Mubi Still Under Tension As 3,000 Relocated

Tension in Mubi, Adamawa State, seized end of October by Boko Haram insurgents, persists while displaced residents continue narrating their ordeals.

Mubi residents fleeing their villages. Credit: National Coordinator of the APC Youth Vanguard, Jibrilla Madu Gadzama

The attack launched in the second largest city of the state and the nearby territories on October 29 was followed by mass flee of the soldiers and residents. On the next day the escaped survivors said unanimously that Mubi had fallen under control of the terrorists.
The Leadership reports that about 350 kids still remain unaccounted for following the fall of Mubi’s defence.


At the time Boko Haram assaulted the town, most of the children were at their schools. Commotion, shootings and panic caused by the insurgents made people flee in different directions and scamper for safety. In these conditions many children got lost.

Today The Vanguard reports that around 3,000 people had to leave their homes and are currently located at an NYSC camp in Yola. They have a long way ahead, as many still cannot recover from what they experienced during the invasion.

Gift Ugo, a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, said she had spent four days in the bush and described her survival as a miracle.

“Actually, the incident happened on Wednesday morning although we never knew it would be that serious as the jets were dropping bombs. We had thought it was the usual incident that would just pass by but before we realized it, sounds of gunshots were everywhere. About 150 students ran to Cameroon border and were accommodated by the Cameroonian soldiers but we decided to stay back in the hostel to see how safe it would be until they called us that an HND 1 Accounting student had been killed. We were told that the crisis spread into the school premises as the university had been burnt down while the next target would be the Polytechnic.”

Having realized the danger of the situation, they tried to find a place where they could get a vehicle, but the insurgents blocked the roads to and from the town. The survivor continued:
“The moment you come into the town, you are sure you are going to die and if you were inside the city, you had to run for your life because nowhere is safe inside Mubi right now. We have not been eating anything. We were just taking water with thorns piecing through our legs. Walking in the bush for four days has not been easy for us.”

Another student, Queen Samuel, narrated how they saw armed Boko Haram militants, who “by the grace of God” did not see them.

“We have been running, we have lost almost everything. We trekked all the way from Mubi to Hong and got a cab that took us here. The situation in Mubi was very, very terrible… There were gun shots and bomb blasts everywhere… We spent three days in the bush. There was no security there at all in the town.”

It would be recalled that hundreds of the Nigerian soldiers fled Mubi without attempting to foil the attack. The move caused public outrage. Having confirmed the unfortunate development, The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) promised to investigate the incident.

It was reported yesterday that 5 military commanders were detained and taken into custody over abandoning Mubi.

According to the Cameroonian military, at least 300 soldiers fled to Cameroon from Mubi following the attack.