Displaced Borno woman gives birth to ‘Buhari’

Aisha Usman, one of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the Lamido Lawan model primary school, Girei, Adamawa state Nigeria, has named her newborn baby after President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, following his victory at the march 28 election.

Usman, who put to bed in the period between the presidential and governorship elections, said she named her baby “in honour of the general” to remind herself of the circumstances of the boy’s birth.

“He is exactly one-month old today,” she said on Friday when TheCable visited.

Usman and her husband were displaced from Askira Uba local government of Borno state when Boko Haram invaded their community in November 2014. She was pregnant at the time and fled to Yola, where she discovered the IDP camp in Girei, a town in Adamawa state, northeast Nigeria.

She was delivered of her “general” at the camp’s maternity being run by about three health and environmental officers.

At the maternity home, which used to be the assistant head master’s office prior to its conversion to a maternity home, Helen Mamza, an environmental health officer and Jummai Mahmuda, a community health extension worker from Madagali, Borno state, were taking a nap after the conclusion of the day’s ante-natal check up.

While sharing their experience with TheCable, they said they could take naps because patients had reduced drastically, compared with about 50-60 people who came daily a few months ago.

“We can’t say this is the number of deliveries we have had since November (2014), but since December 26, we have had three deliveries and one of them gave birth to a twin.

“The first delivery we had this month, precisely May 4, was a twin – male and female. They are also IDPs but they are not living in the camp. Some of them live here in the camp – the hostels. They sometimes hold the naming ceremony here and we even circumcise the male children.”

LOST LOVE

Both women said they had lost their loved ones to Boko Haram, but they were trying to build new families, from the surviving relatives and other IDPs.

“We lost many of our family members. I lost father, my uncles to Boko Haram,” Mahmadu lamented.

On the other hand, Mamza had to inherit her brother’s six children.

“I lost my elder brother, he had six children,” she said. “All his children are here and I am the one taking care of them.”

TheCable also visited the camp’s isolation ward meant for patients with Guinea pox, measles, acute diarrhoea and other contagious diseases. Largely equipped by the International Rescue Committee, the ward is now empty, as previous patients have been discharged.