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**WOW**

As things return to normal in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State,after the Boko Haram crisis that rocked the entire northeastern part of Nigeria - and some pockets of locations in the northwest - victims of the tragedy are gradually coming to terms with their losses in human and material terms.

Curiously, many of them did not seem bothered about the controversial death of the leader of the group, Muhammed Yusuf.

Those who lost loved ones, such as Malama, a resident of the Railway Quarters, Maiduguri are still blaming themselves for not insisting on pulling out their wards from the sect, when they saw signs that things were not the way they should be.

"I lost my only son to this man, Muhammadu Yusuhu, and it is all my fault," the mother of two said.

Ms Malama said 15-year-old Abubakari suddenly changed from the normal boy she knew to one who always cautioned on the dangers of Armageddon. "He will be cautioning me to join the right path and give all I have to Allah," she said, "and he did so himself, without caring what the consequences of his actions would be." She recalled how her only son sold all his belongings and left for an unknown destination to join the group. The child had an ambition to be an engineer, she said. The woman, who is a widow, said her dream was shattered by the disappearance of her son. She also revealed that Abubakari left the house at midnight, when all were asleep, and only told his 10-year-old sister that he will be travelling for a jihad.

"For now, I will continue to pray for him wherever he is, either dead or alive," she said, in-between sobs. "I realized where he went to when the crises started. That was precisely two days after he left the house."

A grim count

The family of the late Musa Daggash, a former Super Permanent Secretary, lost relations of a different kind. A family member, who would not want his name in print, disclosed that three members of their domestic staff lost their lives in the sectarian upheaval.

"We lost Muhammadu Mojum, Dan Kurma and Umaru, three very loyal domestic staff," he said. "I have known all of them since I was a kid, which means I found them in our house and they have since constituted an integral part of our household."

One of Mr Mojum's wives, who lives close to the Daggash household in Kofa Biyu, off Gamboru quarters, by the Railway Terminus, has been in a trance since the incident. "Mojum has two wives and this one has been staying with him in the city and has, through her support for the family, also endeared herself to the house. She still thinks he will return. This is the only home she knows," the source said.

The area was known to be the core of the battleground between the sect's members and security operatives in Maiduguri, since the late Mr Yusuf lived only a shouting distance from the quarters.

When fighting broke out on Monday, July 27, the Boko Haram members first attacked the prisons, which is also nearby, overpowered the warders and set many inmates free. As a result, when the soldiers laid siege to the area, no one was spared.

That evening, soldiers raided households, NEXT was told, and arrested people indiscriminately.

"Our family mosque, which stood very conspicuously in front of our family compound, was not spared. That was where they found the three domestic staff and many others, dragged them to the streets and wasted them," the Daggash relative said.

The third employee of the Daggash family, Umaru, was a Christian and had been a driver in the household for more than 20 years. The family said it took two days, until Wednesday, July 29, before they knew he had been killed. "He was slaughtered like a ram, I think by the Boko Haram people, because he was sought and killed in his own room," the family member said.

"The feeling among Boko Haram adherents, I think, who knew him well and lived with him was that since he was a Christian and refused to convert to Islam, as many Christians in the area did, he deserved to die." Still bewildered, he said, "they are our family and we still mourn them."

Shaving their beards

Meanwhile, hundreds of Muslims in different part of Maiduguri have decided to shave their beards to avoid being killed by security men, as security operatives intensify their search for surviving members of the Boko Haram sect.

The mass shaving of beards began, after it became clear that bearded men, irrespective of their religious affiliation were not safe in the heat of the crises that resulted in the death of over 700 people.

Also, unconfirmed reports from the Railway Quarters, the neighbourhood of the late Mr. Yusuf reveal that most of the residents are relocating to other parts of the Maiduguri metropolis for fear of future crisis.


http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5441323-146/story.csp