been free from the clutches of terror.
“From the beginning of this crisis, the government has been involved. We have been calling both parties to sit with the government and make sure that we have amicable resolution. A week before that happened, the governor sat down with both parties at the Government House.
“It was unfortunate that on Sunday, December 7, there was another attack again. That’s why the government decided to impose 24-hour curfew to make sure that the peace return. But very unfortunately, we had a situation where women were being killed, and the government set up an investigation committee. We’re investigating to make sure that we find out the truth of what transpired…
“We are on top of the situation to make sure that peace returns in that area, and also we are investigating to find out what really transpired on the killing of the women. So, any party involved, the government is going to make sure that there is justice in both communities by God’s grace,” Lawan stated.
He also conveyed the government position on Chobo people’s condition for ending the conflict, which is achieving the chiefdom they seek. He said, “I think getting chiefdom is not by taking law into your hand. If you look around, this crisis has been happening, and I think the only thing you can do is request. You write to the government that this is what you want, and the government is going to see and to make sure that they do it. But the way they are always bringing a crisis in that area, I think that will not resolve the problem.”
He assured that the government would not take sides on the feud. He also said the government and police were doing everything possible to mop up arm in the area.
Lawan posited that a committee set up by the government would take decision on what could be done to support the families of people killed, and those who survived the attack.
Adamawa Police
When contacted, the spokesperson of the Adamawa State Command of the Nigeria Police Force, Suleiman Nguroje, a superintendent of police, said the Force was in sustained collaboration with sister security agencies and were doing everything humanly and legally possible to restore peace in the Lamurde LGA.
Reacting to alleged proliferation of arms in the LGA, he said the command would apprehend and prosecute anyone caught with weapons. He also assured of adequate policing in the area.
“The command is now in the touch with critical stakeholders that include government representatives, community, religious, youth, women leaders amongst others to adopt alternatives dispute resolution as means to solving the lingering crisis,” he stated.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ mfatunmole@icirnigeria.org