“How I Escaped Boko Haram’s Slaughterhouse on the Nigeria–Niger Border”-Survivor

BY: ADAMU ALIYU NGULDE, MAIDUGURI

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — For nearly a week, 36-year-old Umar Bulama lay hidden in the scrublands along the Nigeria–Niger border, surviving on rainwater and wild fruits after fleeing what he called a “slaughterhouse” run by Boko Haram.

Bulama said he was among dozens of villagers abducted in late August when militants raided his community near Mallam Fatori in northern Borno state. The captives were taken across rough terrain toward insurgent camps straddling the Nigeria–Niger border.

“They tied our hands and beat us,” Bulama told the Congress Newspaper in Maiduguri, his voice still weak. “Every day they brought people out, accusing them of spying, and killed them with knives. I thought my turn would come.”

He said he managed to escape one night after guards fell asleep. For days he walked through the bush, avoiding footpaths, until he reached a military post near Diffa in Niger, where soldiers gave him food and water before handing him over to Nigerian authorities.

Officials in Borno confirmed that villagers had been abducted during recent Boko Haram raids near the border but said the number of those killed or still missing remains unclear.

Boko Haram, designated a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the United States, has waged a 15-year insurgency across the Lake Chad Basin. Its fighters have carried out massacres, kidnappings and attacks on civilians in northeastern Nigeria and neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Bulama said he does not know what happened to the others who were captured with him. “Many are still there,” he said quietly. “I am just lucky to be alive.”

His escape underscores the plight of thousands still trapped in Boko Haram hideouts, as violence and displacement continue to devastate border communities.