Mother of 3 Lost 1 of Her Baby in A Bandit Attack
What a sad moment of life for a 45-year-old widow with 3 children, Hajaratu David, lost her two-year-old baby when her village Chibwob, a community under the Atyap Chiefdom of Zangon Kataf LGA of Kaduna State, was attacked by unknown bandit group on Friday, 10 July, 2020. And according to her, she disclosed that she and her children woke up to the sounds of gunshots around 12 midnight as her village was being attacked.
She said after hearing the gunshots severally she woke her children and together they ran to a neighbours house for a hideout, but upon reaching there the neighbour’s house was empty, hopefully, they had already fled their home too because of the attack.
She also, said that when they realised that the neighbours had already fled their own house, she and her children return back home and hid themselves in the kitchen, but there was a lot of gunshots and screaming from the villagers, so they ran out of the house in a bid to escape from the village. Hajaratu also added that they were being pursued by unknown gunmen until they got to a hill and looked behind only to discover that houses in the village were on fire, but they could still hear gunshots.
According to report Hajaratu lost her husband in 2018 and have been taking of her 3 children until this tragic situation occurred.
Below is the detailed story:
“We were sleeping around 12 midnight when we heard gunshots. We initially thought it was our local vigilantes, but after the second shot, I quickly woke my three children from sleep. I heard more gunshots and so we ran out of the house.
“We went to a neighbours house but saw that it was empty. We came back and locked ourselves in our small kitchen but the sounds of bullets continued loudly all over the village and people were screaming, so we ran out of our house and out of the village. We were still being pursued. We got to a hill and looked behind and saw houses in Chibwob village on fire. We could still hear gunshots.
“We continued running and in the process, I got separated from my two children. I had my two-year-old baby on my back, so I continued running. I got to a river and decided to cross it. I entered and as I walked, I realized the river was deep because of the rains. I thought of going back but I needed to get away from the people killing in my village. I was struggling inside the river by this time and I felt my baby holding me tightly.
“I then got swept by the water which was almost at my neck. My baby was still holding tightly to me and I was still struggling with the water. I got pulled under the water but was able to come to the surface. It happened again. After the third time, I was able to get to the other side of the river. That was when I realized that my baby was not on my back anymore. I searched and searched while crying, but couldn’t find her. I then continued walking in the dark. I was also naked by this time.
“After trekking for some time, I got to a village called Yagbak and knocked on someone’s door. They opened, took me in after I told them that my village was attacked and gave me clothes to wear. The next day Saturday, I and other survivors came to the camp in Zonkwa. My two children that got separated from me were found and brought here, but the body of my two-year-old baby is yet to be found.