Peretimi Apeli a youth corps member and a victim of the post election violence that swept across some states northern Nigeria lost everything he had during the crisis but for the faded shirt, a pair of shorts and bathroom slippers that he was wearing.
Frustrated and depressed, Mr Apeli is taking refuge at the orientation camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Katsina State. Mr Apeli vividly remembers the events of Monday, April 18, 2011, when he narrowly escaped death in the hands of irate youth in Daura Local Government who had gone on rampage protesting the yet-to-be announced results of the presidential elections.
"It was around 10:30. I was in front of the house trying to cook, selecting beans when a car came that they are coming to our lodge that we should run," said Mr Apeli, a graduate from the Niger Delta University in Bayelsa.
"It was as we were running into the car outside that I saw the mob. I saw death. That we are alive is God because if they had met us in the house, I wouldn‘t be here. We had to drive through bush before we managed to escape to the Daura Police station." The mob completely burned the Dambukar Lodge which the Local Government Education Authority had given to him and seven other corps members. While no life was lost, nothing was salvaged.
At the same time in Zango Local Government, over 20 corps members living at the Central Corpers Lodge had to take refuge at the Nigeria-Niger Republic border.
Chaos unlimited
Within the next 48 hours, the situation worsened across at least seven local governments, notably Funtua, Jibia, Kankara, Faskari, Malumfashi, Dandume and also Katsina, the state capital. Several lives were lost while scores of churches, property, shops and businesses worth hundreds of millions of naira were completely razed.
"Katsina has always been peaceful. This crisis came as a surprise to all of us. This is the first time in my 17 years in Katsina this type of thing is happening," said Adewale Adediran, the Katsina State chapter chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). In Katsina, the state capital, hoodlums razed the house of the head pastor of the Cherubim and Seraphim church together with the church bus along Dutsin-Ma road at about 11p.m., despite the 9p.m to 7a.m curfew imposed by Katsina state governor, Ibrahim Shema.
The fire also destroyed the apartment of four corps members and another female occupant scheduled to wed next month.
They were left on their own
As security presence was greatly stretched to contain the violence which had erupted across the state, the army's 35 Battalion obtained clearance to open the orientation camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the state capital.
The corps members in Daura, numbering over 100, were asked to assemble at the Daura Police station, while the commanding officer of the battalion, Emmanuel Etuka, a lieutenant colonel, made provision for buses to evacuate them to the camp under military cover.
But on the same Monday, the NYSC Katsina State coordinator, Abdul Salisu Taura, visited the corps members at the Police station, refusing them relocating to the orientation camp. By Tuesday, Mr Taura disbursed N1,000 to each corps member to use to fend for themselves, while they slept inside the police station premises in the open air outside.
By Wednesday, the corps members decided they would no longer pay heed to Mr. Taura and instead go to the camp than continue living in the police station. But by this time the military were unable to provide the buses which had initially being offered.
When NEXT asked Mr. Taura why he refused them moving to the camp, he denied giving the directive. And when asked what provision the NYSC had been made to transport the corps members to the camp, he said it was the responsibility of the Army to provide the transportation.
"The army is there. The army is to move them. Like me I am very far away now. It will take me about four hours to get to Daura. Let the army move them," Mr Taura said. He subsequently switched off his phone.
In a desperate effort to leave Daura, the corps members made a written application to the authorities of the Yusuf Bala Usman College of Legal and General Studies, Daura, for a bus to convey them to the NYSC Camp.
The school authorities initially refused on the grounds that they needed to see the security which would accompany the vehicle they would release to the corps members. But when Captain Omotade with several soldiers drafted to ensure the corps members safety presented himself, the school's provost, Husseni Umar, in the presence of the registrar, Mohammed Daura and the director of works, still refused citing several reasons.
"One, it is unlawful for the army or the police to come into the school premises. Two, we cannot guarantee the safety of the people if we release our vehicle. Three, are corpers of a privileged group that they alone need protection? I am the chief security of the college and I will not release it. Even we as a board we have superiors we report to," Mr. Umar said.
When NEXT asked who could be approached to get clearance for the release of the bus, Mr Umar said he would not assist. At an earlier time, the director of works had said only the governor of the state could give the approval.
A good Samaritan At wits end, the corps members resigned to charter seven commercial buses at N2,000 each vehicle. But by the time the vehicles were assembled at the police station, neither the corps members nor the NYSC Zonal Inspector in charge of the zone, Mrs Shittu had the funds needed.
It was eventually a good Samaritan who paid the drivers N14,000 in the presence of Ayo Basowa, the coordinator of the Daura Corps members.
With heavy military escort, about 100 corps members were conveyed to the NYSC camp, where they were received by the heads of the State Security Service, the army and the Police in the state.
Like Mr Apeli, the over 600 corps members evacuated from different locations in the state and presently residing at the NYSC camp feel more secured. Yet the experience of the past week has left them traumatised. They say nothing will make them go back to their places of primary assignment where they are expected to perform their role of presiding officers in the forthcoming Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections.
"Everybody here is one trouser one shirt. Look at me now. All I have is my shorts and bathroom slippers. I have lost all my credentials and belongings. I saw people who came to kill me. No human being who sees what I saw will go back and conduct election. For N7,000? Never!" said Mr. Apeli as he counts his losses serving his fatherland.
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