The deadliest of the attacks were at Gulani and Dikwa and we were at the suburbs trying to enter the communities as humanitarian aid workers. The terrorists cam from an ambush and opened fire on us. We were physically shielded by Nigerian soldiers while obeying the abrupt metalic voice from the one of the them to lay flat on the floor to dodge bullets emanating from the sporadic shots from the Boko Haram terrorists.

We were immediately on the floor, only hearing the continued shout of orders, followed by intermittent clatter of rifle fire from the soldiers amidst a windy "alau akuba" from the terrorists running helta skelta in the bush. Different prayers ran through the people lying on the floor including me, the three soldiers standing guard near us shouting on us to remain calm.

One of the soldiers would utter what sounded like a code or Morse as if trying to impatiently retreat cos the gunfire was beginning to come from another direction. I guessed he was calling for a backup probably airmen from the headquarters. I was imagining how many the terrorists were in number. Cries of anguish were always heard from distant places following gun shots.

The rifle fire continued while we lay still on the floor.

After about 2 hours, sounds of gun fire stopped though shouts were still heard from afar. Communication from the soldier standing close to us was apparently revealing the casualty figures. About 3 men fell and another 2 missing. I only saw a wounded soldier crying in anguish. It was like they used a sharp matchete to batter his right leg. Maybe a kind of gun or a bomb used to attack him completely shattered his leg. The terrorists were killed en masse but I did not know the number.

A vehicle drove by and we were ushered in by a different group probably from the HQ cos their military fatigues were not rumpled or dirty.
We were driven to maidugri and back to our hotels. We left for Abuja the next day.

At the office, what my colleagues demanded first was life insurance. After our meeting, I was drawing their attention to the need to think of eternity. No comment was made on that and they continued to demand extra insurance cover for their lives.

Eternity does not matter but insurance does.