We arrived Rann at about 3pm and met elders of the community sitting under a tree mourning the death of their brothers and children killed by the air strike at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp.
Their faces look somber, but they tried to smile when one of them cracked a joke, probably to douse the mood.
Five meters from where they sat were rubbles of the structures hit by the bombs. Some household items-mattresses, cooking pots, clothes and shoes-of the dead inhabitants littered the site.
Rann camp is not a conventional IDP camp built with makeshift tents. It comprises of houses that were partially destroyed during the terrorists attack on the village.
At the height of the attack in 2014, the villagers fled to nearby settlements that were relatively safer. However, after Rann was recaptured by troops, some of the inhabitants that returned to the community settled at their old places, erecting makeshift structures.
Some of houses were mud structures with thatched roofs; others were built of half mud and half zinc.
“We know the bombing was not deliberate,” says Adamu Lamin, one of the elders of the village. “The military have been here since eight months ago when we came back here. They are the one protecting us from the terrorists. So we know that they will not deliberately throw bombs at us.”
“Everything is okay now. The people that have died have died, and we have buried them. We are moving on with our lives.”
Few meters from where the elders sat, children were moving around, playing with freely in an open space. The women were carrying containers on their heads as they get water from thereby water source.
“The army has been here for months now, and they have been doing a very wonderful job,” Alhaji Babagana Malarima, Chairman Kala Balde Local Government Area, said. “At least you have heard testimonies from the people in the community. The people have been living peacefully with the military because they are the ones protecting them from the terrorists.
“The army is also helping the people in other areas like medical services and education of their children. They people are always happy about this and are giving their full cooperation to the army.”
Kala Balge was the last local government area liberated by Nigerian troops from the shackles of Boko Haram terrorists in Northern Borno state. And since its liberation in March 22, 2016, Rann, the local government headquarters, had experienced five attacks from the insurgents, which were constantly repelled by the troops of 3 Battalion Nigerian Army stationed in the village.
The terrorists attacked the village again on Thursday last week, and as usual they were repelled by the troops. The troops killed 15 of them and captured one alive.
Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai who was at Rann as part of his routing operational visits to army formations and units in the North east, and to commensurate with the people of the Rann community over the Tuesday incidents, said the air strike and the attack by the insurgents on Thursday were not unconnected.
“The intelligence we got from our partners is that some Boko Harm terrorists have gathered around this community; in fact the information revealed that they were already inside this place,” he said.
“The incident of the air strike and the Boko Haram terrorists attack is not unconnected. Probably it must be the information that was gotten and passed to the air component that it took the action which led to the unfortunate incident of the air strike.
“It is very unfortunate and a very big mistake and we all learnt lessons from it. We will take note of it…to prevent such incident happening again.”
He said the fact that the troops were able to repel the terrorists showed their (troops) level of alertness and commitment to defend the people.
“They have been doing extremely well. They have been professional, and have shown high level of commitment, discipline and patriotism in the execution of their duty here,” he said.
Rann is situated at the fringe between Nigeria and Cameroun. It is an agrarian community with its habitants engaging in farming of corn and onions. Being a boarder community, inter-boarder trade also strives in the village and surrounding community. The villagers also engage in fishing from the Lake Chad River that passed through their land some kilometers from them. However, the fishing occupation is no longer striving as before due to the shrinking of the Lake Chad.
Kala Balge local government area has a large expanse of land. It has an area of 1, 896 square kilometers; and a population of 60,9797, according to 2006 population census.
Rann, the capital, is about 175 kilometers from Maiduguri. From Dikwa where the tarred road ends, the remaining distance to Rann, which is just about 85 kilometers, is travelled on sandy path. And from Ngala there is practically no road to Rann, only a path created by vehicles. This explains why humanitarian organisations find it very difficult to access IDP camp in Rann.
“One thing I will like Mr. President to do for us is the construction of good road to the community,” the Local government chairman said. “We are cut off from the rest of the state, even the rest of the world. People are able to come here because of the small effort of the community on that road to make this place accessible to the outside world. This is the deplorable state of the road since this local government was created about 20 years ago. We need a road to link the local government to other parts of the state.”
He also appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to compensate families of victims that lost their lives in the air strike.
“We are also begging Mr. President to compensate our people over the unfortunate incident,” he said. “From report I received 234 people who lost their lives in the incident were buried by the community. Many of them are bread winners of their families. We, therefore, plead that the families of these people should be compensated.”
Wednesday last week, the Federal Government delegation led by Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari visited Borno state to formally convey condolences of the President to Governor Kashim Shetima and the Red Cross, which lost six members of staff in the incident.
Federal Government has promised to conduct thorough investigation to avoid a repeat of it. Minister of Defense Mansur Dan-Ali, who was part of the delegation, said he had directed the Defense Headquarters to conduct the investigation.
“We are here because of the unfortunate accident that happened at Rann in Kala-Balge. President Muhammadu Buhari sincerely sympathizes with the people of Borno State and the relations of the victims of Tuesday’s tragedy,” Kyari said.
Governor Shettima praised the military for not hiding anything from the people. He said the military was the fight to break the news about the incident, which showed that
Communication Field Officer, Maiduguri Sub- delegation of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Umar Sadiq said in a statement that six members of its staff were killed and 13 injured during the accidental bombing in Rann
According to him the victims were part of a team solving hunger for 25, 000 displaced persons camped at Rann.
As the President expressed great sadness, and investigation is on the incident, the people of the Rann community still look at the military as their hope and liberators who defiles every obstacle to protect them from their brothers-Boko Haram terrorists- who are bent in killing them and their families.
