Analyses

HumAngle: Week In Review

Every day, HumAngle’s journalists and researchers gather, sort through, and file stories on issues important to society. We bring you stories about development, conflict, and humanitarian trends across Africa in hopes that we can improve understanding of the most pressing problems and improve people’s quality of life.

In this roundup, staff writer Umar Aminu Yandaki shares some of the most important pieces of reporting we published last week — in case you missed them.

THE TOP STORY

‘Operation Safe Corridor Is Useful For Ex-Terrorists. But For People Like Me, It’s Injustice’

Nigeria’s decade-long-war with Boko Haram has led to the victimisation of many people in the Northeast. Persons and families have survived a series of violence from insurgency and counterinsurgency. Stories of these victims, often considered too many and ordinary to make headlines, are at the core of HumAngle’s coverage. In this feature story, Muratala Abdullahi narrates the ordeal of Bunu Ali and his family. Their misery began when they fled their town, Pate, following an increase in Boko Haram activities. 


They embarked on a journey in which they would see murder and death up close, endure savage beatings, and experience starvation and the bottomless sorrow of losing a child. The family was forcibly separated as they made their way through a series of prisons and other institutions. Although they committed no crime and were entirely innocent, it would take years before they were released from behind the physical bars. 

MORE STORIES

An ‘Innocent’ Detainee’s Journey Through Deradicalisation

The road to deradicalisation for Bukar Bulama began after he fled Budumri in the Bama area of central Borno in Northeast Nigeria because of the Boko Haram conflict. The terror group had occupied the area and stopped women from going to the farm as part of the laws imposed. Its members also preached and tried to recruit him. 

‘In Private, He Abuses Me, Then Compliments Me In Public’

When the man Habiba* would marry proposed, she was excited to start a new life with him. Even though the marriage was mainly arranged by both families, the optimistic 18-year-old who lives in Kaduna, Nigeria’s Northwest, at first believed her husband was a good man. They had been family friends. So she wasn’t bothered by the nature of the union. She only wanted to make the most out of the situation. 

However, she sensed something was wrong with the wedding and tried to call it off, but her family refused, saying they wouldn’t let her bring shame on them. Then things took a turn eight days after the marriage. “I have a permanent bruise on my right cheek because I said I wasn’t ready to engage in sexual activities with him,” she told HumAngle.

Ogun Model Schools Lie Fallow, Abandoned, While Residents Lack Access To Education

The model school in the Idi-Aba area of Abeokuta is a few meters from the Federal Medical Centre. The residents claimed the construction of the project commenced in 2013, but the project had become a home for criminals.

Although the multi-million naira three-storey building has been taken over by thick bushes, the building without a roof and windows has now become a toilet for residents who defecate within the premises. It is difficult to gain access because of the thick bushes that have grown around it.

Survivors Of Deadly Attacks In Borno Left With Gruesome Injuries

There has not been a full accounting of how many survivors of deadly incidents in Nigeria’s northeast now live with life changing injuries, but the number must be very high. People are maimed and left with life-changing injuries, even long after an attack. 

In Feb. 2022, four children playing outside in Ngala LGA of Borno state, found a curious object. As they played with it, the lethal device exploded. It was Unexploded Ordnance (UXO), a dangerous mine. The four children survived the explosion, but they were all horribly maimed. One of the victims had his leg amputated, and others sustained serious wounds as a result of the explosion.

Podcast: The Missing Schoolgirls In Northwestern Nigeria

Eleven Birnin Yauri School girls remain in captivity over a year after their abduction, despite the constant information flow and little attempt by the terror group to mask their location. 

This week on The Crisis Room, we speak with Umar Yandaki about the conditions of the girls and their families, as well as his discovery.

Podcast: The Walk To Safety

Mary Oyuba, originally from the Gwoza area of Borno, Northeast Nigeria, recounts the day she and her family decided to leave their war-torn community to seek refuge in a relatively safer place.


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There are millions of ordinary people affected by conflict in Africa whose stories are missing in the mainstream media. HumAngle is determined to tell those challenging and under-reported stories, hoping that the people impacted by these conflicts will find the safety and security they deserve.

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