I slept in the bush for 3 days to stay alive – Female corps member

From GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka
Saturday, April 30, 2011


Miss Vivian Chidinma Anumba is one of the lucky corps members who survived the recent Bauchi mayhem, where many young people serving their fatherland were butchered.
The female corps member, who hails from Uzoako community, in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, read Banking and Finance at Federal Polytechnic, Oko and was serving at Shira Local Government Area, Bauchi State, from where she ran home, like a refugee.

Narrating her ugly experience to Saturday Sun, Chidinma said she slept in the bush for three days, running for her life, as all she had, including her credentials were burnt by hoodlums in Bauchi.
Her experience in Bauchi and alleged treatment by her state government on return are pitiable.


How did the violence start in Bauchi?

Actually, the major problem started after the presidential election on April 16, 2011. From the polling units, they started pursuing us, threatening to kill us if President Goodluck Jonathan won. They nicknamed corps members, PDP or Goodluck. They insisted that if Goodluck won, they would kill us.

On April 17, being Sunday, we received threats also that corps members, especially Christians, would be killed. When the presidential results were being released and Jonathan was winning in 21 states, they started threatening us again. Later, they started burning houses and killing corps members. When trouble got to our arena, in Shira Local Government Area, we started running. They killed some of our colleagues. They cut them into pieces.

How did you escape?
It was survival of the fittest. They started going from house to house, room to room in search of corps members. Even if you were to run into an Hausa man’s house, they would kill you. When we ran into a police station, they came into the police station to kill us. In fact, police station was not safe because they killed some policemen and burnt the place down.
So, we continued running, for three days, until Tuesday, April 19. That was when we were rescued. They had to call SSS people to convey the surviving ones to SSS quarters in Bauchi town; that was where they gathered all surviving corps members and from there, they were taken home by their different state governments.

For us from Anambra State, we found ourselves home here with the help of Imo State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim. Some entered ANIDS bus to convey them from Bauchi to Awka and on the way, some were involved in accidents; some of them are still in the hospital, as we are talking now.

Did you see them kill people?
I know some people that were killed. There was this young man; he was my neighbour and he was to get married by June. He was a batch three corps member. Unfortunately, they killed him. There was another person, who was like our pastor there. They killed him too. There, they isolated Christians; anywhere Christians are is a forgotten land. They see it as a land that is corrupt. So, they burnt all the churches there. The man we saw as pastor came home after the service that day. We prayed in the house. He helped people to safety. In the process of trying to show people the way to escape, they killed him. They were three roommates. They killed two, with the exception of one who came back with us.
Many others were injured; some of them couldn’t even stand; they were still on wheelchairs before we came down to this place. I got pictures of those killed with my phone. The bodies were taken to the mortuary. Most of them are still in mortuaries in Bauchi State. Their people were coming down there to settle with NYSC officials before they will carry the corpses.

Are you saying there was no security at the polling units?
The security they gave us in the polling units did not do anything because all of them are Muslims. They beat me up in my polling unit because there in Bauchi State, they didn’t do election; they would just command you to share the ballot papers among the parties. Even after obeying them, they won’t be satisfied. After the election, they threw us into a truck and commanded us to start counting for CPC. In fact, if not for God’s intervention, we could have been violated.

You said that you slept in the bush while escaping. What happened?
We slept in the bush behind a rock in order to be safe, because they started going from house to house in search of corps members to kill. If you are an Hausa man and they suspect that corps members are in your house, they would search and anyone they saw was dragged out and dealt with.
They burnt all my property; they burnt my documents, but I really thank God that at the end of the day, I was able to escape. As I said earlier, even the police station we ran to for rescue, was burnt. People that were inside, who were not at alert, became victims. But we had to run into the bush, slept there for three days, before we came out. It was then that we heard that they were coming to evacuate us.

How were you evacuated?
I had to fix myself into the Imo State flight. Ohakim had to send a flight to us and we landed in Owerri. He hosted us. He lodged us in different hotels and at the end of the day, he gave each of us N5, 000 for transportation from Owerri to Awka. He took us to the Government House, entertained us and after entertaining us, he lodged us, gave us transport fare. We from Anambra State, we are about 100 plus that followed the flight. We came back to our own Government’s House that day; we don’t even know how the Governor’s Lodge is because they sent us back from the gate. They asked our driver to turn back and packed somewhere. They stopped us at the gate and addressed us. They gave them N1, 000 each after that. He then asked us to come back on Wednesday. Now, on getting to that place, we were ignored. We sat there from morning till afternoon and the thing we heard was that the governor had travelled. One person came and addressed us and said that we should write our names and that if they had any information for us, they would call us.

We learnt that you met with Dr. Chris Ngige. How come?
We were there when we heard that Onwa (Ngige) was around and we decided to come here.

How did your parents react when you returned?
Oh my God! My mum was happy, though until I got home I did not tell her what was happening to me. It was only my brother that I was telling everything, because I knew my mum would have a health crisis if I told her I was in such trouble, even if I was still alive. She would die before I came back.

What are you going to do next?
I am preparing to go for a thanksgiving in church. I didn’t know that I would still be alive till today because, at a point, I had to say my last prayer that if they met me I was dead. They were everywhere, ready to kill. It was God that brought me home without any scratch.

The bolded feels eerily like scenes from "Hotel Rwanda"!

These people committed atrocities and should really be brought to justice.
This should not go unpunished walahi.

Look at the omalicha nwa that idiotic almajiri almost killed.

But come to think of it; which Igbo parents would allow their daughters to serve in northern Nigeria?
Chukwu ju!

Even if I was posted there during my own service, my parents would not have allowed it. And I am a fearless able bodied Igbo man willing to fight anywhere. Yet my parents would'n't even think of it.
Now talk about sending my sister there! Pure madness.

^^^ what the hell are you talkin MONKEY?>

@Igbo parents in da house.

Please stop this idiocy of sending your kids to the north for some moronic service. We don't have a nation yet, at least one that is real.
Imagine being pursued into a police station, and still get killed.
PURE RWANDA.

And your Hausa neighbor to whom you ran for protection would have to kill you or he gets killed too.
PURE RWANDA.

Methinks that this thing should be THOROUGHLY investigated and those responsible brought to justice.
This is part of why I would have preferred a Dora Akunyili at the national assembly.

And I am very angry at Peter Obi for maintaining stoic silence throughout this mess.
Heck even governor Orji of Abia spoke out!

But come to think of it; which Igbo parents would allow their daughters to serve in northern Nigeria? Chukwu ju!ￂ       Even if I was posted there during my own service, my  parents would not have allowed it. And I am a fearless  able bodied Igbo man willing to fight anywhere.ￂ  Yet my parents would'n't even think of it. Now talk about sending my sister there! Pure  madness.ￂ

Well there's a lot of sense in what you're saying. This NYSC thing has to be restructured or totally scrapped cos i don't understand risking the lives of fresh graduates in the name of 'National Service'.
Just imagine this fine educated woman that has the whole world ahead of her could have killed by a bunch of illiterates cos they given a hundred naira each and a scoop of glue to sniff . Unacceptable.

If these monster had gotten their hands on her. I dare not think what would have happened to her. Thank God she was able to hide!

I've always maintained that the biggest problem Ndigbo has is not learning from the past. "Those who fail to learn from history will become history"

Igbo parents have a lot of work to do on their kids. A people that went through one of the most vicious wars on the continent cannot continue on the path of

naivete The war was suppose to cement our commitment to one another as one indivisble group, but I'm afraid we've all gone our separate ways,

pursuing our respective endeavour in the nigerian cesspit, pretending all is well.

I will call on every Igbo that care to listen to bring to bare, at the various family/kindred meeting(s), the issue of parents educating their kids on how to

safely navigate the nigerian dungeon. The lessons of 1966 must be told in its TOTALITY to the current Igbo youths,,,,,,however gruesome it may sound,,,,,this

information is extremely important and must be discussed at various family/kindred/town meetings. GOD BLESS THE IGBO NATION!

My kid brother will be going for service by july. I doubt if my family would allow him serve if he is posted north. What kind of story is this?

Nigeria has so many problems, and Islam is one of them!

We can blame the problem in the North on illitracy, but I recall that when a Danish cartoonist did a cartoon about Islam, the whole world almost burnt.

We should set up a panel of enquiry into what led to the amalgamation of the Jihardist and the "condemned infidels."

@POST


I am worried that federal and state governments remained silence over this issue. In fact, the most ridiculous crap about the issue surfaced when certain trolls went into ecstatical tailspin because a loony governor provided transport fares for youth corpers. Such action is not governance but a display of despicable social handout at the wrong time.

State governors should have held the federal government and state government in northern region responsible for this heinous act. All Nigerians should challenge the concept of One- Nigeria and expose the root cause of this unacceptable behavior from northern region. This is beyond providing transport fare or silly evacuation of youth corpers from their country.

It is mindboggling that everybody is behaving as if nothing happened. Any action, including war or disintegration of Nigeria, aimed at stopping the incessant political, religious and ethnical induced mayhem in northern region of Nigeria should be considered.

So much persecution against Ndigbos.

I am really sorry for everything. What a lovely lady!

I am beginning to believe that there is a systemic, covert war against Ndigbo. Or why would an ethnic group, out of 250, bear most of the brunt of the post election violence?

On behalf of my Hausa, Yoruba, Edo, Tiv, Jukun, Igbirra, Nupe, Fulani brothers and sisters, I humbly tender an unreserved apology to our Igbo brothers.

Since we the bad guys of Nigeria, who unfairly target the great Ndigbo, have apologized for our barbaric acts, can we now move past it and move forward?

9ijaprince:

My kid brother will be going for service by july. I doubt if my family would allow him serve if he is posted north. What kind of story is this?

I will do everything within my power to prevent my younger brother from serving in the Hausa Fulani dominated part of North.

Our Central Government is too weak to take bold decisions, but if every Southern Family prevent their kids from turning up for service in these areas . . . .the Government will see that the purpose has been defeated and will be forced to do something.

Forget the nonesense talk about having difficulties finding work if they don't serve . . .your child will be alive first before they seek work

@Mikeansy

You hit the nail on the head about the usual fallacy of not being able to find employment as a product of skipping the service. It is so laughable!
A lot of folks who never served for a day landed jobs before any of us who did. Heck they started one year ahead!

But the most important point you made is that one has to be alive first to earn a living. Aik Ukoma will NEVER earn a living.
It is too late for him.

@Dede1

I am very angry at Peter Obi, because the silence of Ohakim and all other PDP governors in SE can be explained in the twisted sense that they may be hamstrung by their PDP encumbrances as a national party. So, they may rationalize that since Jonathan is yet to begin his second term, they should wait and allow him to act in due time. Same can be said of Jonathan. Not that I agree with it, but I remember that Obasanjo did exactly the same thing during the mad years of sharia troubles in northern Nigeria. When Obasanjo finally acted, he took away power from the core north and moved it to the middle belt and south. That is how we are where we are today. So I can understand GEJ silence a little.

But Peter Obi is completely free and unencumbered. He is in APGA! Heck occasions like this is exactly why we created APGA in the first place, to operate outside the so called mainstream to defend our interest and those of all progressives in Nigeria. But alas, Peter Obi has abandoned ship, and is now seeing himself as a PDP man. Hence his stoic silence. 

I really lament the Ikembas absence and Peter Obi's inept leadership of APGA.
Like I said in one of my earlier threads here, I think that APGA should be taken from Peter Obi, or it should be merged with PDP.

In fact I prefer that APGA be taken from Peter Obi. He has failed APGA.
This is part of why I pray fervently that Owelle Rochas Okorocha should win the Imo guber elections. We need a powerful man to take away APGA from Peter Obi.

For me none of my kiths and kin can ever be allowed to serve in the North. I expect parents to refuse such postings on behalf of their wards with court cases, citing past events. Imagine the waste of human capital invested in the murdered corpers; This is so pathetic in the light of the fact that the school system up north is the major beneficiary of the NYSC program. I support the suggestion that henceforth corpers serve in the geoplitical zones~

Thank God for her life

This is too pathetic !

Pharaoh !!! Let my people go.

We are never compactable with the north,

Pls separate this 'unholy marriage'

Holy Governor Peter Ada !

When shall you call a spade a spade, when all is killed ?

What an injustice against my people !

May God have mercy on you because by the time it will start, Remembering how you were swelling with Bible on your campaign

To understand how outrageous this is, please read the article again, and for every place there is a word "Christian", replace it with "Muslim"; and every place there is a word "Hausa" replace it with "Igbo". If you do that very well, you would agree that all northern politicians and governors would be up in arms by now.

That is why I am convinced that -on national issues- we probably have the worst set of governors in Nigeria. Truly sad.

Who shall speak for Ndigbo at the center?

Umu nne na umu nna m, nnukwu nsogbu di kwa!

oya make we divide make everybody rest, habaa!  

[size=15pt]She should JUST GO HOME AND GET MARRIED

No more NYSC for her[/size]

So pathetic. Thank God for her life

This is absolutely crime against humanity and the creator, to even imagine that non of the perpetrators of this monstrous act were shot by the so called security operatives is unbelievable.
My southern brothers and sisters, let us read the handwriting on the wall and condemn this crime with one voice if at all we want to survive in this false marriage called Nigeria.
To cut a long story short, i have decided with the backing of my parents that nothing can compel me and my siblings to serve in the North if nothing convincing and concrete is done about this killings.

Henceforth, i think as a sign of protest, no parent from southern Nigeria should allow their wards to do any yeye service up north.
From what i heard they are even heavily reliant on the service of corper workers as teachers, doctors etc up there.
They need to feel the pinch a bit.
These sort of wastes shouldn't be encouraged.
And if after all these things, the GEJ government does not punish, prosecute and jail anyone (as is usual for him), then all of you who voted for him should bury your heads in shame.
NYSC shouldn't be an avenue for wasting lives.
We are all screaming now because of the manner of deaths, do you know how many die annually from road accidents while travelling around the horrible roads in the country?They go unsung, unreported, their families are left to bear the trauma alone. I really don't think the benefit of this scheme as of now outweigh the risks hence, it should just be done away with. . . .till the monsters up north grow some cerebral tissue

OMG!!! Still got goosebumps all over me n i cudnt help but shed tears , Those northerners are WILD ANIMALS!!! When i was posted to Kano last year, ma mum almost lost it, i went to camp 4 3wks nd ma dad called me and said, "im gonna do everything i can to get u outta dere, even if dey dont redeploy u, just pack ur bags n cum bak homeimmediately, no matter wat i cant afford to lose u 4 nyfin", Fank God i wuz redeployed,  
Itz not worth being in the north for nyfin cept ur 1 of dem, nd NYSC SHLD BE SCRAPPED!!!  Its useless and pointless!!!
Ma heart cries out to dose dat hv bn slain n may deir gentle souls rest in peace, May d Good Lord keep us all.

No matter which side you voted for in this elections, please re-read her story. The corps members had been receiving threats since Saturday until all hell broke loose. Two days and the Government did nothing!

This is not about Politics anymore, it's about doing the right thing. The Corps members were let down by their own Government and if heads must roll, certainly some heads at the top must not be spared.
At the very leAst, the NYSC DG must go.

I wonder why this country still exist, a country where a fellow country man will butcher his fellow country man for a fault he/she does not know. I wonder why we are still leaving with people who know how to pregnant their wives but do not know how to train their children.
Is only a beast that kill and pieces human being.
A friend of mine called me as we were discussion he was actually consoling me as southerner but along the line he started blaming govt,
He claims that those rioters are almajiris without parental and home training at all, I nearly agreed with him but never because an average Muslim
from northern Nigeria has at least 2 wives, and more than 10 children. They don't bother how these children will survive, all they know is to pregnant their numerous wives and whatever comes after is not their business.
Thanks to God for many of our people that survived and  may the good God grant peace and rest to the souls of those killed.

the state governors should be made accountable,